Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Damian groaned, his head throbbing and his eyes assaulted by the blinding white of the room. He looked down and found himself in a suit surrounded by similarly dressed Grayson, Drake, and surprisingly Todd. Even though his brain throbbed in protest, he tried to think back to the last thing he remembered. He had been at a gala to support some sort of WE investment and had gotten into a fight with Drake over... something, Damian had gotten bored and needed something to do. Bruce has sent them to their rooms for a “calming period” and then he woke up here.
But where was here exactly? They couldn’t have traveled far, Damian would’ve woke up after an hour AT THE MOST, and it took three-quarters to just get out of the rich distrust with their widening streets and overly large properties.
There was a groan and Grayson blinked servers times. He shot to his feet and spun in a circle, seeing no noticeable exits on any reachable surface.
“Sit down Grayson, you look ridiculous.” Damian snapped, leaning up against the wall farthest from the morons.
“Dami? Where are we?” Grayson asked, obviously coming off of being drugged. Not fair, how come he got to be drugged, it would’ve been much less annoying.
“Does it look like I know?” Damian rolled his eyes as Grayson nudged Todd awake. Same response as Grayson. Pathetic.
“Demon-brat. They got you to?” Todd grunted at him.
“Seems so.” Damian answered.
“I’ve never seen Replacement sleep this long.” Todd laughed, nudging Drake with his foot. Drake didn’t move.
“That’s blood on his neck, he got his harder than I did.” Damian pointed out, not wanting Todd to give Drake any more brain damage than he already had.
“He shouldn’t be sleeping then.” Grayson frowned, his overprotective mother mode activated.
“He’ll be fine,” Damian said.
“There seems to be a door on the ceiling.” Todd was looking straight up and Damian looked to see what he was talking abut. There was a square outline on the ceiling but none of them would be able to reach it without blowing their cover. Or reach it at all of the shine on the walls we’re any hint.
“Batman will surely come and if he doesn’t father will probably pay for all of us.” Damian shrugged, not even phased by the situation. This had already happened more times that Damian could count so he wasn’t too worried.
“It’s kinda odd whoever did this got all of us. That’s , like, extremely skilled kidnapping on their part.” Todd nodded with respect.
“You wanna make a bet?” Damian asked.
“For what?” Grayson asked.
“How long it takes to get us out of here. Whoever wins gets the losers Alfred cookies for three weeks.” Damian smirked as the other two looked at each other, obviously interested.
“Five hours,” Grayson bet.
“Psh you think batsy will get here in five? I say eleven.” Todd started up his game of waking up Drake.
“I think 24. There was an Arkham break last night remember?” Damian answered.
“Wow, you do not have any faith in Batman do you?” Grayson whistled.
“He wouldn’t let me keep the dog.” Damian growled, standing up and ignoring the temporary spin of his vision.
“That’s because you already have enough pets Dami,” Grayson argued.
“I do NOT!” Damian protested with an offended gasp.
Drake chose that tile to jerk awake and let out a hiss.
“Ow. Where are we?” Drake groaned, slowly sitting and leaning against the wall opposite Damian, now each brother had their own wall in the small space.
“If we knew they wouldn’t be very good at their job now would they?” Damian said.
Drake just sent a silent glare at him.
“Calm down you two how’s not the time to get into a fight.” Grayson pushed off the wall and blocked Damian’s view of Drake.
“You all right Timmers?” Grayson asked softly and Damian didn’t hear the response.
“Took you awhile for you come to Replacement, what’s up with you?” Todd asked, smirking.
“Haven’t slept in a while,” Drake mumbled but was cut off with the sound of static. Speaker static.
“That’s adorable, that batbros are getting along.” A voice neither noticably feminine nor masculine, somewhere in between, spoke over the hidden speakers.
“What?” Grayson asked, feigning confusion but panic was clear in everyone’s faces.
“Oh, don’t play dumb with me Nightwing. I know ALL about you. It wasn’t that hard.” The voice chuckled.
“It’s true it’s not that hard to figure you guys out,” Drake added.
“Not helping Tim,” Grayson hissed.
“I’ve brought you here for an, let’s call it an experiment of mine I’ve been dying to try out. The brain is so, so interesting. Especially the effects of trauma. Who better to try my excitement on then the batboys themselves?”
“What?” Todd asked before it started.
Damian has only heard this laugh once, and it was so he would know when to run.
Todd dropped immediately and both he and Drake covered their ears.
“Todd? Drake?” Damian asked carefully, not sure what would hurt them.
Todd started panicking, breaths coming in short pants and eyes blown wide and terrified. “No!” He screamed.
Drake’s head twitched slightly sideways and his body gave short bursts of movement.
Grayson didnt seem as affected as the other two but still flinched when it first came on and hadn’t relaxed yet.
“Grayson what’s going on? How did they get this?” Damian asked, keeping his voice neutral to hide the horror in his voice. With a simple laugh they had disabled two of Gotham’s finest badasses.
“You don’t want to know.” Grayson looked between the two as if trying to decide which one was the biggest threat before settling on Drake.
Wouldn’t Todd be the bigger threat? Sure he was twitching and letting out “no’s” but that was better than Drake right?
Drake’s head shot up and horror crossed over his face.
“Dick, Dick keep me awake. Please keep me awake no matter what.” Drake sounded terrified, something Damian never heard from him, if he heard him at all.
“Yeah, yeah I got it Timbo, just stay with us alright?” Grayson smiled at him and Drake FLINCHED away from him.
“Damian keep him awake, I’m going to help Jason.” Grayson moves to the other panicking brother.
Damian cautiously made his way over to a muttering Drake as his head started dropping.
“Drake! Focus!” Damian snapped his fingers in front of Tim’s face. “How many animals do I have?”
“Three?” Tim answered, confused but not panicking as much.
“What are their names?” Damian asked, trying to distract him the only way he knew how, by challenging him.
“Titus the dog, Alfred the cat, and Batcow.” Tim flinched bit kept his eyes trained on Damian.
“Who does Father not hate in the Justice League?”
“Uh I believe Wonder Woman and maybe Shazam. But that could be his Batdad instincts.”
“Oh it most definitely is but there shall be no more.” Damian and Drake shared a small smile. “What’s 52 x 63?”
“Ugh you’re starting those now?” Tim groaned.
“I’m thinking Drake leave me alone.” Damian growled, but there was no heat to it.
“3276.” Drake answered.
“Good, who’s the super I spend my time with?” Damian asked, starting to run out of questions.
“You mean your crush?” Drake smirked.
“He is not my crush!” Damian protested.
“The way you two look at each other seems to say otherwise.”
“There is nothing between us Drake, now answer the question.”
“I think his name is Tom?”
“Jon. And you should know this, he was over yesterday and we bothered you for an hour.”
“Oh yes that was just amazing,” Drake rolled his eyes.
“Tell me about the last case you were working on.” Damian or ordered, kneeling down in front of him now.
“It was a simple kidnapping case. Charles Burley wanted to kidnap rich kids to get money out of the deal. I found him after the second kid.” Drake waved his hand and closed his eyes.
Instinctively Damian slapped him.
“Ow! What the hell?” Tim gasped, holding his red cheek.
“You were falling asleep,” Damian said.
“I was not!” Tim shouted back.
“Well you shouldn’t just close your eyes when you obviously haven’t slept in weeks!” Damian shot back.
“Two but that’s not the point!” Drake argues then stopped.
“You need to take care of yourself Drake. We can’t have the great Red Robin falling asleep on the job.” Damian shook his head. There was a groan and Damian turned to look at the other two.
Grayson was holding an out Todd, apparently resorting to keeping him asleep rather than screaming. Made sense. The screaming was starting to get annoying.
“Drake,” Damian turned back to his brother to find his chin against his chest and his eyes closed.
“I turn around for a literal second and you fall asleep,” Damian cursed. “Drake! Wake up!”
“Damian wait!” Grayson put his hand on Damian’s shoulder as Tim’s head snapped up. There was, something off about it.
“Drake?” Damian asked.
“Nope.” Then he lunged.

Chapter Text

“Nope.” Then Tim lunged.
Damian let out a very mature squeak as the full 90 pounds that was Tim Drake crashed into Damian and sent him rolling back into Dick and the three were piled on one another.
“What the actual FUCK Drake!” Damian screeched, shoving the two off him.
“Tim buddy can you hear me?” Dick asked, immedialty standing and shifting to defense.
Tim just giggled. “I hear him, I hear daddy. Is this another test?” He asked, voice pitched too high for Tim.
“Grayson what’s going on?” Damian asked.
“Don’t hurt him too much.” Dick pushed Damian away as a cackling Tim sent out a lightning fast ouch at Damian.
“I don’t need help Grayson!” Damian growled, punching Tim back.
“Yeah you do. We’re holding back,” Duck grunted as Tim’s foot caught him in the side. “He’s not.”
Tim landed a punch and knocked Damian’s head into the wall, making the already shaky room spin.
“Dammit Drake, calm down!” Damian hissed, stumbling a little.
“Damian that’s not Tim!” Dick tried blocking all of Tim’s rapid attacks, but Tim was skilled and got several hits in.
“Then who the hell is it?” Damian asked, trying to find a weak spot to take him down.
“JJ’s my name and killing bats is my game!” Tim-JJ laughed.
“Tim?” Damian asked, surprised by the reaction.
“No Tim Timmy only me me ME!” Tim tackles Damian again and Damian shoves him into the wall. Tim grunted and as he stood he stumbled before whacking his head and going at it again.
“Me.” Tim growled.
“Dick I think we have to hit his head!” Damian latched onto his back, putting him in a chokehold.
“Why?” Duck asked and Damian grunted and let go holding his bleeding arm.
“Did you BITE me?” Damian shouted, looking at the Tim bite marks on his arm.
“Damian why?” Dick asked again, reminding Damian that he was busy doing everyone’s job.
“His head’s bleeding remember? One small hit and he’s out like a light.” Damian asked for his head again, but Tim was changing tactics.
He was keeping himself moving and not just focusing on BITING people.
“Dick grab him!”
Dick lunged and gave Tim a power-hug. The most inescapable thing on this earth and Damian has tried.
Damian hit the back of his head where his previous injury lay and Tim slumped against Dick.
“You know Grayson, I hope you win the bet.” Damian sat on the far wall, trying to catch his breath.
The laughing had stopped, Damian never even noticed but it had stopped, which meant they could wake up Jason and probably keep Tim sane.
Tim shot up with a gasp and looked around before finding he was in Dick’s mother-hen hug.
“Dick?” Tim asked.
“Is that actually you Timothy or that freak from before?” Damian asked, standing and getting ready for renewed attacks.
“Did you just call me Timothy? Oh no, am
I dying?” Tim looked at Dick, panicked.
“Glad you’re back Timbo.” Dick set Tim down but kept him within arms reach.
“What did I do?” Tim asked miserably seeing Jason on the floor and both conscious brothers awake.
“I’ll tell you what, you bit me,” Damian said.

Chapter Text

Damian doesn't know how long he's been here, but he's knows it's been too long. The laughter comes at random times and it's always a death match with JJ that leaves them bruised and bleeding. Hunger sent Damian's stomach growling and exhaustion pulled his bones closer to the cold, white floors.
"He'll be here soon," Dick was telling himself.
"He better, I don't know how much more JJ I can take," Damian said, rubbing his bite mark.
If Damian felt bad, Tim looked worse. He had pressed himself into the corner of the room and was digging his nails into his bare arms, coat long forgotten in the corner along with everyone else's coat and Dick's ruined button up. There was this ever present fear in his eyes that wasn't there before and he looked guiltily at the the two functioning brothers.
They had decided to keep Jason asleep for the duration of their stay, however long that was, to keep from more flashbacks and possible injuries to himself or others.
Dick was the worse off. He often took the brunt of JJ's attacks so that Damian could sneakily take him out and it was showing. Bleeding claw marks covered his chest and face and he was going to have many bruises.
"How long do you think we've been in here?" Dick asked, trying to keep everyone awake and focused, though Damian would rather be in his thoughts than this white room of horrors.
"At least a day," Tim answered quietly from his corner.
"He'll be here soon," Dick whispered, more to himself than anyone else.
"You have said that for the past three attacks! I'm tired of hearing it! Father will not be here soon!" Damian shouted, jumping to his feet and stumbling at the black dots in his vision. "It seems... it seems he may have left us."
"He would never do that." Dick slumped against the wall and sat down.
Damian ran a shaky hand through his hair with a sigh.
"Worst. Family. Vacation. Ever." Tim managed and the three let out a small huff of laughter.
"What's the coolest place you've ever been too?" Dick asked.
"God I don't know, there's a lot of beautiful places," Tim answered, obviously keeping his mind entertained as long as he could.
"Gotham." Damian sat back down.
"Why Gotham?" Dick asked and Damian found himself thinking the same thing. It just, felt right.
"She may not be much, but she's home," Tim answered instead.
"That's a good point." Dick pointed at Rim before letting his hand fall with a heavy thud back into his lap.
The three sat in silence and waited for the next round.
The speakers crackled.
The boys tensed.
Damian and Dick shakily got to their feet.
They waited.
"Boys can you hear me?"
"Father!" Damian shouted, a smile crawling into his face without approval.
"We're saved! I told you it'd be soon!" Dick laughed, hugging Damian tight. Damian didn't even have the energy to protest, he just went limp with relief.
There was the sound of moving metal and the panel on the ceiling slowly made its way down to them.

Damian stared at his plate. Never before had he ever been so upset to have won a plate of Alfred cookies.
Jason had gone up to his room earlier, looking extremely upset. Tim had rushed to his room and loud sobs could be heard behind the door. Bruce and Dick were down in the BatCave going over what happened, leaving Damian to sit here with his winnings. Alone. Damian was no Dick but he knew this wasn't how one of these things were supposed to end.
Sighing, Damian grumbled something about doing the right thing before grabbing the cooki plate and heading up the stairs.

Tim couldn't believe it. He thought he had control, he thought JJ was GONE, but he wasn't. Not permanently anyways, and that was a horrible thing to think about. What he had done to Dick, to Damian, he wasn't safe and deserved to be locked up in Arkham. But he didn't actually want to go there. With his luck he would just go even more insane.
Frustrated, Tim let out a yell and threw one of his books across the room.
If only Bruce had gotten there sooner.
There was a knock on his door.

Jason stared blankly at the wall. He felt stupid, useless, broken. The entirety of the kidnapping he had to be kept asleep because of his stupid traumatic flashbacks. He knew that it wasn't his fault but... it still hurt to know that in his brothers time of need he had been a useless quivering lump.
"Stupid, stupid, stupid." Jason whispered angrily.
He almost yelled at the sound of a knock on his door.

Grayson wanted to sleep, or hug someone, or cry, or anything really. Anything other than sitting in Brice's office and waiting to hear about who kidnapped them and why and why they knew everyone's identities.
The main thing that had bothered him though was how utterly hopeless the situation had been. He couldn't even help his brother from turning into a psychotic killer let alone plan for an escape. What kind of big brother was he?
And Damian had looked scared. Every time that laughter turned on, he was looking at Tim with FEAR in his eyes. And Dick couldn't blame him. It was terrifying to watch someone close to you slip into insanity and decide to kill you.
Dick was moping in his dark thoughts when he heard the knock.

"So, I'm not actually sure how one of these things go," Damian started awkwardly, looking at his three brothers around him on the living room couches. "But I do know that we went through a great ordeal and it is recommended that we help each other and support each other?"
"You want us to talk?" Jason asked.
"No, but I do want us to play video games, watch a movie, and bond outside of prison cells, which seems to be making itself a habit." Damian stepped away to show the snacks, games anodized he had collected before going to retrieve them all.
Damian held out the plate of Alfred cookies. "So, do you want to 'family bond' or whatever it's called?"

Bruce dragged himself out of the cave, slowly working his way to the kitchen for a snack so that he doesn't starve while finding out who Minerva Skylar told and how she found out.
He tried to forget the images of his boys, alone bloody and afraid, sitting in that white cell. He would have to keep better track of them from now on.
He heard the faint sound of a tv show and changed course towards the living room.
What he found there made him smile and filled him with fatherly warmth.
His four boys were all curled up together on the long couch covered in blankets and pillows. Tim was being hugged by Dick, Jason had his arm over the three of them, and Damian was laying across them all. They were all sound asleep and for once they looked peaceful.
"Adorable isn't it Master Bruce?" Alfred asked, suddenly behind him.
"It is Alfred, it really is."