Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

All he had known all his life was darkness. What he was, if you could call him “he” instead of “it”, all that time was a state between consciousness and unconsciousness. He had the capacity to at least feel, feel the liquid around him. The wires. He could hear sometimes. Voices of men and women. One particular woman’s voice was what people would call comforting. It was like something settled within him when she would speak. He would like to be able to meet this woman one day. Maybe once he’s fully ready, as is one of the men’s responses when she asks when he will be released.

That was the typical day to day, but this day in particular was different. It was loud, loud voices, terrible voices. Suddenly, the world of liquid around him exploded. Exploded into sharp pieces stabbing him in places. It was extremely uncomfortable, pain is what they would call it, huh? He felt a solid surface below him, it was cold, grainy, and a lot different from the liquid he’s always had known. And it was bright, so bright. Blinding, almost. But his eye adjusted soon enough, and for the first time the experiment could see something other than the back of his eyelid.

What he saw in front of him was a man, a tall man. Tan skin, green eyes, hair that was brown with some white. He had a sharp object up to the throat of an “experiment”, or what appeared to be a small boy with something off, a woman was protecting. A beautiful woman, who looked quite similar to the man with the sword. The woman kept calling the experiment my son, while bargaining with the man. She sounded quite similar to the one who would visit him most often. 

All he felt, now, was the touch of soft hands and lips on his forehead, telling him it would all be ok. He then felt himself be lifted up into strong arms. Oh, smell. She smelt nice. It was comforting. So comforting. He liked this world better than what was the liquid he called a “home”.

The experiment and the woman reached a room. A large one. It smelt just like the woman. She placed him on what he would later find out was a bed. As the woman paced the room, the experiment saw…something looking back at him. This figure looked like the woman and the man from earlier, but not quite. It was maybe a person, they just looked..wrong. wrong, wrong, wrong. Unlike the man and woman, in which each side of their face looked similar and had the same flesh everywhere, this person looked like they were missing parts on the right side of their face. Their “teeth” were not fully covered with their flesh on their right side, well their flesh in general on that side of the face was not fully formed. They had some semblance of an eye there, but it looked to be not fully formed. There was a hard white material in some places flesh should’ve been. Or there was some flesh, but it looked wrong. Stringy, woven, and a reddish brown instead of a tan or pale color. 

He looked down to the rest of the person’s body, it was at least more put together than their face. The only thing off was their leg being slightly deformed. Or, rather, not fully formed similar to their eye. The hand of this person was similar to the leg. Some digits were wrapped in flesh, others were not. It was a common occurrence throughout this person’s body. It was almost right, but not 100% correct. 

The experiment, himself, raised his hand slowly. He wasn’t sure why, it was some instinct in him to raise it when seeing another person. He then wondered how he knew all these words, how he was able to move, how he knew anything at all. Maybe he would ask the woman. Where was she anyway?

His focus was back on the person in front of him, but he realized they were copying his movements.

He closed his hand.

Opened it.

Closed it.

The person in front of him copied.

Oh. That was him. That person was him.

As he looked at himself, the woman came with some supplies. Wraps, scissors, crutches, and gauze. The experiment, in this moment, decided to attempt to speak. 

“Wha…who z…ah” 

The woman just shushed him and responded as she was wrapping the right side of his face. 

“Your name is Damian Al Ghul Wayne. You are supposed to be biologically 10 years old. You are my son. You can call me Mother. That’s all you need to know. Soon, you will be as complete as you can be.”

She, or Mother, continued to wrap the unformed parts of his body. He just watched in fascination. How did he know that he wasn’t fully formed? How did he know the word “formed”? How is he able to even question this? And what she had told him, he understood it. But he shouldn’t be able to. How does he know he shouldn’t be able to comprehend this?

Mother grabbed his hand while saying, “Come. You should already know how to walk, you may limp a little.”

He obeyed, not knowing what else to do. Hopefully, if he followed what she was telling him to do she would answer his questions later.

It was somewhat uncomfortable “walking”, as she called it. He wasn’t walking like Mother, whose posture was straight and each step was like the other. But she had told him in passing that they would fix this soon enough.

Damian wasn’t sure how long he was walking for, but they reached the man who had pointed the sharp object to Damian’s throat. The walls and ground were similar to that hard surface Damian had fallen on earlier, there was also a green liquid behind him alongside steps leading up to a seat.

“I hope your intuition is right, daughter. The body I become will not be a broken one. If you say you can find another use in this failed experiment, prove it. I’ve provided physicians capable of great things, they will be able to fix…Damian as you call him to the best of their capabilities.”, he stepped closer to Mother and continued, “Don’t make me regret this.” 

Mother simply said, “I can assure you, I will not.”

The man walked away, telling mother, “The physicians are in the medical chambers. Leave the…boy….there and they will do as I told them.”

“Thank you, Father.” Mother spoke as she walked away with Damian.

Chapter Text

“I assure you, Miss al Ghul, we did everything humanely possible.”, a foreign voice spoke.

Damian was cracking his eye, or now eyes, open. There was a bright light above him, and he heard beeping noises alongside the stranger’s voice.

He felt…off. He felt awake, but still drowsy. It was like everything was slowed down, including his movements. Dazed. Yes, dazed was the word. His body felt weird as well. Before, he could only feel a handful of limbs. Now, almost nothing was felt. His face also felt weird. Tighter and painful. Not quite as painful as the sharp shards that had stabbed him yesterday, was that yesterday? But still, painful.

He felt the end of the soft, cushioned surface he was on dip and some other movement, one he could not identify.

“‘Humanely’ is a bold term. I told you to build him from what we have, a few robotic limbs or prosthetics if necessary but generally as human looking as possible. Not cut him up and replace half his body with robotics.”

“Miss al Ghul, restoring his face and parts of his stomach and torso were the most important parts. We only took his leg to use that flesh to reconstruct his right side of his face and certain parts of his body with flesh. We very well could’ve kept it even while using the flesh, but life will be more comfortable without it. Especially in combat, as you intend to teach him. This is a top of a line replacement. Respectfully, we’re no miracle workers. Leg like that, and muscle and bone exposed, there’s only so much reconstruction we can do without robotics.“

“That is sound enough reasoning,” Damian heard a sigh of relief come from somewhere, “But I fail to understand why there is…let’s say ‘enhancements’ to his new limbs.”

He heard more shuffling, seemingly from the doctor, “Well, at your father’s request-“

The weight from the end of his bed suddenly disappeared. He heard clacking and what he assumed to be the hard surface. “This is not my father’s son, he doesn’t even see the boy as human, let alone family. I told you to ignore what he said and to follow my directions for my son. My directions were to do what you could to restore his body, wait until he was adjusted, then add enhancements as I see necessary. Which I doubt was even going to be needed in the first place since he has the blood of al Ghul and the Bat running throughout his veins even with his…disadvantages.”

“W-well, you see. This is also a huge advancement in medical and military technology! An eye and hand like this is truly extraordinary! We didn’t even have to change his skeletal system to connect the robotic limb for him to move it at will. But the eye is truly impressive, as you know, he’s able to-“

There was a sound of a liquid pouring and something hitting the floor.

“Take him. I’ll find a physician myself that’s able to keep up with my son and my directions. Tell my Father that I will take it from here, and that my way is the way where he won’t end up disappointed with the result.”

Damian felt the end of his bed dip once again, a sigh, but from Mother instead. Alongside that, he heard something being dragged and soft ,but also, loud sound. Then a click.

“Mother?”, Damian croaked out. He was able to speak more clearly now, thankfully.

He opened his eyes fully and saw his mother in clear lighting, and double vision, for the first time. But, when he moved his right eye, it sounded weird. A hiss and some metal clacking. More noticeable, words would pop up in that eye. Words he, but no one else he assumed, could see. Somehow, he could read. He really needed to ask mother about this.

PERSON: TALIA AL GHUL

AFFILIATION: LEAGUE OF ASSASSINS 

HIGHLY DANGEROUS, LETHAL

BODY LANGUAGE SHOWS SIGNS OF STRESS, WORRY, AND ANNOYANCE 

NON DEFENSIVE POSITION

8 OPEN LETHAL AREAS OF ATTACK

10 OPEN NON LETHAL AREAS OF ATTACK

Each “open area of attack” had boxes around them with arrows.

“Ah, good morning habibi. I see you are able to talk and fully see now? and memory is still intact. Excellent.”

Damian slowly sat up, some pain shooting to multiple areas at once on his stomach and chest, “How long?”

“Around 2 weeks. Your procedure took quite a while, but the physician did a fine enough job, I suppose.”

Damian made a sound, showing he was listening, but he got distracted by his hand. It made a similar sound to his eye as he opened and closed it. It was strange. He had full control over it, but he couldn’t feel it. Unlike his left hand in which he could feel the flesh as he closed it, he couldn’t say the same for his hand.

“Mother, why can’t I feel? Why can I understand, walk, talk, but I don’t understand at the same time. And, who is “the Bat”? Is it the man we saw? Why-“

“Shhh, slow down. All will be answered in due time. Though, I can tell you this.”, Mother inhaled, then exhaled, “You were created in a different way than most people, in what we call a lab. Most people are born from their mother’s womb, but you’re special. You see, you needed to be heavily monitored to be the perfect heir to our family. So instead of the traditional way, you were grown from your father and I’s DNA in a glass container with lots of people looking after you. But, some things went wrong and you came out…different then expected. My father, the man from earlier that you may call grandfather, wanted to abandon the project since he wanted a fully able bodied boy to be heir to our legacy. I told him even if you couldn’t be heir, I could make you an excellent soldier and assassin, especially since you had great blood in you. You could even maybe be a body guard for the true heir if they ever come to be.”

Mother cleared her throat, “You are able to understand almost everything because I made it so your brain would be more advanced, despite being newly created. Obviously, some things will come from experience, but your brain is able to comprehend most. You also have some prior knowledge already, mostly basic information but not everything since some things didn’t go as planned. More things will slowly come to you though, I’m sure of it. You will adapt soon enough, and all will make sense.”

That explanation kind of gave Damian more questions than answers, like who was his father? What’s or who is a father? but he would accept it for now. He doubted Mother would tell him anymore anyway.

Mother then stood up and put her hand on top of Damian’s head, “You will rest and recover here for a few days, but I will visit when I’m able to. For now, here’s some entertainment for you. Some books and classic literature.” she gently threw said books on Damian’s lap, “Once you are recovered, your physical training will begin.” She then kissed the top of his head, gave a slight smile, and then walked away.

Damian put the books on the table beside him, lied back down, and lifted his robotic hand. Spinning it around and playing with each finger.

His father was probably this “Bat”. For some reason, a small, black creature with wings, a skinny, cylinder like body, and fangs popped in his head. Mother had said he had some prior knowledge of the world in his head, so he assumed this is what a bat was. Is this what his father looked like? The bat was half of him, maybe that’s why he came out wrong. 

After a few minutes, he picked up one of the books mother had left with him.

<<<<<<<<

After a couple hours, Damian realized he was deathly bored. 

Mother said he could walk, so perhaps he could just walk around the room himself? If he knew how right out the tank, right after a procedure shouldn’t be that much different. On the upside, his leg was more comfortable to walk with according to the man from earlier, so everything should be fine.

Damian sat back up, moved the blanket from his lap, and turned to the side where his feet were dangling off the bed.

For the first time, he saw his new leg. It was like his hand, metal, silver, and making an odd sound, similar to his eye, when he moved his toes around. Unlike his hand, which was…only his hand? Not his whole arm, his leg went up to his hip. 

Slowly, Damian placed his metal leg on the ground, then his other leg, and stood up. To his surprise, it didn’t hurt. In fact, it felt natural. The pain from his procedure had dulled down a long while ago. Most of the incisions healed as well, was this normal for people? Why had Mother given him multiple days to recover then?

He took one step forward, another, another, and another. He had kinda stumbled the first couple steps, but his body adapted and he got used to the motion, well enough to at least walk around the room he was in.

The “medical chamber”, as he recalls Grandfather saying, was pretty much all white. No clear walls here either, or windows. Windows. The word kind of just popped in his head. Huh. That’s what Mother had meant.

There wasn’t much to look at besides a tray of medical supplies, a couple cabinets full of different medications, and a sink. At first, he wasn’t sure what the sink was. And he definitely did not jump back after turning one of the handles toward him, effectively turning on the water. He then turned it away from him. Then toward. Then back. Damian is pretty sure he did this for around 20 minutes until he found himself bored again. He looked up and was greeted by himself. 

Oh. There was that reflective surface again. It was different then the one in the room Mother had taken him to. The one in what he assumed to be Mother’s room was long and large, outlined in gold, and leaned against a wall next to a table with another reflective glass on top of it with different gold and beautiful items scattered throughout. 

His face was different. More like Mother’s and Grandfather’s, but still not exactly. 

There was a squiggly scar like looked like his face was split in two. It started at the top of his forehead, then went down to his nose, but in the middle of his nose it dipped more to the right creating a squiggle. That wasn’t the only scar, the way it was put on was patchy, and it was clear that the skin that was now there did not truly. The skin on the right was clearly different from the one on the left. 

It was clearly a different texture than the skin on the left, not that his skin was oily, but it was a difference easier to notice with the scar going down his face. The right was slightly drier then the left. 

He also couldn’t feel much on the right side of his face he noticed. He had pinched both his cheeks to text this, and it was clear all feeling was gone.

His eye was different as well. Unlike his left eye, which was white and green, his right eye was silver and metal, with some visible indents. Though, one similarity was that it had green right in the center of it.

Eventually, he got bored of analyzing the changes made to his body and went around the room once again. There wasn’t much he could do, this was him now and he had to just move on.

He had more pressing matters, like figuring out how to make up for his disadvantages. It was clear to him and everyone that he was different. Everything was different about him from everyone else, but not in a good way where he was far beyond everyone else, like Mother seemed to intend.

No. He was born broken and wrong. Wrong. Weaker. This “physical” training was likely to make up for it. The disappointment of everyone around him was clear enough. Damian was made to be the perfect heir to whatever his family has. But he was born an imperfect, insignificant boy instead of something great.

But Damian would not accept this. He could accept his body being the way it was, even if he hated it, but he would not accept being inferior to everyone just because the way he came out was different than intended. He would follow what the original plan for his life was, and do it 10 times better.

He was wrong, just wrong, so wrong and disgusting compared to everyone around him. Beautiful. Strong. Symmetrical. But he told himself it didn’t matter. He will overcome his disadvantage. He will make Mother proud, maybe even Grandfather too. So proud he won’t feel the need to make a different heir.

At this point, Damian was pacing around the room, stumbling a bit at times but picking himself everytime. He contemplated going outside the room, after all if he did as he intended this would be his one day. But he decided against it. Mother would likely be upset and even more disappointed than she already was.

He sat back down on his bed and stared at his leg. This cursed leg. This cursed body.

He sighed and flopped back on his bed and put his arm over his eyes.

He realized he missed Mother. How long has it been without her? Would he ever meet this bat? Silently, he hoped not. If this bat wasn’t significant enough to be alongside mother, he was probably not all that much compared to her and Grandfather. Or he would be here, right?

Maybe he was like Damian, wrong. Maybe he’s why he became wrong. Wrong, broken, disadvantaged, everything. Yes, Mother was too perfect to be the reason he came out like this. It was the Bat. The bat was why he was like this. 

As he laid in his bed, the door swung open. He was greeted by Mother.

His eye told him that she was highly defensive, worried, determined, and angry. She also had red liquid on her, and was holding a pointed weapon, a sword his brain told him, with the same liquid on it.

“Mother? Is it time for training now?”

“Not quite. Unfortunately, plans are changing, thanks to your grandfather.”, Mother spoke sternly as she threw some clothes on Damian’s lap. “Get changed. Quickly. It’s time to meet your father.”

Chapter Text

The new clothes Mother had given Damian were a lot more comfortable than the hospital gown he formally was in. He couldn’t imagine running, like he is now, with that thing on.

Damian had his non mechanical hand in his Mother’s as they ran from multiple masked men. Mother had another weapon now, what his brain told him was a gun, and she was shooting the men that were further. Those who got close enough, she simply kicked away, and then shot.

Damian was not too focused on this though, he was more focused on the beauty that surrounded him. Beautiful mountains, beautiful buildings, everything was just so breathtaking. Describing what he saw could never do it justice. He hoped we would stay for longer, but what happens happens, he supposes. Mother and him will likely take shelter in the Bat’s home until her and Grandfather come to an agreement.

In one of the books he read while resting, called Little House on the Prairie, he found more information on what a father is. He mostly noticed the relationship between the mother, or “Ma” as they call her, and father, “Pa”. They obviously cared for each other very deeply and went very well together, balancing one another out. He concluded that most Mother and Fathers are like this towards one another, and maybe the Bat and Mother had their reasons for being temporarily separated like in Little Woman, another book he had read, but ultimately were like Ma and Pa, loving each other through all hardships and balancing one another out. The backbone of the family. His theory was also supported through Mother speaking highly of the Bat, or Father he supposes, so far. Not that much was said, but he obviously must be grand since she said Damian would overcome his disadvantages since he was the son of the Bat and the al Ghuls, not just the al Ghuls.

His train of thought was soon cut off by another yelling at him to duck down due to another masked man coming to directly attack Damian. As Damian glanced behind him, his eye read:

IDENTITY: UNKNOWN

AFFILIATION: LEAGUE OF ASSASSINS

DANGEROUS AND LETHAL

SIGNS OF DETERMINATION AND HOMICIDAL INTENT

OFFENSIVE POSITION

5 OPEN LETHAL AREAS OF ATTACK

NO NON LETHAL AREAS DETECTED 

Instantly, he shot his hand out and grabbed the man’s throat. The man kicked Damian across the chin, but Damian did not drop him. Instead, he gave the man’s neck a light squeeze. A sharp pop rang out and the man stopped moving. 

Damian looked at the man in confusion, head tilted. He didn’t even squeeze that hard he was pretty sure, was this man actually dead? 

“Drop him, don’t dwell on it. Come we must get going.”, Mother said in a rushed tone as she kicked the last man away.

Of course, Damian followed as Mother told him. She dragged him away and he was met with loud sounds. Sounds he couldn’t describe. It was like the wind was snapping, and it felt as though he was going to fly away from the power from the source of the sound.

It was like a small ship, the ones described in a few of the stories he had read, metallic like material. But instead of on the sea, it was on the ground with large propellers on top of it.

There was a man as well, standing at what looked to be the door of this object. He was tall, with white hair, and most strikingly, an eyepatch.

Mother sprinted to the object, Damian’s hand in her’s, and quickly motioned him to get in with her following behind.

“You owe me for this, al Ghul.”

“Don’t forget our little deal, Wilson. I owe you nothing after I uphold my half. Now fly.”, Mother spoke to the white haired man in a sharp tone as she put two padded objects connected in the middle of Damian’s ears. The eye patched man had something similar on top of his head as well, and Mother began to put her own pair on.

The man did as he was told, and suddenly whatever they were in felt as though it was rising up. Damian was quick to look out a nearby window, and saw that they truly were risen up from the ground. The men from early looked like small ants, insignificant. Huh.

The white haired man, Wilson, was obviously not his Father. Mother was way too harsh to him for him to be as such. 

As Damian continued to look out the window, Mother let out a sigh of relief as she patted his head. He leaned into the touch, but noticed the man in the front silently side eyeing them.

Damian looked back at the man straight on.

NAME: SLADE WILSON “DEATH STROKE”

AFFILIATION: MULTIPLE 

ESTIMATED COMBAT PROFICIENCY: 97%

RECOMMENDATION: DO NOT ATTACK

SIGNS OF CURIOSITY

Oh, that was different.

Wilson gave Damian a slight smile. 

“I would recommend that you stop looking at my son, Wilson.” Mother put her hand over Damian’s face and brought him closer to her side.

“Hard not to, what happened?”

“‘What happened’ does not concern you.”

Wilson simply hummed at this and continued to operate the machine.

>>>>>>>

Damian wasn’t sure how long it had been, but the machine eventually reached the ground once again and Mother put a light hand on his back.

“We have arrived, Miss al Ghul, but don’t forget our deal,” the pale man looked to Damian, “or there will be consequences.”

He reached to touch Damian’s face, a movement Damian himself was not totally familiar with, but Mother slapped the older man’s head away with a glare.

Mother sneered, “I can assure you, I won’t.” 

She pretty much dragged Damian out of the machine, and stayed there with him until she was sure Wilson had left.

They were on top of a tall building, taller than any building back at his first home, or second? The air here was different as well, more dirty and more cloudy. You could see some smoke when you glanced below. It was also noticeably louder, loud ringing, yelling, glass breaking, and shouting. He sort’ve wished he stayed in the other place, but at least Mother was with him.

“Are we going to see Father now?”

“He’ll come to us soon enough, we just have to stay here for now.”

Damian hummed and continued to look down below the building. 

“Is Father strong?”

“Yes, he’s a great warrior.”

“Why is he called the Bat?”

“You’ll see once he gets here.”

“Is he stronger than you and Grandfather?”

“Sometimes yes, sometimes no.”

“Is-“

Suddenly, Mother shoved him back behind a cement structure on top of the building. Before he could say anything, he saw what Mother was protecting him from. That likely was not Father, he was far too young and nothing like a bat. More clownish.

“Timothy Drake. How unpleasant seeing you here.”

“Talia. Hoping for Batman I’d wager. Sorry news for you but he’s busy with something far more important than whatever relationship issues you two are having now. What brings you to Gotham? I’m sure it’s not our spectacular tourist attractions.”

The two circled one another in highly defensive positions, according to Damian’s eye.

NAME: TIMOTHY DRAKE-WAYNE; RED ROBIN

AFFILIATION: GOTHAM VIGILANTES

HIGHLY DANGEROUS, LIKELY NON LETHAL

SIGNS OF DEFENSE, ANIMOSITY, AND CURIOUSITY

“What I’m here for is none of your concern. Call Batman at once, I have pressing news for him.”

“Sorry lady, no can do. I can be the messenger though, unless said news forces me to put you in Arkham. Either way, Batman will get the news.”

Mother looked at Timothy, looked back at where Damian was placed, and then at the sky. She sighed for the umpteenth time that day.

“Unfortunately, I am in a rush and have no time to fight an insignificant sidekick. I suppose you will do as an escort. Damian, habibi, come out.” 

Damian, of course, listened and came to stand beside Mother.

NAME: TIMOTHY DRAKE-WAYNE; RED ROBIN

AFFILIATION: GOTHAM VIGILANTES

HIGHLY DANGEROUS, LIKELY NON LETHAL

SIGNS OF DEFENSE, CONFUSION, AND WORRY

“This is Damian al Ghul Wayne, or what my beloved would call your brother and him and I’s son. I trust you can take Damian safely from here to his Father. I would hope he would drop whatever is more important than I for our son. Goodnight to you Timothy. Don’t perish.”

She pushed Damian towards the man, or boy he should say, and began to walk away.

Damian instantly ran to her, grabbed her hand, and worriedly asked, “Mother, wait, weren’t you staying with Father and I? Whose the boy? I’d wish you’d stayed. If not forever at least for a bit.”

Mother looked down and confessed solemnly, “Apologies, but I cannot until this is handled. It’s for the best, Damian. Once everything is said and done, I will come back for you.”, her hand twitched like she was holding back, “Farewell for now, Habibi. Be strong.”

With that, she jumped off the building, and disappeared.

Damian stared at where she had been for what seemed for an eternity. He already missed her. Missed the mountains. Clean air. Clear skies.

A voice suddenly spoke 

“So, nice to meet you, I guess. I’m Tim, well currently Red Robin.” he cleared his throat and extended his hand. Damian didn’t show any signs he would reciprocate the action and just stared at the teen.

“On my planet, this is where we would shake hands.”

“Do not patronize me, or I will break your face.”

“At least we’d look related if you did.”

Damian was only fully conscious and technically truly alive for maybe only around two weeks, but in those two weeks he learned he’s not one to break promises.

As such, a punch was thrown at the older boy’s face. 

Chapter Text

Tim Drake has had a lot of bad days in his life, more than the average person most likely. But, this day in particular is probably ranked in the top 10 worst days where someone didn’t die, get kidnapped, or was presumed dead.

Currently, he was attempting to wrestle and tie up a small, frankenstein looking kid who just got dropped off by his adoptive dad’s ex-girlfriend who claims this kid is their biological son. Maybe insulting this very clearly physically disfigured kid he just met a couple minutes ago to his face and insulting him specifically about said physical disfigurement was a bad call, but in his defense it kind of just slipped out and ,even before this, it was a considerably shitty day. Scratch that, weeks. The manor was somehow out of Celsius, this case him and B were working on was dead end after dead end, Jason and Bruce were fighting once again for some reason which put B in a slightly more shitty mood than usual, Dick is MIA and “busy with Bludhaven”, and Bruce decided to send Tim away from investigating a suspect for the case that was actually going somewhere to deal with why ever Talia decided to grace Gotham with her presence. 

Ok maybe not the worst thing to happen ever, but still. Shitty. 

But the cherry on top of this day was ending his patrol wrestling this cyborg (ok maybe he should chill it with the insults, kid probably has issues, but kind of hard not to when he just punched you in the face. Albeit, deserved.) with a probably broken nose.

The kid, or Damian, was stronger than your average child. His prosthetic limbs clearly had battle enhancements, and his gene pool probably gave him some natural god-given strength.

Though, Damian wasn’t the neatest fighter ever and clearly untrained. Where he targeted to get Tim down were all the right spots, muscles, and all that, but Tim was more than easily able to dodge it. The only really big injury was his nose. Perhaps to a less skilled fighter Damian could stand a chance with raw power, but against vigilantes he had pretty much no chance, especially while acting on emotion.

Finally, Tim had gotten the kid handcuffed to some railing around the building. 

He sighed, and pressed his com to talk to B, but Oracle answered instead.

“B is busy right now. Do you need some backup? I could send Spoiler your way.”

“No backup needed. Talia dropped off this little kid. Male, probably like 4 foot something, scrawny, green eyes, two robotic limbs, and disfigurement to the right side of his face. Talia claims that the kid is her and B’s biological son.”

“Right. I’ll pass the information to B once he wraps up with the suspect.”

“So uh, what do I do until then?”

“Hang tight. Entertain the kid. Get some information. B should be done soon.”

“Ok but-“

“Sorry, got to go, Spoiler and Batgirl are ringing. Call me if you have any updates or need back up.”

The com went silent and Tim sighed in defeat. Might as well try to make amends with Damian while he’s here. He walked to where he had put the younger boy and crouched to his level.

“Look, I know we didn’t have the best first interaction, but let’s start over, yeah? I’m Red Robin, or Tim. I didn’t really mean what I said, it’s just been a long day and-“

“When is Father coming?”, he spoke in a low tone still glaring at Tim.

Not a great sign, but not the worst.

“Soon, I’m pretty sure. He ran into some trouble on the way over.” Suddenly there was an explosion and yelling coming from deeper into the city, “It’ll probably be a little while longer actually.”

“Hm.”

Tim stood up once again, and looked into the distance hoping Bruce would just get here already. He especially hoped he would get here already after he felt something sharp stab his ankle, his feet get swept, and then, as he tried to get up, saw the kid ripping off his mechanical hand violently to get out of the handcuffs. Said hand was then launched at his face, and the green eyed boy made a run for it.

Tim attempted to get up once again to follow him, but he soon felt a heavy wave of dizziness and heard ringing. And then he saw blood. Not the kid’s from ripping off his hand, but from his own head.

Shit.

Soon after, darkness greeted him. 

>>>>>>

Damian wasn’t 100% certain where he was going, but he just knew he needed to get away from that bumbling moron. He would find his own way to Father, sure enough. It shouldn’t be that hard, especially if Mother’s original plan was to simply wait for him.

First, he should find out where Batman mostly resides. Gathering information from locals is the next logical step.

After knocking out the annoyance, he climbed down a fire escape into an alley and had just ran from there. Currently, he was in the streets of Gotham, cold and alone. He saw an elderly man sitting down in front of a building with a card board sign in front of him, in the corner there was a woman holding a child, and beside the older man was a younger man locking the door to the building and wishing the older one a goodnight.

These were lowly citizens and weak people according to his eye, but alas, he had no other current option. Suddenly someone else caught his eye. A man in a fully blue outfit with a gun strapped to his leg that was leaning against a machine similar to the one he had taken here but a bit smaller, without propellers, and black and white.

NAME: JAMES LEE

AFFILATION: GOTHAM POLICE

SLIGHTLY DANGEROUS, POSSESS LETHAL WEAPON

SIGNS OF ANNOYANCE, IMPATIENCE, AND DROWSYNESS

He seemed to be an authority figure around here, he looked important enough and people seemingly were avoiding him or showed signs of nervousness. Surely, he would have some helpful information on the bat.

“Where can I find the bat?”

The man, James, looked down. At first, with an expression that told Damian what he was not wanted. One that was displeased. That was soon replaced by concern, disgust, and discomfort. Or, at least, that’s what he read.

The man’s face was agape, but it was quickly replaced by a very forced smile to hide his previous emotions.

“Ah! You mean Batman, huh?”, he said it in a patronizing tone.

“Yes. Do not patronize me.”

“Sorry, Sorry. Why don’t you come down to the station with me? We’re all good friends with Batman, sure we could get him to meet you!”

Obviously, the man did not listen to what Damian had told him. But, he would endure if he was taken to the Bat. Afterwards, he would break his face for this disrespect.

“Very well, lead the way.”

“Alright kid, but first can I take a look at your ha- Uh. Well arm?” James spoke as he looked to Damian’s right hand, or lack there of. Ah, that’s what he was concerned about.

“No need to worry. It’s healed, this is just left over blood. See.” Damian wiped his arm on the man’s clothes (as to not ruin his, Mother gave him these garbs) and showed him. 

What before was a deformed hand, then mechanical, was now a stump. Similar to his surgery, it hurt at first but after it bit the pain stopped. Healing doesn’t really take all that long, Mother is kind for originally letting him rest for weeks.

“Oh! I see, that’s good!” James was sweating more, and despite his smile he read that he was still very uncomfortable. Odd. “Let’s get in the car, yeah?”

Damian looked at him unimpressed, but nevertheless followed directions.

<<<<<<<<<

James was a liar. He did not know the bat, not at all. 

Instead of being face to face with his Father after all this work, he is in a room with a woman, who is also very, very patronizing, asking him a bunch of questions. He answered a few at first, but eventually stopped due to growing annoyed.

He learned some useful information though. The Bat, or Batman, is the protector of Gotham, or a vigilante that saves people from crime. He wasn’t sure on the specifics of crime here, but he would research after he got out of this cursed establishment.

NAME: LILIANN GONZALEZ

AFFILIATION: GOTHAM POLICE

SLIGHTLY DANGEROUS, NON LETHAL

SIGN OF CONCERN AND CURIOUSITY

“This might be a sensitive question, and you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, but I have to ask. What happened to your arm there?”

Damian considered attacking the woman to get out. But, before that, there could be a simpler way.

“If I tell you, can I leave?”

“Well, unfortunately, no-“

He climbed across the table and kicked the woman in the face. Soon enough, multiple men in the same uniform as James from earlier came in. 

One came towards Damian to detain him and pin him down, so he looked to his eye on what to do.

DODGE TO YOUR LEFT, RIGHT KICK TO GROIN

He followed, and it worked. Another came towards him.

LEFT HOOK, OUTNUMBERED 

RECOMMENDED ACTION: RUN

Damian followed once again. After striking the man, he grabbed the chair he was formerly sitting on with his left hand and threw it at the other men and women coming to throw them off balance and give him enough space to run.

Once again, he ran as fast as possible throughout the establishment. Some tried to stop him, but he easily dodged thanks to directions given to him. 

Finally, he was able to disappear into the night.

>>>>>>>>>>

Bruce’s comm began to ring as he was handing the former suspect, now criminal, to the cops.

“Oracle.”

“Head over to Tim, right now.”

Bruce automatically got Tim’s current location and began heading towards it as fast as he could. To those outside, you couldn’t tell the batman was panicking. But, believe him, internally he was. 

“On it. Heading there.”

“He called me maybe a little over an hour ago, I was waiting for you to finish up and get there to see it for yourself but he told me Talia dropped off a kid, claiming it to be your’s. Tim said the boy was scrawny, above 4’, had green eyes, two robotic limbs, and a disfigurement to the right side of his face. Tried him again, two times, no answer.

“If Talia dropped him off, the boy is likely trained. Going mute and silent, alert for any urgent information.”

“Roger that.”

Chapter Text

Bruce had finally reached Tim, silently praying to an unknown god that the worst possible case scenario did not happen.

He, self admittedly shakenly, bent down to check the boy’s breathing. He put two fingers below his nose.

Luckily, Tim was breathing, though there was dry blood in his hair to his forehead and more dried up blood beneath his nostrils. His nose was obviously broken, swollen, crooked, and bruised. The teen began to blink up at the sky like he was waking up from a 5 year coma.

"Robin, report," Bruce said, already checking Tim’s pupils and assessing how bad the injury was.

"I'm fine." Tim winced as gloved fingers found the gash above his ear. He sat up with a groan. "Minor injuries to head, slight ringing in my ears, and probably a broken nose and small concussion. But we have more important things at hand.”

Bruce grunted, he wanted to correct the boy but this information was extremely vital. He would treat the injuries as he spoke and rush him to the cave after getting the needed information.

“Talia dropped off a kid, shorter than average and probably around 8 or 10. The right side of his face was disfigured with a robotic eye, most likely altered to predict movements since he was able to hit me in vital areas and dodge with obviously no training. He was considerably strong, more than average.”

Bruce looked next to Tim, and saw a small, metal prosthetic hand. There was blood surrounding it, as if it was torn off, and wires were coming out of the wrist.

"And I’m assuming the hand right there is his."

"Yeah." Tim's eyes sharpened, trying to overcome his grogginess to report clearly. "Ripped it off when I handcuffed him to the railing. He barely even flinched or reacted, just threw it straight at me and ran. I would’ve gotten him, I mean I tried after he ran off, but I was caught off guard and-“ He looked down, “Won’t happen again.”

Bruce nodded, finishing up wrapping up Tim’s head, and stood saying “You did fine. Unknown enemy and an extremely unpredictable move, you got extremely useful information despite being incapacitated.”

Tim looked up, nodded, and attempted to get up, fumbling but eventually getting there.

“We should look for him. God knows what trouble he’s causing, especially since he seemed to not really know some basic things.”

“I’ll look for him myself, but I’ll have Oracle pass the info to the others just in case they come across him. You need to recover. and I’ll call Spoiler over to give you a ride to the cave for more in depth treatment.”

“But-“

“You gave more than enough information to help me find him, go rest. Wait here for Spoiler.”

Tim sighed in defeat, “Fine. But before you go, forgot to mention, Talia claimed he was your guy’s biological kid. He should go along with you pretty easily without much convincing, his goal seemed to be to find you.”

Beneath the cowl, Bruce’s eyes widened. In his mind, he had theorized the possibility of this child being their’s, but Talia and him last interacted around 2 years ago. It’s impossible for the boy to be 8 or 9, and surely in the earlier days of their relationship, around that time, she would’ve definitely told him if she was pregnant. No doubt in his mind.

The next logical conclusion was that this boy was grown in a lab of some sort, explaining the deformities. Unless, Talia had somehow hid this pregnancy and child from him for almost 10 years.

Bruce cooled his expression, bent down to get the robotic hand, put it into one of his pockets, and rose once again.

“Understood.”, he pulled out his grapple hook, “Stay here. I’ll know if you leave to follow or investigate.”

Bruce couldn’t see underneath Tim’s domino mask, but he could imagine he rolled his eyes at that.

Bruce silently smirked to himself as he grappled into the darkness.

>>>>>>>>>>>

Damian had decided, somewhere around his third hour of walking, that Gotham was definitely working against him and a detestable place. 

He'd gone through twelve alleys, went on top of four rooftops he could reach without his right hand, and one abandoned warehouse that smelled like something rotting. None of it was useful. None of it got him closer to the Bat.

Throughout his journey, he began to feel some new sensations. Cold, his mind told him. Tired, it said, quieter each time, like it had given up expecting him to listen. Of course, he ignored these new sensations. It got in the way of the mission at hand, and it would surely pass like the pain and blood from his hand.

Currently, he was positioned in a squat and leaned against a wall in now the thirteenth alley he had observed that day. 

Of course, he was not resting, he was simply thinking of new strategies.

“Shit, what happened to you.”, a new voice spoke.

It was a girl, older than him but younger than the annoyance from earlier. She had blonde hair, but there was brown coming from the top of head as well, and a black sweatshirt on alongside scuffed up loose jeans and beat up shoes. She was dirty, had a bandage, and her front tooth was chipped. She was tan, almost as tan as Damian, but it was duller. The girl had a hooked nose and a gem in the right side of it, and two other gems protruding from the eyebrow on the opposite side.

NAME: ROWAN RANI

AFFILIATION: NONE

NON LETHAL, POSSESSES KNIFE

MODERATE TO LOW DANGER

SIGNS OF CURIOSITY, CONCERN, CARE, AND BOREDOM

She bent down to his level, “You some kind of ninja-cyborg-frankenstein-super villain?”

Damian decided not to indulge in this ridiculousness and simply glared at the second, well maybe fourth considering those associated with the police from earlier, annoyance of today.

“Can’t talk, huh?”, Rowan plopped down right next to him. 

“I can talk perfectly fine, I just don’t want to talk to you.”

“Ouch? but whatever. What brings you to Gotham? Haven’t seen you around before, and respectfully, you would kind of be hard to miss.”

“I shouldn’t even entertain you with a response, but if it would make you go away, I am looking for my father.” Of course, he didn’t mention who said father was.

“Huh. Not the first, good luck I guess. Was sorta expecting some revenge plot line, but I guess you’re like every kid in this shit hole of a city.”, the girl shrugged as she pulled something from her pocket. It was like a wrapped thick disc, some moisture on the packaging. It also read, “BatBurger”

Rowan peeled back the packaging and revealed some sort of food. There was bread on the top and bottom, some meat in the middle alongside cheese, lettuce, tomato, and seemingly onion. She took a bite and chewed very annoyingly loud.

“Want a bite? Stole it from some loser earlier.”, Rani spoke with her mouth full and titled and food towards Damian.

His mouth watered, his mind told him to take it. But, of course, he would not succumb to this. He was better than that, and it would be disgusting to try and share food with this strange girl.

Damian hypothesized this disgust might have been shown on his face, since Rowan pulled the disc back without him saying a word and shrugged while saying, “Your loss.”

They sat in silence for a while, well most silence besides loud chewing, until he saw two black boots in front of him. He looked up and saw red.

NAME: JASON TODD ; THE RED HOOD

AFFILIATION: VARIES, CURRENTLY GOTHAM VIGILANTES

HIGHLY LETHAL, HIGHLY DANGEROUS

SIGNS OF CONFUSION AND WORRY.

“Who’s the new guy?”, the man in the Red helmet spoke. He wore the bat symbol on his chest, though read, and had pants with lots of pockets in a slightly different shade of the black on his top. Despite The Red Hood facing Rowan, Damian felt as though he was being side eyed. Though, he couldn’t confirm this since the helmet covered his whole face.

Rowan swallowed the last of her food, and looked up, “Just some rude ass kid who came looking for his dad. He’s a little uptight if you ask me.”

“Huh.”, Todd bent down to where Damian was now sitting with his legs crossed, “well, good news for you, a man looking for his son gave me your description and asked me to find the boy and bring him to him. Today’s everyone’s lucky day, I guess.”

Damian instantly shot up. Of course, he shouldn’t be so trusting, especially after the earlier incident, but his eye told him he was affiliated with the same organization as “Red Robin” (Did everyone have “red” in their name?) and Mother confirmed that he had known the Bat. This man was even more trustworthy since he wore the symbol on his chest.

Suddenly, Damian heard clapping.

“Wow, lucky you!” The clapping was coming from Rowan who soon got up and dusted herself up, “Wish I could stay for this reunion, but break times over. See ya, Hood, weird kid.” She spun around and lifted her hand up.

“Hood” shouted out, “See ya, don’t get into too much trouble!”

“I won’t!”, the girl shouted back and continued to walk out of the alleyway.

Both Damian and Todd watched until she disappeared from sight.

“I’m assuming you know the bat, personally of course.”

“Unfortunately, I do, and I’ll have to take you to ‘im.” Todd got up and Damian followed, the tall man then pressed a button on the side of his helmet and began to speak. “Found the kid….Yeah….Yeah, bringing him to the cave. His hand? Seems healed, some dried blood but other than that there’s no open injury. Got it, ok.”

He turned to look at Damian. “Ok so, you’ll have’ta ride on the back of my motorcycle on the way to your dad, yeah? It’ll be a quick ride.”

He then looked down at Damian’s missing hand.

“On second thought, you’ll be in front of me, but still make sure to hold on so ya don’t go flying. C’mon, follow.”

And of course, who was Damian to disobey. This must be a high ranking member if he wears the symbol. So, Damian simply just nodded, despite not totally knowing what this “motorcycle” was. It must be a highly powerful machine.