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Damian had always known his past would catch up with him sooner or later.
He was an ex-assassin with blood and countless other sins on his ledger. Regardless of his good intentions now, that kind of past didn't just go away just because he was working to redeem himself.
That being said…he really hadn’t thought this would happen.
It had all started three days ago when he and his father had gone to investigate some suspicious deaths that, while seemingly unconnected, were all done in a similar fashion. Strange but nothing too noteworthy for Gotham.
They had followed the trail all the way to a man named Abdul Darwish, one of three rogue assassins that had recently become hits for hire over the past two years and had begun taking jobs in the area. Something about the group had struck a strange sense of dejavu with Damian, but he couldn’t name it so he hadn’t brought it up. They had been forced to track them down one by one but they had eventually all been apprehended. Again, strange but not spectacular.
That is until he divulged that they were actually a part of a small organization and the reason they had been reduced to such work was due to the mysterious murder of their leader -whose name had sounded oddly familiar- three years or so prior. Batman being who he was, obviously decided that that needed investigating as it was possible it could tell them if more of the supposed organization was still active and it was when he did this Damian realized something very important.
Oh.
Damian thought as he stared at the crime scene photos his father had pulled up on the batcave computer for review. Of which there were thankfully few but still plenty for Damian to realize just why exactly he recognized the name of the gruesomely bloody man on the screen and why the details of this case had all seemed annoyingly familiar.
I definitely killed this man.
It was no secret that while in the League, Damian had of course been deployed on countless missions in the name of Al Ghul. After all, while being Ra’s heir was indeed his birthright, he still had to continuously prove himself worthy of that right. But knowing it and seeing the evidence of it are two entirely different things. And right now Damian was definitely seeing it.
This particular man, by the name of Halim Gaddafi, had been a wannabe League imitation, bringing together a small group of independently trained assassins, and as such was to be killed for his insolence to dare defile his Grandfather’s legacy. Obviously.
Damian had done plenty of jobs just like it before, but he had never had to investigate his own crime. He didn’t feel particularly guilty, the man had been a ruthless killer himself and did things far worse to much kinder people than Damian had done to him, but that didn’t mean he was thrilled at the idea of his family knowing he had been responsible for such a gory death. His father took his moral code very seriously after all.
“Well.” Jason’s blunt tone broke through Damian’s rapid flashbacks, his head snapping to where the older man was obnoxiously leaning on the back of Bruce’s chair. Bruce did nothing to stop it, likely not wanting to jeopardize the frankly very civil behavior Jason was currently exhibiting towards him. “This guy must’ve pissed someone off real bad to earn something like that.” He commented drily and Damian felt vaguely sick. Must they blow the images up so large? It took up just about the whole screen. “I mean look at that technique,” Jason continued with a gesture towards what was visible of the man’s butchered front. “Efficient but painful. Definitely done professionally.” Yes thank you for your input, Todd. Damian thought sarcastically as he did his best not to show any outward reaction. Bruce didn’t answer, merely giving a displeased grunt as he clicked to the next photo. It was somehow worse than the first, being a close up of his face. Well, what was visible through all the blood.
“Did they remove his tongue?” Dick asked, disgust lacing his tone and yes actually he did. He had gone around disrespecting the League and its works -which is honestly just asking to get killed at that point- so Damian had been told to bring it to his Grandfather as proof of completion after the deed had been done. A horrendous memory he had done his best to forget. Clearly he had been doing a pretty good job too if he had taken him so long to realize this had been his own job.
“Maybe he was a snitch.” Jason proposed, not an outlandish conclusion as that is likely what such a thing would mean had it been done in Gotham.
“Maybe.” Tim agreed and something about his face gave Damian a bad feeling. “Is that a note stuck to his chest?” Sonnova- Leave it to Tim to point out the small details. A note had been stuck onto the body, held there by the knife still penetrating the victim's chest. Blood and the angle of the body has made most of the folded note obscured to the point it was hard to see it was even there, but one word was still clear enough to make out. “Looks like it might be Arabic?” Tim guessed, titling his head as he scrutinized the picture and it set Damian on edge. Like Tim would suddenly be able to see Damian there standing over his prey. Which was ridiculous as Damian had been halfway across the world long before anyone found the body, certainly far before any investigation was conducted.
“Damian?”
At Dick’s prompting voice Damian refocused his attention on his family to find everyone was staring at him. Idiot. What did they say? Damian mentally berated himself for not paying attention. On the outside however he merely straightened up and gave his full attention to his eldest brother.
“Sorry, what did you say?” Damian apologized carefully, and while Dick’s brows furrowed in slight concern, he simply repeated himself.
“I asked if you could tell what the note said.”
Damian resisted the urge to ram his head into the nearest hard surface and instead made a show of examining the screen closely. As if he wasn’t the one to write that note. Most of the writing is eligible. Damian noted but knew he wouldn’t be able to get away with saying he couldn’t understand any of it. Clearly at least one word was visible and it was Damian’s native language. Besides the fact practically his whole family had learned the League dialect at this point so even if Damian didn’t say anything now they would read it themselves before too long.
Now technically he could avoid all of this by merely coming clean and explaining that this was just another one of the many regrets of his past that he had believed to be right at the time. By all reason he probably should tell them. Investigating a crime he knows himself to be the culprit of is a huge waste of all of their time that could be better spent elsewhere. And frankly he’d come a rather long way in terms of feeling like he had a place in this family so he really wasn’t even too concerned he’d be overly shunned for it. He should just tell them.
However, something about that felt eerily close to being caught. As if Damian could ever actually be sloppy enough for that. Not that that was important of course. No, he is far beyond caring about something like that. He was reformed so what did he care if he hadn’t perfectly executed an assignment he had never actually wanted to perform?
“‘Beware’” Damian recited truthfully, hoping he wasn’t outing himself. The full note said ‘Beware the Shadows’, but he wasn’t about to say that.
Evidently, he was not beyond caring. Who would have guessed?
“I can’t make out the rest, it’s too bloody.” Damian wasn’t even lying. If he didn’t already know what it said he would have no clue.
“‘Beware’, huh?” Jason repeated, leaning impossibly further into Bruce’s personal space. Bruce didn’t so much as grumble and just allowed it without protest. “Gotta say, not very original.” I’d like to see you do better when only given 2 minutes to complete both the assassination, tongue removal, and message. Damian huffed before remembering he was getting insulted over something stabbed into a man’s chest cavity. He should probably stop now.
“The investigation done on this is a joke.” Tim complained and Damian could agree. They hadn’t even bothered taking pictures of the full crime scene let alone thinking to actually unfold and document his little parting gift. Probably because any law enforcement anywhere near there was owned by one of three criminal organizations in the area. Well one of two after Damian had finished with it. “It’s no wonder it’s unsolved.”
“Whoever did this was trying to send a message.” Bruce spoke for the first time in what was probably ten minutes. Not that long by his standards.
“Why take out the head but leave the rest of the organization to run free?” Because the rest of them were too pathetic to warrant our interests let alone our retaliation. Damian didn’t voice his thoughts out loud as he watched Bruce continue to type away at the computer.
“Someone capable of breaking into such a guarded area and leaving no trace behind is worth looking into.” Bruce said exactly what Damian had been hoping he wouldn’t. Why couldn’t he just leave things for once? Did he have to know every single detail of every little thing?
Stupid question. He’s Batman, of course he does.
“I’ll look into seeing if I can find where that note got off to.” Tim volunteered, already moving to go upstairs. More than likely ready to spend all night looking into every detail of this man’s life in the last 20 years and then some.
“It says here there are at least three more unaccounted for members.” Dick pointed out and a quick glance told Damian that there were actually only two. The first one had been the second in command…who he had also killed. “I’ll see about digging anything up on them.” Damian silently cursed his family for being so innately nosey. Damian’s attention was drawn as Jason sighed loudly, stepping back from Bruce’s chair to cross his arms dramatically.
“Guess that leaves me to track down the crime scene.” He grumbled, which Damian supposed was a fair response to having to go to some old abandoned estate in Nagano Japan. Even with Zeta tube transportation, it was still a hassle.
“Me and Damian will continue looking into any of their activity here in Gotham the police may have missed.” Bruce finished and Damian was only a second late to nod his understanding once he realized that required a response. “Report anything you find as soon as possible.” And that was a dismissal. Dick and Jason were going to leave and go off looking for someone who’s no more than five feet from them. Damian should really say something.
He knew even if Bruce would disapprove, his family would understand that it had been one of the many things he was forced to do while under his Mother and Grandfather's teaching. He had only been six or seven at the time of the mission, he knew they wouldn’t hold it against him. He should just come clean now.
…But he can’t help but wonder… Could they figure it out?
Undoubtedly they would be able to deduce the League responsible. But would they be able to name Damian specifically as the suspect? And if so, how long would it take?
He shouldn’t care. It shouldn’t matter whether or not they could. But he can't help but want to know if they would be able to and if they could, what exactly gave him away? Not that he was looking for tips of improvement. Those kinds of missions were behind him. But he was still curious.
“Damian.” His father’s firm voice was enough to snap Damian out of his dilemma, looking to see Bruce turned in his chair to face him. “I said we are done for tonight. You should go get some rest.” Bruce repeated and it was then Damian realized they were the only two in the cave.
Ah, it would seem I took too long. Damian noted as he nodded at his father and left to go remove his uniform. I’ll just have to clear things up tomorrow.
The first one to figure it out was Tim.
It had taken him 36 hours and 23 minutes curled up on his bed with a good 12 cups of coffee in him but he had finally been able to track down the original note.
Well at least a picture of the original note. The actual message had been long since disposed of along with the body or any other helpful physical evidence. Which he had suspected would be the case, which was why he had focused his efforts into analyzing every shred of both the organization’s inner records as well as any records of the surrounding law enforcement from that time period.
It had been a long and frustrating process but eventually he had managed to find a full albeit poor quality image of the complete note. After spending entirely too long enhancing the picture, he was able to read it in its entirety.
Beware the Shadows
The second he had translated it he had sent Bruce a quick message saying he was pretty sure he had found a League connection and he would keep him updated as he looked into it. A message he now regretted sending as he’s since had a moment to examine the calligraphy.
Specifically the ‘S’. It was Arabic script so it had taken him a while to place it, but once he had he instantly began testing his theory. Because that particular ‘S’ looked eerily similar to the one he had seen on countless absently written notes by one Damian Wayne-Al Ghul.
Nowadays he tended to forget that last part.
Well, this is suboptimal. Tim thought, heaving a deep sigh as he ran a stressed hand through his hair, the blaring ‘ 98.7% match found’ flashing at him obnoxiously. As if to rub the oncoming headache in his face.
Once he had made the connection, he had ‘borrowed’ one of Damian’s old school notebooks that he took English class notes in. Most things for school Damian had already known for years and therefore didn’t need to think about. But it was kinda hard to write a book report on Charlotte's Web without having read a single word of it. Since the notes were for Damian’s use only, he would occasionally write them in his first language as it came more naturally to him. So Tim had quickly torn a page out to run as a reference and was now faced with the reality that his baby brother definitely killed that guy.
There’s no way he didn’t realize. Damian had clearly kept it to himself on purpose. For some reason, he had decided to just let them all go around chasing their tails.
You know why. Tim’s thoughts betrayed him and he resisted the urge to groan. It was pretty obvious how insecure Damian was about his place in the family. Always trying to prove himself with challenges and reckless heroism. It was something Dick had been desperately trying to work out of him with marginal success. So really, Tim didn’t have to wonder at all why Damian kept it secret.
Honestly with Bruce’s track record, he can’t even blame the kid for being scared of his reaction. It was then Tim was struck with a different thought. This was nearly three and a half years ago. How old even was Damian then? Six? Maybe seven? It was times like these Tim considered if Bruce’s rule was worth letting someone like Ra’s continue to walk the Earth.
Maybe I could talk Jason into taking the fall… It's not like Bruce wouldn’t forgive him. Everyone knew the unfair standard their self proclaimed black sheep was held to. Plus Jason hated the guy just as much so really it was a win for everyone.
“Drake, I-“ FU-
Tim all but smashed his laptop closed, hunching his upper body over it like a human shield as he snapped his neck towards the door. The door where Damian was currently standing and staring at him like he was crazy. … Wow, Tim, real smooth.
“Uh, hey Damian,” Tim started and cringed at how utterly suspicious that sounded. Judging from Damian’s face, he thought the same. “What’s up?” Damian didn’t answer for a long drawn out second, just eyeing him incredulously before seemingly brushing it off.
“Father said you found a League connection. I came to offer my assistance.” Damian explained, gaze now focused on the laptop Tim was still subconsciously shielding. He very subtly moved it to rest under his pillow. Damian -in a rather uncharacteristic display- politely pretended not to notice while he waited for a response. What are the chances Bruce didn’t send him up here and he’s just trying to find out what I know?
“Yeah, I mean at least I think so.” Tim decided skewed honesty was probably his safest bet at this point. He couldn’t just take it back completely now so he had to come up with something. “I was able to find a digital copy of the original message.” Technically all true.
“…which said?” Damian prompted, a more familiar annoyance dripping into his tone at Tim’s continued lack of response and general vagueness.
“‘Beware the Shadows’” Tim recited what was more than likely Damian’s own words, carefully watching the younger’s expression for a sign of familiarity. He managed to stay perfectly neutral as he nodded and honestly it was kind of impressive.
“I see…Was there anything else?” Damian pressed after a second and Tim pretended to think before shaking his head.
“No, that’s why I told Bruce I’d look into it.” Tim denied and Damian took it in stride. I need to come up with something that leads away from Damian. “Maybe it was one of your Grandfather's men?” Tim proposed, careful to also not insinuate anything about Talia either. Everyone knew how defensive Damian was of his mother even if she didn’t deserve it.
“It’s possible,” Damian agreed casually enough, sending one last side eye towards Tim’s pillow before finally turning to leave.
I can’t let the others find out. Tim determined, for Damian’s sake, he would do everything he could to sabotage this investigation. Like a good big brother. Never thought I would be that. Tim thought, remembering just how horrid his and Damian’s relationship had started out. He had been so determined to never accept Damian as a truly trusted ally let alone family. And yet here he was.
You did this to me, Dick.
“Oh, and Pennyworth said to come down for dinner before he sends someone to fetch you.” Damian called as he walked away and Tim didn’t hesitate to scramble up after him. Last time Alfred ‘sent someone to fetch him’, Jason had broken his bedroom lock and carried him down to the dining room.
I’ll figure out a plan after dinner. Tim decided as he carefully shut his door behind him. All he needed to do was make it seem like he was doing everything he could to help solve the case while also making sure they never solve the case. Simple.
Yeah, he didn’t even believe himself.
The next one to catch on was Jason.
After they had all agreed on who would investigate what, Jason had made arrangements to Zeta to Japan the following morning. Upon arriving, he took his time to track down where exactly the estate was located, what it had been being used for, and how much of a pain in the ass it was gonna be to break into.
The good news was he found it had been relatively abandoned since the little junior League group cleared out. And by ‘relatively’ he meant that the once mansion was little more than two termites holding hands and it was no small miracle it was still standing.
The bad news was it was in the middle of nowhere and he spent the better part of 24 hours just getting there. By the time he had, he was just about ready to light the whole thing on fire and tell Bruce there had been nothing recoverable. He refrained but only barely.
Geez, would it have killed anyone to at least mop up the blood? Jason thought in disgust as he finally found the room that matched the crime scene photos. It would seem that they had abandoned ship the moment their boss was killed, leaving the room nearly untouched aside from what the local authorities had taken. The wood is still stained red. He noted, carefully kicking the edge of the rug back over it. Something he immediately regretted doing as it had about ten million dust bunnies living on it and just about all of them went flying directly into Jason’s face.
“Oh, Mother Fu-!” Jason half cursed, as he promptly broke into a coughing fit and tried to wave the air clear. I knew I should’ve worn my helmet. The next time Tim told him that it's ‘Not very inconspicuous’, he’s taking his ‘conspicuous’ hood and shoving it right up his- Huh.
Jason’s mental threat was cut off as he locked eyes on something bright catching the moonlight in the corner. Well that looks important. He thought as he moved across the room and bent down beside a destroyed overturned desk.
Shoved into the shards of the mahogany was what was possibly the tiniest kunai Jason had ever seen. The h*ll? What use would anyone ever have for a weapon this small? The blade itself was pretty standard, definitely sharp anyway, it was the handle that was odd. It was just so…short. The whole thing barely spanned from his thumb to his index finger. It was also strangely lightweight. Almost like it was made for a very small hand… Nah. Jason mentally dismissed, pocketing the blade and continuing to rummage through the destroyed desk. That was ridiculous. What kind of assassin would even be that tiny?
Heh. I mean unless they pissed off Damian. Jason huffed amused at his own thoughts. He was the smallest assassin he knew and the crime scene was definitely violent enough. But honestly even for Damian’s hands the blade would probably be too small. Well, not unless he had been- Wait…
Jason pulled the kunai back out and looked down at the carefully crafted blade being swamped by his palm. It was beautifully made, clearly expensive too. Not something you could easily buy anyway. It would have had to be made custom. It does seem like League design. The emerald green detailing on the side seemed very extra and was just the kinda thing Ra’s would have made. And they certainly had enough funds that it wasn’t something difficult to replace. This guy was killed what? Three years ago? Jason struggled to remember, twisting the knife around. Damian would’ve been around seven.
There was no way he had been sent on an out of country high stakes assassination that young right?…right?
…
D*mmit , Talia.
Jason made a silent vow to be extra rough the next time he crossed paths with the League.
Alright, don’t get ahead of yourself. He coached as he pocketed the knife once more and stood to his feet. He quickly pulled out his phone and pulled up the case file on Halim. Skipping Bruce’s notes, he went straight for the photos, scrolling until he found a good full body shot. As he had observed before, the technique was very clearly professional. The initial injury being a stab wound directly through the left kidney, seemingly followed by a slash across the general abdomen to make it seem more amateur than it was at a glance. A surely painful death that was almost impossible to even attempt to treat.
That’s a League method. Jason noted with no small amount of dread. Babybat was totally sent to take him out. He could no longer pretend otherwise, at least not with any rational thinking. Or unless there were other tiny assassins in the League Damian failed to mention but Jason doubted it.
Now unless Damian truly didn’t care to remember his marks, he very likely knew this as well. Yet here he was, attempting to bring himself to justice. Honestly Jason had to hand it to the kid for keeping such a convincing poker face when looking The Batman straight in the eyes and spouting absolute bull.
Never knew he had it in him. Was it weird he was strangely proud?
It was then a harsh wind blew against the rickety house, the building near screaming in protest. Yeah, I should probably leave. J
ason may not know how the building had stayed up as long as it had but he wasn’t about to push his luck. Not when he already had crap luck to begin with anyway. Especially with buildings staying in one piece while he was inside them. That being said he was quick to take his leave and grapple out the nearest window.
I’ll have to make up something to tell the old man. Jason mused as he made his way back to his motorcycle. Sure he could just explain the situation and save them all the wild goose chase.
But that would make him a snitch. And while Jason was a lot of things, he was proud to say a snitch had never been one of them.
Guess I’ll get to start that fire after all.
By the time Dick had caught on, they had already been investigating for nearly a week.
Dick had spent several days chasing down what little remained of the ragtag organization, getting very little more than some bruises for his trouble.
The first guy had pretty much tried to gut him on sight. Which hey rude. He hadn’t known anything so Dick had done his best to finish the fight quickly before turning him into the proper authorities.
The second man had been slightly better, evidently having given up on the whole assassin thing and now living a semi-peaceful life in Chicago with a wife and baby son. Dick had waited for said family to go to sleep before questioning him about the death of his prior boss.
“I’m sorry, what?” Nightwing couldn’t help but sound disbelieving. Anyone would considering what he had just been told.
“I’m telling you man, it was like some kind of cursed goblin.” Adam Karim repeated his erratic retelling of the supposed events of that night. Evidently he had been in the building at the time of the attack and while he hadn’t dared to engage, he had managed to catch sight of the guilty party before he fled.
Which was apparently a ‘goblin’.
“I seriously doubt that.” Nightwing deadpanned when it seemed Adam didn’t feel very inclined to elaborate. There was no way he had just spent the last four days hunting this guy down only to come back with ‘goblin’. He would never live it down.
“Look, all I know is it looked like a kid but moved like a demon or something.” Looked like a kid? Nightwing frowned, trying to picture it. And maybe it had just been the phrasing but it looked suspiciously like his baby brother.
“When you say ‘kid’…” Nightwing prompted and Adam huffed, running a stressed hand through his knotted hair.
“I mean it was like 3 ft tall and carrying a sword half its size.” Adam paused before he could get too worked up and accidentally wake his family, risking a glance up towards the stairs before refocusing on the blue vigilante. “All I know is Halim was the best swordsman I’d ever met and that thing took him out like he was nothing but an ant in its path. After that I decided I wasn’t cut out for that line of work and I haven’t looked back since.” Adam finished and he wasn’t sure what to make with that. So he was outdone by a 3 ft tall demon? Something about that struck Nightwing as…familiar. Had he fought something like that? He feels like he would remember if he had.
“Look, I swear that’s all I know.” Adam interrupted his train of thought, anxiously fiddling with his hands. “Now can you please get out of here before you wake my wife?” For an ex-assassin this guy sure was nervous. Still, I guess he tried his best to be helpful. Nightwing thought as he nodded.
“Thanks for the information.” He called as he carefully moved back over to the open window he had crawled in through earlier. Or as he liked to call it ‘The vigilante’s door’. He only paused for a second as he threw his leg over the edge to say one last thing.
“Stay out of trouble!” He called back as he let loose his grapple and completely disappeared from view. Bruce would probably be more concerned about leaving a known ex-assassin alone, but he had never been as paranoid as Bruce anyway. He wasn’t a fan of the idea of stealing a father away from an innocent child. Besides it was clear Adam had no intention of returning to his old life anytime soon. Which may or may not be because he was traumatized by some small goblin creature. Regardless he was hardly a concern anymore.
I wonder what really attacked them… Well he’d just review with Bruce and see what he thought. Still he couldn’t shake that something about that guy's story had seemed familiar…
“He rocks in the treetops, all the day long”
It was at this moment his phone decided to give him a heart attack by blasting ‘Rockin’ Robin’ at full volume in the otherwise dead silent night.
“Oh shi-!” Dick cursed as he stumbled his landing, scrambling to right himself before he ate concrete. He only mostly succeeded.
“Hopping and a’bopping and a’singing his song”
Bobby Day continued to sing obnoxiously loud as Dick rapidly tried to pull out his phone, cursing all the while. Why do I never remember to silence the thing? He mentally scolded as he finally procured the stupid device from his pocket.
“Every little birdie on Jaybird Street, Loves to hear the Robin going tweet-”
“Hey, Damian, what’s up?” Dick answered, cutting the chorus off before it could get too far. He knew who was calling immediately due to the fact he had been the one to set Damian’s ringtone to the cheery song. It was a tradition he had unintentionally started back in his own Robin days when he had taken great joy in watching Bruce’s eye twitch every time he got a phone call. The man was absolutely convinced someone would connect the dots on his identity from it somehow. Then Jason had come along and Dick hadn’t been able to resist the chance to make a Jaybird joke. By the time Tim was Robin it just felt like a rite of passage.
At the time it had been a funny way to annoy both his dad and little brother. At the moment it was just very inconvenient. Dick took a second to glance at the time before he kept talking. “Shouldn’t you be asleep? Patrol ended over an hour ago.” He asked already preparing himself to once again have the argument that Damian did actually need sleep and no Bruce isn’t an example of a proper sleep schedule you’re 10 go to bed-
“You missed your check in two hours ago.” Damian spoke simply and Dick once again looked at the clock. I spent longer with Adam than I planned.
“Ah, yeah I was following a lead and it took longer than I thought.” He admitted and smiled when he heard Damian click his tongue at him. “How’d you know I promised to call B anyway? I don’t remember you being a part of that conversation.” Dick pointed out and Damian’s silence turned distinctly guilty.
“…I may have overheard Father mention it.”
“Uh-huh, and where exactly were you when you ‘overheard’?” Dick prompted knowing good and well Damian was avoiding saying something.
“It’s possible I may have been on the other side of the door.” And there it is. Dick thought, shaking his head fondly even if Damian wasn’t present to see it. The kid was as nosy as his parents. “That’s hardly the point. How was your lead?” Damian oh so smoothly changed the subject and Dick just hummed.
“Evidently our perp is a demonic goblin.” For a second Damian didn’t answer.
“…I’m not sure how to respond to that.” Was what he eventually settled on and Dick just laughed. He hadn’t really known what to say either.
“Yeah, I don’t really know what he was on about to be honest.” With the way that guy was talking you would’ve thought he’d seen a gremlin.
Wait…
Dick abruptly paused as he tracked that particular thought back. A three foot gremlin/goblin/demon like assassin that looks like a kid and supposedly took out their strongest man with ease…
Damian totally did it, didn't he?
Honestly, Dick felt like he probably should’ve realized it sooner. After all they all knew Damian was ordered to do plenty of missions like that back in the League. But still… The job had been over three years ago. How old had Damian even been? Seven? Maybe? The thought of a somehow even younger Damian being forced to do something like that made Dick more than a little nauseous.
“Grayson?” Damian asked, reminding Dick he was actually still in active conversation with the likely guilty party. Well I guess we're doing this the complicated way then. Dick absolutely could not solve this case. In fact no one could. He needed to get them off track as fast as possible.
“Sorry, spaced out” Dick lied, already planning out a incredibly farfetched lie to tell when he got back. Maybe I could actually sell him on the goblin angle? That’s not the weirdest thing to happen right? “What’d you say?”
“I asked if you would be coming home.” Damian repeated and Dick hummed affirmatively.
“Yeah, I’ll take the next Zeta back.” Hopefully I’ll have a totally full proof plan by then. Dick thought as he briefly considered if he should tell anyone. I’m sure Tim or Jason would help hide it from Bruce…No. Damian clearly didn’t want anyone to know. Dick would just have to stop everyone from finding out until he could get a minute alone to talk to Damian himself. He wasn’t looking to betray his trust. “You better be asleep when I get back though.” Dick teased only partially kidding and he could practically see him roll his eyes. Because Heaven forbid someone suggest Damian Wayne needs rest.
“I’m not a child.” Was the eloquent- predictable -answer he got in response.
“I’m pretty sure we’ve had this argument before. An argument you lost .” Dick couldn’t resist reminding and he fully expected the annoyed huff that he heard come through the phone.
“Whatever. I’ll see you when you get back.” Damian dismissed before abruptly hanging up without so much as a goodbye. Not that Dick had expected one. They weren’t really a family known for proper goodbyes. He blamed Bruce. He blames most of their bad habits on Bruce.
Now reasonably, Dick should tell everyone else that they have nothing to worry about regarding there being anymore problems from this particular incident, but that would require selling out his baby brother which he would quite literally rather stab out his own eye with a dull fork than do.
Eh won’t be the first time I’ve lied to Bruce. Dick thought with a shrug as he leapt off the roof. Honestly it’s not going to be the last.
Besides, if Bruce can’t find a culprit that’s quite literally right under his nose on his own, then he’s really not much of a detective now is he?
Ok so maybe things have gotten a bit out of hand.
Damian thought not for the first time as he once again tried to help his father bring himself to justice.
He really hadn’t meant to let it get this far. He was going to come clean after a day or two. But that had been before things had started getting…weird.
It had started when Tim suddenly started behaving strangely after he had come to get him for dinner. Since then, anytime someone so much as suggested the League, Tim would immediately interrupt to forcefully change the subject, generally to just degrade how poor of a human being Halim was. Which was odd since Damian was sure Tim had to know it was him who did it. The way he had been looking at him lately made that abundantly clear. He wasn’t even really being subtle.
“You know I actually heard something about another group framing jobs as League executions. Ya know, for distraction purposes. We should look into that instead.” There has been absolutely no such rumors.
“Note? No, I wasn’t able to find it, just a copy of what it had said. But I was able to create a semi-accurate timeline of this guys crimes and let me tell you-” Blatant lies.
“Talia? Yeah that’s an interesting theory Bruce, but wanna what else is interesting? How much money this guy had been making off of the families of his victims. Here, let me pull up the receipts…” Seriously?
Stranger still, Dick and Jason would just let him.
Though that could be because they were acting just as suspicious.
When Jason had come home two days prior, Damian hadn’t missed the league blade that he had tucked away in his things. So Damian had waited for him to tell Bruce all about what he’d found, putting an end to the frankly ridiculous affair, only for him to just shrug and say the entire estate had caught fire and nothing had been recoverable. The wink he’d sent Damian’s way suggested foul play.
“A fire?” Bruce repeated incredulously and Jason somehow managed to keep a straight face. “No one’s even stepped foot in the place in years and yet it suddenly caught flames?” An excellent point. Damian thought, curious as to what reasoning Todd would use.
“Yeah, I know. It’s some pretty trippy stuff. Must’ve been bad wiring. Or maybe it was just haunted.” Jason lazily shrugged as he spoke, already moving up the stairs to forcibly end the discussion. Damian really should’ve known better than to expect actual reason from him to be honest. “Anyway, it was a definite dead end so we should just scrap it, cool? Cool” Jason finished by answering his own question before fully ascending the stairs and leaving Damian and Bruce alone to sit and reflect on…whatever that was.
It had already been a week, he thought for sure that they all would’ve figured it out by now. He was a good assassin, but he wasn’t that good. He had been plenty satisfied that it took Tim almost two full days before he figured it out because whether he liked to admit it or not, Tim was objectively one of if not the world's greatest detective.
He was almost positive that even Pennyworth knew by now as the elder has been looking at them all with far more secretive amusement than normal. A sure sign he knew something they all don’t that he found to be funny. He just didn't understand why none of them didn't just say something. At this rate he was actually going to have to come clean on his own. He can only pretend to research himself so long.
“Robin, are you alright?” Bruce’s voice was enough to snap Damian back to the present with a little shake of his head.
“I’m fine,” He dismissed quickly as he stepped closer to where Batman was examining some old files the initial victim that started this disaster had had stored. “Have you found anything?” He asked and silently prayed that Bruce would put an end to this objectiveless case. Surely, The Batman had found him out at least? Bruce stayed silent for a long minute, just quietly examining Damian in a way that made him feel looked through.
“...Nothing, important.” Bruce eventually settled on, pocketing the papers before Damian could even attempt to discern what they said, though he could have sworn he saw a League insignia marking the bottom of the page. “We’re done here, let’s go.” Bruce abruptly ordered, not waiting for Damian’s agreement before quickly gliding out of the room, cape billowing behind him. Seriously? Damian thought in pure disbelief as he hastened to catch up with his father. He has to know I did it. How can he not know I did it? Is he actually going to have to confess?
“Batman, are you certain you-”
“We need to reconvene with the Commissioner.” Bruce spoke right over Damian as if he hadn’t said a word. They reached where they had parked the Batmobile on the side of the building and Bruce didn’t hesitate to jump in the driver's seat leaving the top open for Damian. Damian hopped in after only a moment of hesitance.
“I thought he already briefed you on everything they had found?” Damian questioned, slightly confused, buckling his seatbelt when Bruce sent him a look and refused to start driving.
“I want to take another look at his computer files, so I need to get his laptop from the police.” His computer files? Damian thought confused as he had thought he had already had Tim comb through them for all they were worth. Still, Damian supposed it would be good if he himself could look at it as he hadn’t been it shown before. Just in case there were any ties to the League that they would need to erase.
“Robin…” Bruce started almost hesitantly and Damian turned to look at him expectantly. “You know you can tell me anything, right?” Well that can’t be good. Damian may not have known the man an extremely long time but he’d known him long enough to know open communication wasn’t exactly his forte. Yet here Bruce was patiently waiting for Damian to answer.
“I know that, Father.” Damian carefully assured, waiting with bated breath for Bruce to continue. Is this finally it? Would Batman finally put an end to this charade? Another pause that had Damian tense with anticipation.
”…Good.” Apparently not.
He didn’t question his father again as they drove in silence to the GCPD nor did Bruce say any other randomly ominous statements. Hopefully this will be over soon. Honestly it was more exhausting to pretend to do work than to actually do it. He just wanted to close this.
So when Dick had called him telling him a ridiculous story about a goblin he had been relieved. There was no way Dick would actually believe that as even he had standards of what he deem too unreasonable, combine that with the fact Tim had told everyone about the League connection -regardless of his attempts to then sabotage that lead aside- and it would only be a matter of time before Grayson figured it out and announced it to them all.
At least that was what Damian had hoped.
That had been before Dick had come back and proceeded to tell Bruce they might be looking for a supernatural 3 ft tall sword creature, effectively destroying Damian’s dreams.
“There is absolutely no chance he met a literal goblin.” Tim deadpanned and Dick somehow kept a straight face as he nodded in contrast.
“Yup.”
There was a long pause in the cave as Tim, Jason, Bruce, and Damian all just stared at him like he'd lost his mind. Something he was not swayed in the least by.
“…yeah that makes sense.” Jason abruptly agreed, successfully turning all attention onto him instead.
“You cannot be serious.” Damian couldn’t believe he actually just heard Jason willingly agree with Dick and over something so idiotic.
“No, no, he may have a point.” Tim chimed in immediately contradicting himself from 30 seconds ago and Damian officially rescinded accepting these people as his brothers. He refused to be related to such stupidity. He was beginning to think none of them actually had any idea what was happening and they were just genuinely this incompetent.
“I mean it would explain how they were never found.” Tim continued and Damian just sent a desperate look towards his father silently pleading for help.
“...Because it’s a mythical creature?” Bruce clarified, sounding as though he was genuinely concerned for his children's sanity. None of them corrected themselves, Dick even going as far to double down.
“I mean technically dragons are also mythical creatures too, but we still have Goliath.” Dick argued and immediately Damian interrupted.
“Dragon-Bat” Damian corrected as technically Goliath wasn’t a traditional fire breathing dragon of myth. It had always been a pet peeve of his that people always got that wrong. Dick took the correction easily, just sending him a nod and a smile as he rested an arm across Damian’s shoulders but not dropping his argument. After another minute of Bruce silently waiting for Dick to drop the joke and actually discuss the case like an adult Bruce just sighed with a shake of his head and moved on. Evidently he could recognize a lost cause.
“Tim, what about you? Did you find any information on why the League may have wanted him taken out?” Bruce prompted and Damian nearly sagged in relief.
Finally. Damian knew for a fact that Tim had spent the last three nights going through just about every assassination the League had taken part in in the last three years. Undoubtedly he would have had to have found something. If not a connection to Damian himself than at least his mother.
Damian was left confused however when he looked over and saw all three of his brothers faces flash with… panic? Damian thought at a loss. Why are they panicked? Damian watched in fascination as they all three attempted to speak at once with varying degrees of urgency.
“Well actually there wasn’t all that much to find other than that one note and I-”
“You know I really don’t see the League being a factor. Maybe it meant literal shadows-?”
“I think we’re dismissing the possibility of supernatural interference a bit too quickly, I mean-”
What is wrong with them? This was strange behavior even for them which was saying something. They were all steadily raising their voices to be heard over one another while simultaneously cutting off Bruce’s every attempt to speak. Damian just watched them unravel with speechless interest.
“Maybe it was just a dwarf?” Jason proposed only for both Dick and Tim to frantically contradict him.
“No way, I don’t even think the perpetrator is that small, it's probably a trick.” Tim brazenly suggested only for Dick to interrupt before he could continue.
“Maybe it wasn’t an assassination at all? Did you ever think of that?”
“Dick, what-“
“No, because that’s stupid you-”
This is getting ridiculous. Damian didn’t know why they were behaving this way but if he had to be the one to move this along then so be it.
“Drake, are you certain you didn’t find anything else regarding the League?” Damian asked, giving one last hope that someone else would actually admit it so he wouldn’t have to. Is it really too much to ask that someone just call him out already? “I could help you search if-” Damian didn’t even get to finish his sentence as all three of them cut him off with matching sharp looks.
“NO!”
Well ok then.
“Is there something you three would like to share?” Bruce finally managed to get more than a single word out without being interrupted, giving them a single critical raised brow. Damian was wondering the same thing. Yet none of them budged.
“No.”
“I’m good.”
“Nothing to tell.”
Tim went as far as to send a glare Damian’s way as a silent but clear warning to stay quiet which didn’t make any sense unless-
That is unless…
Oh.
Immediately Damian bit down hard on his lower lip to prevent giving himself away as Bruce continued to stare doubtfully at his three elder children. A full minute passed before he let out a long exhausted sigh.
“Alright, I think this has gone on long enough.” Bruce huffed and Damian didn’t even have the luxury to celebrate. He took as subtle as a step he could behind Dick as his shoulders began to shake, dislodging Dick’s arm as his brother's attempts at keeping his secret got progressively worse. A truly impressive feat considering they had already reached supernatural excuses.
“What’s gone on long enough? Crime?”
“Did you pull another triple all nighter, B? Because you’re not making any sense.”
“I still think magic could definitely be in play here. Maybe we should call Zatanna?”
Damian was breaking. He was forced to reach forward and latch onto Dick’s shirt as he attempted to bury his face into the man’s back. I cannot believe them. They all knew. There was no denying that.
There was also no denying they were clearly under the impression they were the only ones that knew.
They think they’re protecting me. Damian wasn’t sure if he should be touched that they all cared enough to do so or offended that they thought he was so fragile he was unable to handle them knowing in the first place. Which while he had been avoiding telling them, it was more for his own curiosity than anything. Either way it was both very confusing and incredibly entertaining.
Suddenly latching onto his eldest brother of course drew his attention as Dick immediately stopped arguing to try and turn towards him. Unsuccessfully since Damian steadfastly refused to surface. There would be no recovering if he did and he knew it.
“Damian? What's wrong?” Dick asked gently, concern as clear as day in his tone. Damian refused to come up though. Practically his entire body was trembling with the effort it took to keep himself composed.
“Now see what you did?!” Jason shouted, spinning around to point at an affronted Bruce.
“I haven’t even said anything to him.”
“It was implied.”
“I’m with Jay, it was totally you.” Tim agreed, heartlessly throwing Bruce under the bus.
“Are you ok, sweetheart?” Dick asked, continuing to ignore everyone other than his Robin as he finally pried Damian out from his back. Damian tried to re-bury himself but Dick’s firm grip kept him front and center. “Damian-“
“Are you laughing?” Jason demanded, apparently over his need to start a fight with his father as he caught on to what exactly was happening with Damian.
Damian tried to stop, he really did, bringing his hands up over his mouth in an attempt to muffle the sound but it wasn’t very effective.
“Y-you all-“ Damian tried to talk but broke off in another fit of near silent breathy laughter. All of them are so sentimental.
“I went to Japan for you, you absolute little-“
“Holy crap. He’s actually laughing.” Tim sounded more surprised Damian was capable of laughing at all than he was at the time Damian chose to show he could. Jason just looked ready to throttle him for putting all of them through this to begin with as he continued to rant. Dick just gave a sort of disappointed/tired sounding sigh that made him seem much older than he was.
“I’m gonna take a guess here and say we all know?” Dick asked cutting Jason off, not even bothering to specify what he meant as he stepped away from Damian. He didn’t need to as he was right, they did all know. No need to state the obvious. Damian just laughed harder.
“Damian,” Bruce’s serious tone was enough to sober Damian almost immediately as he finally managed to take a full breath without wheezing.
“Y-yes?”
“Next time just tell us, alright?” Bruce did his best to sound stern but the amused tilt of his lips diluted the effect. He thinks it’s funny too.
“Yes, Father.”
“Really?” Tim spoke and Damian spared him an annoyed look that had no heat. He was still far too entertained to feel real annoyance. “All that and you just admit it?”
“Technically I never denied it.” Damian felt the need to point out. He gave all of them plenty of opportunities to call him out. It’s not his fault they didn’t take them. He hadn't even told a single lie during this whole thing. “You never asked.”
“Because I thought you were scared of Bruce’s reaction or something!“ Tim defended and Damian officially decided that offense was definitely the correct emotion to be feeling.
“Why would I be scared of my own father?” Damian had definitely done much worse things than kill some horrible murderer when he was still with his mother. Like killing Nobody in cold blood right in front of Bruce just to name one. Or attempting to kill Tim himself to name another. “Besides, it’s not like I wanted to do it.” He felt slightly guilty at the wince Dick gave in response to that particular reminder of his past. They all tended to react badly when he brought up almost anything relating to before he moved to Gotham. He didn't really get why. His upbringing wasn't that bad.
“If you weren’t worried about that, then why didn’t you say anything?” Dick was on the brink of sounding hurt. Which was not something any of them wanted. Still his actual reason wasn’t that great.
“Damian…” Bruce warned, clearly somehow sensing his less than worthy excuse.
“…I was curious to see how long it would take for you all to solve it.” He admitted after a moment feeling only slightly guilty. Mostly he was still amused by the fact they had such poor communication skills.
“Why? You taking notes?” Tim joked only for Dick to promptly introduce his stomach to his elbow.
“He’s kidding.” Dick spoke quickly, glaring the younger boy down, an ineffective form of reprimand as Tim was actively hunched over as he tried to breathe with a slight wheeze. “We know you’re not like that now, Damian.” While Damian appreciated the sentiment, Dick’s assurances were entirely unnecessary.
As Drake wasn’t entirely wrong. He kind of was looking for pointers on what he could have done wrong.(From a stealth perspective obviously) He also admittedly didn’t have much regret. (On hiding it, regret on the murder is an entirely separate event). Besides, he had been here long enough to recognize when people weren't being serious. At least for the most part.
“Look, I was going to tell you all the next night but then Drake started acting weird and I obviously had to see that play out.” Damian defended and was rewarded when Jason snorted. A look at the older man showed him wearing a smirk looking thoroughly entertained. It would seem Damian was forgiven for making him go to Japan for the time being.
“So what you’re saying is it’s actually all Tim’s fault?” Jason quipped, officially moving up on the list of Damian’s favorite family members. He knew there was a reason they kept him around.
“Yes.”
“Excuse me?!”
“Whoever's fault it was,” Dick spoke loudly over the quickly escalating argument, regaining all of their attention. “It’s done with now and we can actually close this case from Hell.” Now that’s a plan I can support.
“Damian, I expect at least some semblance of a report on what you can remember soon, alright?” Bruce tacked on before they could fully move on and Damian didn’t even try to protest. He probably owed that much. Bruce had started rubbing a hand across his head as though in a great deal of pain and it made Damian feel a little bad.
For a few relatively peaceful moments, there was silence.
So of course Jason had to ruin it.
“Ok, but a goblin?” Jason repeated, voice dripping with judgment as he gave Dick a truly unimpressed look. Great. Let’s start this again. “That was the best you could do?”
“Ok, first of all, I am not taking criticism from the guy that claimed a house spontaneously combusted due to ghosts.” Dick started and Tim seemed to get over his indignation enough to laugh at Jason’s expense. “Secondly, I didn’t make that up. That guy really did tell me he thought Damian was a goblin.” Damian couldn't help but feel he’s been insulted.
“He sounds grossly incompetent.” Damian mumbled and while Dick didn’t verbally agree he did incline his head in what is recognized as the universal sign for ‘kinda’.
“You’re just upset he thought you were short.” Tim boldly claimed and Damian just glared.
“I wasn’t short, I was six.” He had technically been six and ten months but that was besides the point. He was a completely acceptable height for a child of that age. He got more pained winces for that reminder, this time from more than just Dick. So sensitive.
“Ok,” Dick spoke up before he and Tim could properly get into it. “We’re ending this discussion now, the case is closed.” It was not a question or suggestion, merely a statement of facts. There was enough of a dangerous undertone to his words that none of them contested it. No one wanted the Grayson temper to make an appearance tonight.
“So, is now a good time to mention I did kinda hack some international authorities database to delete some evidence?” Tim broached after another second and Bruce gave a long suffering sigh.
“Tim, I don’t know if there’s ever a good time for that.” Bruce deadpanned and Tim just gave a shameless shrug.
“You would have had to do it eventually if I didn’t.” Tim pointed out and Bruce just sighed again. The serious air had all but evaporated.
“Anyone wanna watch a movie?” Dick abruptly asked, earning all of their attention. There was a brief pause before anyone actually answered.
“...Yeah, ok” Jason agreed first with a carefree half shrug of his shoulders, not waiting for Dick as he already started to make his way back upstairs. “I’m gonna go bother Alfred for some coco and make some popcorn.” Dick grinned at him as he left before refocusing on his adoptive father and youngest brothers.
“What movie?” Tim asked suspiciously which was an important thing to factor in. Dick was notorious for choosing ridiculously childish or idiotic movies. At least in Damian’s opinion.
“‘ The Princess Bride’ .”
“Alright, sure,” Tim also caved, moving to follow after Jason. What do they see in that movie? Damian wondered not for the first time. For some reason all of them seemed to enjoy the odd film.
“Dami?” Dick prompted after another minute and Damian felt any resolve fly out the window. He did kind of owe them.
“Fine, but only if Father comes too.” Damian conditioned as both him and Dick focused their attention on the sole hold out.
“Boys I still have to-”
“It can wait a few hours.” Dick cut off the admittedly half hearted protest and Bruce pretended to resist another second before giving out one last ancient sigh.
“I suppose I have time for one movie.” Dick beamed and then with no warning whatsoever , scooped Damian off the ground.
“Grayson!” Damian yelped, pushing lightly against his chest as Dick moved him to rest on his hip. Dick was undeterred as he happily strutted towards the stairs.
“You let me think you were crying, let me have this.” He’s playing dirty. Damian both externally and internally grumbled but did allow Dick to hold him a minute longer. He could deal with it until they made it up the stairs at least. Honestly he still couldn’t believe just how ridiculous his family was what with their outlandish excuses of ghosts and goblins. Truly they did anything but talk to each other. Still… Damian sighed as he laid his head against Dick’s shoulder, comfortable in his brother's arms.
I suppose they’re not so bad.