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Chapter Text

Going home should have meant that he went back to Wayne Manor, back to his dad and brothers and sister and grandfather figure.

But no, he didn't do that. Instead, as soon as he got back to Gotham, he made his way to the graveyard. He stopped at a florists and bought a couple bouquets of flowers. Then he made his way to the graveyard.

He walked through the rows of graves, taking time to pay his respects to the people who were killed by Joker. He apologized for surviving Joker's torture when they never had a chance to. Perhaps he should have died. Jason didn't remember if Dawn had told him the more intricate details of other worlds to him, but if she did, then he didn't remember it.

He made it to the graves he'd been looking for. Catherine and Jason Todd, mother and son who had both died. He placed one of the bouquets on his mama's grave, and the other – the one with more flowers in it – onto his own.

"I'm sorry, Mama. I've killed two men, and I… I don't regret it. I- I only regret that I did something that I promised you and Dad that I'd never do. And I miss you. Your death doesn't hurt so much anymore, but I think that I was saying goodbye to you as you got deeper into drugs." He took a deep breath. "Everyone thinks I'm dead. I have a grave, for fuck's sake. I- I hate this. I don't know if I can go home, not anymore. I broke Dad's number one rule, Mama, I broke it. On purpose. The only regret I have with killing those two men is that I probably just rescinded my place in the family." Tears fell down his face.

Jason wiped away the tears and looked down at the ground. Snow covered it, brighter and whiter than he was. He thought, distantly, that he was that pure at some point in his life. Probably before Cass disappeared, before Catherine fell into drugs and he had to steal to survive. He didn't think that he deserved to be buried next to his mama in a place where there was something so pure and white that fell on the ground.

He sighed.

"I'm sorry, Mama. I'm about to do some more terrible things, and I don't think that you would approve of them at all. I really am sorry. And I love you." He cried as he walked away, leaving the flowers at the graves.

He knew that his family would find the other bouquet. There was no way that anyone in his family wouldn't look into it.

_______________________________________

Tim walked next to Dick. His brother had wanted to visit Jason's grave, but he hadn't wanted to go alone. Bruce was at work, Cass was at ballet, and Alfred was out shopping. Tim had offered to go with Dick, which had been accepted.

So now here he was, walking with his brother to his dead brother's grave. The dead brother that Tim only ever knew through osmosis. Through what he knew from Jason's time as Robin and as a Wayne, and through the stories of things that he had never known about, always told to him by a sad Dick or Bruce or Alfred.

They made it to Jason and Catherine's graves, and Tim instantly noticed something. There were bouquets of flowers on both graves. Catherine's grave had daylillies, purple hyacinths, and marigolds. The bouquet on Jason's grave had more flowers in it. White carnations, white chrysanthemums, daisies, white clover and purple hyacinths again.

Tim frowned. "Was Cass planning on coming here?" He asked.

"No, she didn't have any time recently," Dick replied. He was also frowning at the flowers. Tim took out his phone and took a photo of the bouquets. Dick didn't raise an eyebrow at the motion. He was raised by Batman after the age of eight, after all. He understood Tim's thinking at least a little. "What are you thinking about here?" Dick asked.

"We don't disturb the flowers, but I think that there's a message here somewhere. Someone's trying to send us a message through the flowers. Thing is though, there's multiple different meanings in flower language, so figuring out which one is the right one might be a little hard."

"Well, if anyone's able to figure it out, it's you," Dick said. Tim smiled shyly.

He hoped that he could. Otherwise, they would never figure out what the message was.

_______________________________________

The streets were covered with snow that was either brown or turned to sludge. Christmas lights lit up the shop windows in the parts of the city that could afford to have them up, and criminals didn't show up as much as when the weather was hotter.

Jason walked through the streets of Gotham, hood up and head bent down, tracking where she might have gone…

"Are you sure that she'll show up?" Dawn asked. Jason pursed his lips.

No, he wasn't sure that his mother would show up. However, confessing that was a dumb thing. Dawn could pick up on small things and draw conclusions. There was something about her that wasn't entirely human.

Maybe it was because her eyes and hair looked like the actual dawn, or the way her eyes glowed acid green rarely. The way she looked at him and studied him, knowing things he couldn't fathom, and then turned around and was joking around and trying to make his life a bit happier. She didn't try and force him to do anything except for when he was stuck in his bed on the bad days.

On those days, Dawn came in, checked on him, then pulled his blankets off of him and carried him out to the lounge in a fireman's carry – she was stronger than she looked, and it never failed to surprise Jason.

"I just have to have a little faith," Jason muttered in reply.

"A little goes a long way." Dawn also just understood Jason's words and thoughts in a better way than others had in a long while. She had a way of taking his words and making them into something more positive. It was a talent that the people of Gotham didn't have.

"Exactly," he said. He stopped in the middle of the street and glanced up, surveying the streets around him. People moved around him, uncaring of the random kid in the middle of the street. Jason's eyes looked at everything and everyone around him, watching, waiting, for the moment that Lady Shiva showed up and he could chase after her.

He knew that she wouldn't make it easy. No assassin would make it easy for anyone to track them.

But Jason was a Wayne, a Todd, and a Bat, and he was stubborn as fuck. Hopefully that would be enough in of itself.

He saw something that didn't fit in with Gotham. Jason looked at the woman.

"Mother's here," he whispered. Jason felt… he felt… strange. Seeing his mother again after so many years was strange. Her hair was longer and tied up neatly in a ponytail. She was wearing a trench coat and black heels, and people steered clear of her. She unsettled people just by being there, with no reason why. Jason knew exactly why.

He saw it in himself. The casual way she stood, the way that she was confident in herself, it didn't fit in Gotham. As he watched, a man tried to stab her. Right in broad daylight, too. Jason rolled his eyes. He knew better. He knew not to stab someone in broad daylight, and to never fuck around with someone who was standing around so casually in Gotham of all places.

Shiva simply disarmed the man. The knife disappeared into his mother's clothes and the man was left standing there so confused.

Shiva walked away. Jason followed. He stayed a good distance away, never losing sight of Shiva. An assassin couldn't shake their own child who was Bat-trained, but when Shiva realized (which was incredibly soon into their game of cat-and-mouse) she tried to shake him, but what she tried he could predict. They walked through the city for a while, and Dawn was no longer in Jason's ear, talking to him while he tracked his mother down. Shiva grew visibly more frustrated as they walked, and Jason wondered what would have happened if she had been able to raise him.

He probably wouldn't be trying to track her down, that was for sure.

Shiva entered an abandoned warehouse. Jason pulled on his gloves and grabbed his grapple. He headed to the second floor and broke in through a window where he could see his mother clearly. He crouched there, hidden in the shadows, watching what was going on. Shiva glanced around the building, eyes narrowed and searching.

"I know you are there," she called out. Jason tilted his head.

"I know you do," he replied. He moved before she could find him. Sue him, he was curious about him mother's abilities.

"Why were you following me?" She asked. She pulled out the knife that she'd taken from that guy earlier. Jason pulled his hood down and watched from his perch on a support beam. "I must admit, the fact that you were able to follow me for so long is impressive." Jason jumped down and landed easily on the ground. He walked towards his mother.

"It's easy when you're Bat trained and your mother's known to be the most dangerous woman in the world," he said. His voice was quiet, and he wanted to cry. He was so close to her, and he just… he wanted a hug from her. He could recall them being warm and safe. She was safe. She was safe for her children.

Shiva turned around and looked at him. Her eyes widened in surprise, and she froze in place. Jason tried to steady his breathing. It worked, but just barely. Tears threatened to fall. He held them back.

"Jason?" She asked.

"Mother." He sobbed and tears fell down his face.

The knife fell onto the ground and Jason found himself being wrapped up in a hug. He was hit with a floral scent that he could vaguely remember from his youth.

"You're alive," she whispered. She pulled back and held Jason's face in her hands. Jason melted into her touch.

"How are you so sure that I'm actually me? I'm… I might be a clone and-"

"Sh, sh. None of that, okay? Your father and I have been looking all over the world for you, but we have never found you. Not once. But here you are, alive. That means that you are not a clone, or an impersonator. No one except my children could follow me like that." Jason sobbed again. Shiva pulled him into another hug, this one longer than the previous.

He just cried. Shiva simply held him close, clearly just basking in the fact that he was alive. Jason himself basked in the fact that she was there, holding him, and he felt safer than he had in a while.

When he had calmed down, his mother simply just wiped away his tears and pressed a kiss to his forehead.

"What if go somewhere else? Somewhere more private." Jason sniffled and wiped away his tears.

"Food?" He asked. Cause he was hungry, and he wanted food. Even better if it was his mother's cooking. She smiled.

"We can have food," she agreed. She wrapped an arm around him and led him out of the warehouse. Jason's gloves disappeared into his bag, as though he wasn't a vigilante-slash-antihero.

They went to a small restaurant that Shiva knew well. It was a Chinese one, and Jason was eager to eat.

"Hi, I'm Lilly, I'm your server tonight. Here are the menus." Their waitress, Lilly, was around Jason's age. She handed them the menus. "Would you like anything to drink?"

"I'll have a glass of red wine," Shiva said. Jason hadn't really known what else to expect, really, not with what he knew of her.

"I'll just have some water, thanks," he said. Lilly smiled sweetly at him.

"One red wine and one glass of water coming up," she said. She walked off.

"She likes you," Shiva said as soon as Lilly was gone.

"Too bad, I like guys," he said. His mother smirked at him.

"Oh? Do you like anyone?" She asked. Jason looked up at her then to the side. He knew that she knew, because this was Lady fucking Shiva, the most dangerous woman in the world and his mother.

"I dated a guy for a little while, but it didn't last long."

"What was he like?"

"One of the best people I've ever met. He's smart, kind, and just… great." He leaned on one hand.

"Well, I'm glad that you had someone, however short your time together was."

"You want to meet him, don't you?" Jason asked. Lady Shiva looked away indignantly.

"We are talking about the boy that you dated for a little while. I must know that he is a good person myself, even if you two are no longer an item," she replied coolly. Jason laughed.

"Okay, yeah, that checks out." The girl came back with the glass of wine and the glass of water. She handed each of the drinks to them.

"Are you ready to order?" She asked.

"We'll get the-" Jason let his mother order. He could tell that she wanted to get him food, and she knew that he'd be happy with whatever. Jason had gotten used to eating out and having a bunch of options to choose from, but he hadn't gotten used to having to order one or two things at a new restaurant.

Lilly was definitely crushing on Jason, and he had no idea how to feel about it. He was a gay man, not a straight or bisexual one. He tried to make it obvious, but he didn't know how. His mother seemed to take delight in his pain, if the way she smiled and raised her eyebrows were any indication.

"Please stop finding delight in my suffering, Mother," he said.

"Can you blame me? Watching a girl flirting with my son who is attracted to his own gender is entertaining," she replied. Somehow, they had switched to a more formal way of talking, which was pretty on par for the course. He'd always heard his mother switch between formal and informal his entire life, it was normal to him.

Others, not so much.

"Yet it is not so much so for me. It is hell on Earth for me." Shiva took a sip of her wine with a smirk.

"Some day you will learn how to reject the advances of people that you don't know and aren't interested in."

"Like how you threaten those who try to make an advance on you?" He asked.

"If that's the way you want to go, then that's the way you will. If you don't, then you will find your own way to reject people," she responded. Jason smiled and took a sip of his water.

"I hope so. I don't really like the idea of being hit on by girls." He said the last few words in a low voice to avoid being heard. Lilly was returning to their table with the things that they had ordered.

"Here we are," she said. She placed the plates on the table. "Let me know if you need anything else." Lilly walked away. Jason cringed. His mother simply laughed at him.

"Mother!" He hissed. She reached forward with a smile and tapped his chin a couple of times.

"Chin up, Jason. I trust that you'll be able to figure it out eventually." She started to pile food onto his plate, and Jason wasn't complaining at all. Food was good, and this food was some of the best Chinese food he'd had in a while.

They ate in silence for a while.

"Where have you been recently?" Shiva asked.

"Different place, somewhere in Japan. I only just got back, though."

"A different place?" Shiva knew what he was implying. A different world.

"Yes. It was… interesting, to say the least, and I enjoyed it there. Nothing can beat home, though."

"Did you do anything interesting while you were there?" Shiva took a sip of her wine. Jason took a sip of his water.

"Well… I might have disposed of some trash while I was there. If it was left there, then it would have ended up harming some of the people I knew there. You know how it is, right?" Shiva narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

"You took out some trash? That doesn't seem interesting."

"It took a while for anyone to take care of it. I thought that if no one was going to do it, then I would. It was a good choice, too. I stopped issues from arising with my friends, so it was a good decision."

"How much did you take out?"

"Two." His mother knew what he was implying here.

Murder.

He had confessed to his mother that he had committed murder without actually saying anything about it. She knew it. He could see it in her eyes. The glint in her eyes was familiar, one that he'd seen before in his own eyes in the mirror.

"Well, I suppose that disposing of such a thing is good, is it not? Where trash goes, the flies gather, and diseases linger," she commented.

They finished their food and paid.

"You should meet my friend, Dawn. I believe that it would be good to meet her. She's the one who brought me back." Shiva hummed.

"I don't see why not," she replied. She linked her elbow with his. "Lead the way."

Jason did. He led her through Gotham down a path that he had memorized within his first few days back in Gotham. It took them through a few alleyways, which was dumb in Gotham, but hey, none of the criminals in there wanted to go near the two of them. They just gave off that aura.

They got to the place where Jason had been staying with Dawn. It was a penthouse that someone Dawn knew owned. She wouldn't say who, and Jason knew that he wouldn't be getting an answer out of her any time soon.

Even so, he took his mother to the penthouse that he was staying in with Dawn for the time being. She would be able to tell Shiva some of the things that he couldn't.

"I'm home, and I have a guest," he called out. He took off his shoes at the front door. Shiva hesitated before she followed his lead and took off her shoes, too.

"It's your mother, isn't it?" Dawn asked. She showed up in the doorway. His mother watched Dawn with distrustful eyes. Dawn noticed, there was no way that the woman with autism and ADHD didn't notice it. She smiled kindly anyway. "Hi, I'm Dawn. You don't need to introduce yourself, I already know your name. Including your birth name. Don't worry about how I know that, I just know."

"You're not helping yourself here," Jason said. He walked to the kitchen, right behind Dawn. Shiva was behind him, even if he didn't hear her footsteps.

"Oh, am I? Sorry, couldn't tell," Dawn said in a sarcastic tone. She sighed. "Knowing things about the multiverse and not being able to say anything about it is so hard." Dawn grabbed a can of soda and cracked it open. "Help yourself to whatever, I know that you probably won't trust me to give you anything."

"How do you know who I am?" Shiva asked. She pulled Jason closer, just ever so slightly. He felt off kilter a little, being so tall compared to his mother.

"I understand that it's weird, but I have a good reason. Here, I'll show you." And with that, Dawn turned to a bag that… hadn't even been there before… what?

She took out books. Comic books. One had Under the Red Hood written on the front, and another had Red Hood and the Outlaws on it. There was one that showed Jason in Dick's first Robin costume, dead and limp in Bruce's arms.

"So we're not real in other universes," he said.

"Yup. And I'm from one of those universes," Dawn said. She picked up the comic books and put them away. "Look, I don't expect you to trust me, but it is true. Whatever happens now though, Jason's future was set in stone the second he was born. In pretty much every universe, Jason dies and becomes Red Hood. In this one, he didn't die, but his fate…" Dawn's eyes glowed acid green. "It's best not to temp the Fates. All you need to know is that they are still knitting his life, and everything will make sense soon. What will happen, must happen." The acid green glow disappeared.

Jason realized, distantly, that the green in Dawn's eyes was similar to the color of the smoke that was spewed out and described when Percy went to the Oracle of Delphi for his first quest.

"That's not ominous at all," Jason muttered. Dawn looked at him and tilted her head. Where Jason tilted his head like a bird, this one was like a curious dog. She looked at Jason, a knowing look in her eye.

"Manu mate, manu whero," she said. It was like a chant of some kind. Jason frowned.

"What?" He asked.

"Manu mate, manu whero. Manu iti… huh." Dawn smiled. Jason turned to his mother.

"I don't really understand her," he whispered.

"No one does. I say and do weird shit, because I am weird."

"I see." Dawn paused, and her eyes glowed green again. She turned towards them, as if in a trance. She spoke, but it was husky, rough, as though she was possessed by something.

The thing was though, that Jason didn't understand any of it. He'd heard it, though. Ancient Greek, a language he could only recognize from the times he'd heard Diana speak it. She had offered to teach him a few words in it at some point.

They had never gotten around to those lessons, though.

Jason wished they had, because maybe he could understand Dawn here.

When she stopped speaking, and her eyes went back to normal, Dawn sat on the floor. Jason rounded the kitchen island to check on her.

"I'm okay," she said.

"What was that?" He asked.

"I'm a Seer. I can see the future and sometimes I get possessed and spew out prophecies," she said. Jason shared a confused look with his mother.

"You… get possessed and spew out prophecies," he said, slightly dubious.

"Want me to translate what I just spewed?"

"Can you stop saying that word? It doesn't sound like a word and also, it's gross." Dawn rolled her eyes.

"Whatever. Do you want the translation or not?"

"Not right now."

"Alright, but just know that I'll remember it even when I don't want to so I can repeat it in English later."

"Duly noted." Shiva watched them interact, confused.

"What is going on?" She asked.

"No clue," Jason replied.

"Delphi," Dawn responded.

"Delphi?" Jason asked.

"You know, Batgirl's now Oracle."

"Oracle? What does her new name have to do with Del-" Jason stopped and gave Dawn an unimpressed look. "The Oracle of Delphi possess you to deliver prophecies. You just- You delivered a prophecy?"

"Yeah! What about it?" Jason turned to his mother.

"This is what I have to deal with, by the way," he told her. She raised an eyebrow.

"So I see," she mused. Dawn pouted.

"I'm not that bad, you know. Just autistic and ADHD. My mind runs too fast sometimes, and it's a battle between order and chaos up in here and it shows in my life."

"There has to be another reason why you brought me here," Shiva said. Jason knew that he had been caught. He sighed and leaned against the kitchen island. Dawn stood up and sat on the kitchen counter. She grabbed a packet of fruit snacks and started to eat them.

"I want you to train me," Jason admitted. He knew that Shiva was confused.

"You want me to do the very thing I tried not to do?" She asked.

"I said I have killed two men, and I have. But there's work that needs to be done here in Gotham. It's crawling with crime, and someone needs to step in and find a way to control it."

"And how do you plan on doing that?" Shiva asked. Her voice wasn't loud, but Jason could hear the displeasure in it.

"How do you think? I have said that I want you to train me, and I do. If I'm stronger than them, then I can get them in line! Stop people from selling drugs to kids and mothers, stop people from hurting kids and give those kids a proper life! One that I always wanted for myself, that Mama wanted for me and Cass!" Jason was pacing now, moving and trying to dispel his energy.

"Do you think that this is the right way for you to go?" Shiva asked.

"What other way is there? I can plan, but I need to be stronger."

"Let me ask you this, Jason. Do you want to do this just to protect the children of the alley, or do you want to do this to protect your brothers and sister?" Jason froze.

"I would do anything for them, Mother. They are my family, just as you are and Mama was. You'd do anything for me and Cass. That's where we are so similar." He knew that he'd struck a nerve with his mother by the way she looked.

"I do not want you to end up like me," she said.

"I know." He did. She tried so hard to prevent Jason and Cass from living as assassins, but she had ultimately failed with her daughter.

She wouldn't want Jason to become an assassin either.

"Dead bird, red bird. Show them what you mean, When what is right is what you mean. Dead bird, red bird. It's time to learn to fly, Show them what happens when they try. Dead bird, red bird. Return the youth their life, And save them from their strife. Do what you couldn't before. Chains undone, Bird set free To fly on red wings. Dead bird, red bird, protect what is yours." Dawn spoke out of the blue, when neither Jason nor Shiva expected it.

"What was that?"

"That was the prophecy I recited in Ancient Greek earlier, but in English. It's longer than a prophecy normally is, but it's the same idea: a fate set in stone, but no one knows which way it'll go. Most of the time, Jason goes down the crime lord route. Whatever he chooses here, that is his fate."

"Are you sure? I don't want him to enter my world, it's dangerous."

"He's a vigilante anti-hero who happens to be the son of the most dangerous woman in the world. His fate has been decided."

"There's no changing fate once it is set, and whatever happens is meant to happen," Jason murmured. He hadn't heard it anywhere, but all of the ideas he'd heard from people had solidified his opinion on it.

Fate couldn't be changed. If it was, then there would be repercussions. Flash could theoretically run fast enough that he went back in time. If he did, then the changes would have terrible consequences.

"Mother, please. I want this. I'll do whatever you say, but please." He put on his best puppy dog eyes, which had always been good enough to make Bruce cave.

"We will have a test, and then we will see. If I think you are good enough, then I will train you."

"You only train those you think will be great," Jason said. He hugged his mother. "Thank you for giving me a chance."

"You are a stubborn one," she said.

"I get it from everyone else in my life, Mother." Jason went to his room and grabbed To Kill A Mockingbird.

He would need to train, but he wanted to read first.

Chapter Text

Shiva scheduled the test to take place a few days later, on the seventeenth of December. Jason took it in stride, training for all kinds of things. Dawn spotted him when he needed it, and it was clear that Jason's skills impressed her.

"Not even he was this good," she muttered after Jason had finished sparring against her. Dawn was a good opponent, and Jason had gotten a good, tough workout from their spar for the first time in a while that wasn't against some dumb criminals on a bad day.

Dawn played a lot of music during those sessions. A lot of it was stuff that Jason hadn't heard of before, in a language he didn't know. He liked it though, because the music was good. Dawn sang along a lot of the time, the words rolling off of her tongue like water in a river, or anything on silk.

"What is that language?" Jason asked the night before his test.

"What language? I speak like, what? Three? Four?"

"You don't know how many languages you speak?" Jason was confused. Dawn didn't speak a lot of other languages, but she knew Spanish well. Jason knew that from the amount of times he'd sworn in the language and she told him to watch it in the same exact one, or the times she mixed up her words because sometimes she couldn't speak English properly or had forgotten a word in English.

The pains of being multilingual.

"Well, I speak Ancient Greek, Spanish, Japanese, and Maori."

"Maori?" Jason asked.

"Ae. It's the language of the people that were the first to arrive in New Zealand nearly what, eight hundred years ago? Maori basically means 'normal', by the way. In New Zealand, I'm considered Pakeha, which is basically what the Maori people used for 'different'."

"Different?"

"Maori are of Polynesian decent, but I'm white. That means that in a nation that is filled with people with dark skin and moko and the rongoa, Europeans with a different culture and skin tones and no facial tattoos were wildly different."

"I'm curious, how did colonization impact the Maori?" Jason imitated the way that Dawn spoke the word, and found that he liked how it rolled off of his tongue. It wasn't entirely different from Japanese, when he thought about it. At least, the vowel sounds.

"Tohunga, or the Maori healers, didn't know how to deal with the diseases that Pakeha brought with them. Not only that, but Maori land was taken over. The language was ruled out for a while, but I grew up in a time where the language and culture was starting to come back."

"Were they faced with the same things as Indigenous? Or Romani?" Jason asked. Dawn sighed.

"They were forced into hiding, but now, if you visit New Zealand, you hear a lot of people, even those who aren't Maori, speaking the language and learning about the history and even the culture."

"Could you… teach me a few words?" Jason asked. Dawn smiled.

"Whanau means family, and Matua is father. Whaea means mother." Jason blinked.

Did she… really just tell him how to say those words in Maori?

"Whanau…" Yeah, Jason liked how the language sounded.

"Language is a beautiful thing, as is culture. The more we share it, the closer we become." With that philosophical sentence said, Dawn turned back around to started making something for dinner – something involving spiral pasta and chicken sausages. Jason wasn't going to complain, he just liked food.

_______________________________________

Dawn made sure that Jason ate a good breakfast the next morning. She gave him a brown rice porridge with strawberries and bananas in it, as well as some chocolate milk. Jason didn't quite understand the chocolate milk.

"Chocolate milk keeps the sadness away," she said.

"What?"

"Chocolate is just really good when you're struggling with depression. Something about it is an antidepressant, or something. I dunno. But you can never go wrong with chocolate."

"I mean… you're right about the last part there."

"Of course I am! Eat your kai."

"Huh?"

"Kai means food in Maori." Dawn went to eat her own breakfast, which was also brown rice porridge. Jason knew, from the times that she ate it, that she preferred it over normal porridge. Something about the textures being different, and liking the taste and feeling of the rice porridge.

Jason didn't really understand it. He wasn't autistic, though, and Dawn was.

Then it was time for the test. Dawn took Jason to a warehouse that his mother was waiting at, there to observe the test.

Shiva was wearing a simple outfit with heels still, which Jason thought was kind of cool. He didn't want to know how hard it had to be to fight in high heels. Probably harder than fighting in normal shoes.

"Are you sure that you want to do this?" Shiva asked. Jason stood there, determination flowing through him like a tsunami at this point. He knew that it showed in his body language.

"I am," he replied. Simple, and easy for his mother to understand that he wasn't really messing around. She watched him for a little bit longer before she nodded.

"Alright then."

She launched herself at him without warning, but Jason expected that. Who would expect a world class assassin to wait around for their opponent to make the first strike? Certainly not Jason.

He dodged the attack and narrowly dodged the kick Shiva aimed at him. His best chance at winning was either to wear her down, or strike in a place that would take her down. Though she could read body language, so that was dumb.

Jason flipped away and landed in a crouch, sliding on the ground slightly. He used his hand to steady himself, gloves on because who knew what the fuck had happened on the ground in this abandoned warehouse? Probably a lot of gross stuff.

Jason watched Shiva, and Shiva watched him. He steadied his breathing, running through the things he'd learned from Bruce and Dick, and even Artemis whose father had worked for the Al Ghuls in the past. Shiva moved to hit him, but Jason rolled away. The next kick he blocked, and he tried to throw his mother off balance. She steadied herself and went to try to land a hit on him.

She was holding back. There was something there that was making her hold back, no matter how subconscious it was. Jason knew what that thing was.

He was her son, and Shiva's only weakness had always been the people she loved most.

Jason blocked a bunch of blows from her with ease. She caught him in the side, but Jason didn't let it stop him. Shiva caught his foot, which he hadn't been expecting, and he fell. Jason rolled away from her though and got up. He was panting. Jason crouched low and forced his breathing to slow. His body ached from the fighting, and adrenaline pulsed through his veins. Keeping him alive, keeping him awake and aware of the threat.

Jason studied his mother, watching as she forced herself to breathe slower too. He had never really realized just how similar he was to her, but this was opening his eyes. He could read body language well, but Shiva was better. She could predict his movements with just a twitch of his muscles. Or that's what it felt like.

Shiva attacked again and forced him to use defensive techniques. He appreciated that she wasn't really underestimating his skills, though he wasn't really able to prove himself.

Jason went along with it, though. He blocked and evaded, watching, searching for an opening. Shiva managed to take Jason down and win.

"I expected better," she said.

"Give me another chance." Shiva got up.

"No."

"Why not?"

"I've seen all I need to. I still won't train you." Jason sat up, his teeth gritted and a snarl on his face. Anger flooded through his veins, ice cold where his fear burned hot. Jason got up and breathed slowly, getting himself under control.

There was a major difference between the anger he felt when he was scared and the anger he felt when he was truly angry. Fear made him lash out, biting at whoever tried to get too close like a stray dog on the streets, threatening to bite to stay safe. When he was truly angry, a sense of calm washed over him, and his thoughts were clearer. He planned more, and those plans often worked.

Right now, Jason was truly angry. He wanted to be trained, and he was going to force Shiva's hand if he had to.

"Oh, shit," Dawn said. Clearly, she was aware of it too.

"Let me have a rematch, Mother. After all, you cannot judge with just one fight," he called out to his mother's retreating back. Shiva stopped and turned to face him, but what she saw wasn't the same as when they started this.

Where there had been a burning desire to prove his worth, there was now anger as cold as the arctic. His desire to prove his worth was still there, but it was hidden under the anger.

"Do you really want to do this?" Shiva asked. She turned around all of the way, studying Jason.

"I do. The details of our agreement were not ironed out like they should have been, Mother, so I propose this; we fight again, and if I win, then you must teach me everything you know. If you win, then I will give up and go home to my father, my brothers, and my sister."

"I believe that we have a deal. Though, you shouldn't be too surprised if I win again."

"We will see who wins this time, Mother."

They stood in front of each other, ready to start another match. Jason sealed away his emotions except his anger and desire to get what he wanted, and he made sure that nothing could be seen in his body language.

Shiva started it again, but Jason disappeared into the shadows before she could get to him.

"Hiding won't do anything," she called out. Jason went up behind her and aimed a kick at her. She knew, though, and caught him. Jason didn't let any emotion show through his mask. Instead he flipped away, aiming another kick at her as he did. She evaded it though.

Shiva aimed a kick at him but he blocked and used her momentum against her. That's all he needed to do to win. Use her momentum, and throw her off guard.

He let the street fighting style that he'd originally learned to protect himself show through the cracks. Dirty fighting, some called it. But his mother had mastered martial arts, not street fighting. He forced himself close to her and never let her get far enough away to use her martial arts techniques on him. He flipped away when needed, and ran circles around her when he was able to.

It turned into a longer fight than the previous. Jason lost track of it. Punch, kick, flip, and run. A routine that Dick had taught him. It helped that Jason had been taught techniques that his mother hadn't been able to learn because either the only known masters of it were dead, or extremely hard for her to find.

Jason was trained by the world's greatest detective though. He knew things that she probably didn't.

It turned into a deadly dance, one that he hadn't been given the opportunity to dance yet, not with what Musutafu was like. It was too calm there, and you didn't get assassins showing up and trying to engage one of the best fighters in a fight.

The fight went on long enough that his mother was surprised by it. It was only a matter of time before she fumbled and when she did, Jason would take the opportunity to win this fight. Determination and anger fueled him, pushing him to go for as long as he could. He was used to long fights, but against his mother, a world class assassin? Not at all.

Still, as soon as she fumbled, Jason flipped her over onto her front and held her hands behind her back, one leg on her to stop her from trying anything else.

The warehouse was filled with silence. Jason's breaths were surprisingly even for what he had been doing. Surprise was clear as day in his mother's eyes.

"You win," she said. Jason rolled to the side and let her get up. "Where was that the first time around?" She asked.

"Not here, clearly. You told me that you wouldn't train me, and I got angry. My anger doesn't burn, though, but it's cold. It was one of the things that powered me more than the desire to get what I want."

"Well, you have gained what you want."

"You're not happy about it."

"I am not. I promised myself to keep you and your sister away from my job, yet Cain decided that he wanted one of you, and Cassandra went to him, and now you are here, asking me to train you in the very arts that I promised myself that I would never let you learn."

"I know you don't like this, Mother, but it's important to me, to the plans I have for Gotham. If this is my fate as the universe decides, then so be it. I will embrace it and make it my own as I desire."

"Oddly philosophical, but alright." Jason ignored Dawn.

"I need you to promise me this, Jason."

"What is it?" Shiva walked up to him and held his face in her hands. The callouses were a reminder of just how dangerous she was, years of wielding weapons making their marks on her hands. Yet despite that, Jason didn't fear her. He never had, not even as a child.

His mother was the true reason why he admired women and respected them as much as he did. The danger that was always there, but was only ever aimed at Willis or whoever tried to harm him, Cass and Catherine.

"I need you to promise me that whatever happens, you won't lose yourself to the power that taking a life can give you. Don't play god, don't let pride get the best of you. Remember Catherine, and never, ever, let yourself become like Deathstroke or Cain."

"Hey Dawn, do you think that making an oath on the River Styx can do anything to me in this world?" Jason asked. Maybe she knew?

"It won't. You have to be connected to the Greek gods to be killed by breaking on oath sworn on the River Styx here, but I can do a spell that will bind you to the promise."

"You can?"

"Yes. The Unbreakable Vow. Here, let me do this." Dawn placed Jason and Shiva's hands into the right positioning, holding onto each other's forearm. Dawn pulled out a wand that was made of a red wood. There were vines and leaves carved into the wood, going all the way to the tip which Dawn placed on their forearms. "Give Jason the conditions of his training, and after each thing, allow him to say that he will. The spell will do the rest of the work." Shiva and Jason looked at each other, slightly apprehensive, but then they decided that it was worth it.

"Will you, Jason, promise that you will not lose yourself to the power of taking the lives of others?"

"I will." A flickering tongue of fire left Dawn's wand and curled around their hands and forearms. It was like a hot wire, and Jason tried to ignore it.

"Will you promise to never play god, or to let pride get the best of you?"

"I will." Another flame, linking to the first and making it glow a bit more. Hardly noticeable.

"Will you promise to remember Catherine, and to never become like Deathstroke and David Cain?"

"I will." A third one. The three chains of fire settled on their hands and arms and disappeared.

"You are bound to keep to these agreements. Failure to do so will result in harm."

"Harm?"

"I know that you will keep your promise, Jason. The most that will happen if you break the vow is that you'll lose your ability to fight. I have made sure of that. You can let go now, by the way."

"That's all we needed to do?" Jason asked. He let go of Shiva's hand and flexed his own. The magic from the spell was still in the air, metallic and tasting like blood in his mouth.

"That's all that's required for the spell. Now, let's get out of here before anyone comes to investigate what happened here. I'm not exactly eager for anyone to figure it out, and you know what Batman's like."

That was all Jason and Shiva needed to follow Dawn back to the penthouse. As they walked, the feeling of the magic Dawn used disappeared, though if he were to end up near Zatanna then Jason knew that she would notice it. Zatanna was powerful enough to sense residual magic, and it was… kind of creepy.

_______________________________________

Jason went back to the graveyard with a bunch of flowers for Catherine, and flowers for himself.

He didn't need a grave, not if he was alive, but he knew that he was no longer the kid he'd been before he was torn from this world and displaced to another one. He hadn't been the same kid since he was first kidnapped by Joker, and now he wasn't the kid who had been created from that.

No, now he was someone more dangerous. He was Redwing, not Robin. Jason Woosan, not Jason Todd-Wayne.

He left the flowers on the graves. The one for himself was as though he was saying goodbye to himself which, in a way, he was.

Dark crimson roses to symbolize mourning. Zinnia for the lasting affection he had for his family, marigolds for his grief and purple hyacinths for his sorrow. And Forget-Me-Not, to ask his family to remember him and who he had been, even with who he was going to become.

He said goodbye to the kid he used to be, the one that declared Robin to be magic and had vowed to never take a life, and then he left.

He was leaving Gotham with his mother in a couple of days, after all. He needed to make sure he had everything he needed for the journey.

Chapter Text

Jason had known that Shiva wouldn't hold back in her training, but when he chose a katana as his weapon of choice? His training went from fast fights to going through motions slowly and being taught how to care for his weapon. Everyday, Jason got up at six in the morning, dressed, and went to train with his mother. She put him through the paces, slowly with the katana and fast when they were training in different martial arts that Shiva knew. Each day Jason went to bed sore and tired, but he was learning new things each day, and that was what he'd been looking for.

They took days off and went to London for things like sightseeing, but those days were still filled with lessons. Shiva got him to look around and learn how to read the body language of total strangers.

"Do you want to go to London today?" Shiva asked. Jason yawned, hiding it behind his hand. He looked at the calendar, which had the days crossed off neatly with red pen.

He froze, his eyes wide.

December twenty-fourth.

Had it really been that long?

"No, it's fine," he said. He refused to meet his mother's sharp gaze. There was a lump in his throat, one that was difficult to swallow.

It was getting close to a year since he disappeared…

"Are you sure?" Shiva asked.

"Yeah." Shiva put her knife down and walked over to him. She looked at the calendar.

"Alright. I will go myself, but you don't have to come with me if you don't want to," she said. Jason simply nodded. He let her pull him into a hug and took comfort in it.

At least he wasn't alone in another world for Christmas.

And now his thoughts were on Ryouma and the others.

Jason just want a break.

Shiva left an hour later, kissing Jason's forehead and heading out to the car to drive herself into London. Jason watched as she left, then looked around at the house. He was alone. Maybe he shouldn't be alone. At least, not right now.

He went up to his room and flopped onto his bed with no issues. How many times had he flopped onto his bed in the last year because of how shitty he felt? Probably too many to count. At least the alias he was using, Mason Stewart (Mason, Dawn? Really?) needed the same medications that Jason took.

Sometimes, it felt like his medication never really worked.

Jason rolled over onto his back and stared up at the ceiling. Snow drifted past his window, covering the world in a blanket of white and silencing it. There was a pang in his heart, one that he had gotten used to over the last few months.

Homesickness.

He liked England enough, but nothing could beat the holiday season at the Manor. Celebrating Hanukkah, and then Christmas with the tree and all of the gifts. The books, the hot chocolate, the snowball fights in the gardens with Bruce and Dick. If Jason hadn't been kidnapped by Joker, then right now he would be celebrating with Cass and maybe even Tim, and he knew for a fact that Cass would wrestle him into the snow, getting the both of them covered and soaked and so cold that they had to change when they went back inside and would probably end up with a cold.

This… Jason just wanted to go home. He could, if he wanted to, but… the mission…

You did this to yourself, a traitorous voice in his head whispered. Jason curled up on his side.

Laying here and doing nothing wasn't helping him. He needed- he needed something. Anything that would take his mind off of the emotions that tumbled together inside of him and turned into a hurricane intent on ruining everything and making him hate himself.

Jason got up and ran around, putting on his shoes and a warm jacket before he ran out the back door to the barn that was on the property they were staying on. It was the training area, hidden in a barn so that no one realized nor questioned it.

It was warmer inside. Jason threw off his jacket and wrapped his hands. There was a punching bag in one corner. It was old, but not old enough that breaking it was any concern.

He punched it, over and over and over in a frustrated loop. He kicked it too, just for good measure. His thoughts melted away so that it was just him, his emotions, and the punching bag.

He had no idea how long he was there, punching and kicking, before he took a few steps back and collapsed onto the floor.

The barn was silent except for his heavy breathing, the only thing that remained from his frustration.

"FUCK!" The word was loud where the rest of the world was quiet. Jason let himself fall backwards onto the dirt. "Fuck," he repeated in a whisper. Nothing tried to soothe him, and nothing tried to take his mind off of everything.

He should've just gone home to the Manor, his life would be so much easier. He would probably be fighting with his siblings in the snow if he had, not alone in some barn in England thousands of miles away from his family, with the only family anywhere near him being his assassin mother. He loved his mother, he really did, but… it's hard to be close to someone who always kept themselves away from you so that they could protect you.

"Jason?" How long had he been there? Shiva sat next to him on the ground, worry on her face. "What's wrong?" She asked. Her voice was gentle. It still surprised Jason how violent and murderous people could still be kind and soft when it came to the people they cared about the most.

"I'm okay," he replied. He knew that she didn't buy it, but she didn't say anything. Shiva simply hummed and brushed his hair out of his face. He closed his eyes and allowed himself to calm down. He wasn't alone. He wasn't alone.

"Come on, let's go back inside," Shiva finally said after a few minutes.

"Kay." Jason got up and went through the motions of getting ready to go back to the house. He unwrapped his hands and put his jacket back on, even though he was a bit too warm with it on. He was glad that he did, though, since it was, again, really cold outside in the snow.

Jason went right back to his room to shower and change, and then ended up laying in bed doing nothing until he was called downstairs.

She'd made them both dinner, which was an array of Chinese food. Jason was more than happy to sit down and eat, the food familiar in a good way.

Despite the comfort that he felt in the evening with his mother, when he went to bed, Jason felt… melancholy. He laid awake in his room, watching as the clock on the bedside table slowly ticked towards midnight.

"Merry Christmas, I guess," he whispered when it finally did after what felt like a whole night awake. He let himself cry, curled into a little ball.

_______________________________________

Dick stood on a rooftop, looking out over Gotham. The comm in his ear crackled to life.

"Merry Christmas, everyone," Barbara said. Dick echoed it back, his voice cheery, and then clicked his comm off.

The shops were decorated with Christmas decorations, toys and books and clothes on sale for the Christmas season. Eco-friendly decorations covered the trees in the parks, and the snow made everything look nicer than it actually was. Gotham was extremely beautiful in the winter, and normally Dick would be enjoying it.

But how could he, when he felt worse than he did that first Christmas season without his parents? When everywhere he looked had things that he thought that Wally and Jason would like and almost bought things for them a few times before he remembered the truth? How could he enjoy himself when his family was so incomplete without them?

He took off his domino and wiped his eyes. It didn't stop the sob that escaped him.

Dick pushed his emotions back and put the domino back on after he dried his eyes. Then he went to make his way back to the manor, where it was quiet, and went to his old room. His old room where he'd spent hours with Wally, doing all kinds of things because they were best friends above everything else. His old room that Jason used to sneak into when he couldn't sleep and Bruce was out.

Dick fell into his bed.

"Merry Christmas," he whispered into the air, speaking to Wally and Jason. No one responded. He picked up his phone and sent texts to both of their numbers, which still worked. None of them could bring themselves to get rid of any of Jason's things, his phone number included.

And Dick would never let go of the only things that proved that Wally had been real, not ever.

His phone simply said 'sent', and Dick wished so badly that it would change to 'read'. Not today, though. And never again.

Dick sobbed as quietly as he could and curled around Zitka, holding her close and crying as though he was eight and not nearly twenty.

_______________________________________

"Merry Christmas, everyone."

"Merry Christmas," she chorused with everyone else. She clicked off the comms and stared out over the city.

In the past, she'd dreamed of the first Christmas reunited with Jason. She'd tackle him to the ground and fight with him in the snow, laughing gleefully and getting the both of them covered so much so that they had to go and change. She'd buy him something, probably a book or merch for whatever musical or play he seemed to be obsessed with, and curl up with him when it got later.

Never, in Cass' life, had she imagined that she would be here, but Jason wouldn't be.

She jumped down from her perch and made her way through the city. She stopped by a zeta port thing to change into civilian clothes and made her way to the cemetery. She didn't stop for anything, just went to the same place that she'd met her older brother at.

Jason's grave was covered in snow. Cass wiped it off and stared at the writing on it. She sighed.

"I was looking forward to spending Christmas with you again," she whispered. Tears stung her eyes. "I'm sorry that I couldn't come home sooner, Jay. But… I hope that wherever you are, that you're happy and that Mama's with you. Merry Christmas, Jay." She stood there for a few more moments before she turned around and left, heading straight to the manor. This would be the first Christmas she'd celebrated in years, and right now she wanted her dad.

He was sitting in the kitchen when she got back, staring at a cup of tea left in front of him, probably from Alfred. Cass walked up to him and forced her way into his space. Bruce wrapped an arm around her. They didn't say anything. They didn't need to.

The entire Manor, it seemed, was covered in a sort of melancholy. Jason wasn't here, and it showed.

Cass had gotten used to missing her brother, but she hadn't ever dreamed of mourning him.

She really wished that she didn't have to.

_______________________________________

Christmas day dawned white and cold, and Jason didn't want to get up. If he could have it his way, he'd lay in his bed the entire day and do nothing. At least he hadn't been woken up at six in the morning.

"Érzǐ," Shiva said. Jason groaned and hid his face in his pillow. "You can't stay in bed all day."

"I wanna," he mumbled. He bed dipped with extra weight, and he realized that she was sitting on his bed. Shiva ran an hand through his hair.

"I know that this isn't easy for you, being so far from your father and siblings," she said. Jason listened to her, curious about where this was going. "So we don't have to do much, but I would like it if you could come downstairs and at least have something to eat."

Right. Food was important.

But he didn't want to eat a whole meal right now. He wasn't that hungry, after all. But something small would do.

"Okay," he agreed. Shiva brushed the white hair out of his face.

He got up and went downstairs with her, feeling numb when he probably really shouldn't be. He still needed to take his meds… later. That could wait until after he ate.

He ate a small portion of porridge, which seemed to satisfy Shiva, then went to take his meds. He swallowed them without water like a heathen, then went back downstairs.

The house hadn't been decorated for Christmas, and Jason… was conflicted. On one hand, he wanted to celebrate the holiday, but on the other… well, on the other hand Jason was not in the mood to celebrate. Decorations or a gift would send him into a mental breakdown bad enough for him to be sent to Arkham.

So yeah, it was best that he wasn't reminded of the fact that it was Christmas and he wasn't celebrating it with the people he cared about the most again. Four years. That's how many years he had spent sitting by himself, glumly wishing his family Merry Christmas. He wasn't actually alone, since his mother was there, but still. Jason would be happier spending the holidays with the other Bats.

Could he even call himself a Bat? Jason didn't know anymore. Dawn hadn't explained much about the other worlds, either, so he had nothing to compare to.

Maybe that was a good thing, though.

"Jason." He looked up at Shiva from his spot on the couch that he had settled on. In his mother's hands a small wrapped box and a letter. He frowned. "Dawn sent this for you," Shiva explained. She handed him the letter and the box.

Curiosity got the better of him, and he opened the wrapped box first.

It was just a simple black box at first glance, but it was big enough to hold a necklace or something similar. Jason knew it from the times he'd seen one of the girls at school receive a gift from their boyfriends or closest friends in their entourage. He opened it to see that it was, in fact, a necklace. But it wasn't flashy in any way, which he appreciated. The cord was black and tied to a carving with the simplest of knots.

The carving itself was a deep green, and Jason couldn't begin to describe it. It looked like something straight out of a mythology, with a head and a tail. Jason turned to the letter, sure that Dawn had written some sort of explanation. She had proved that she enjoyed talking about different cultures, especially ones that she grew up around.

Jason,

Merry Christmas! I know that this year is going to be hard on you, since you're not with Bruce and your siblings, so I hope that this gift cheers you up a little bit.

Either you ignored this letter first and then turned to this letter for an explanation, or you're reading this letter first. Whichever is the case, I'll explain the gift to you.

It's a manaia, which is a common motif in Māori carvings. The manaia serves as a messenger and spiritual guardian of the sky, earth and sea. This necklace and others like it are thought to protect the wearer from harm and evil influences, so it's basically a spiritual shield.

I've taken the liberty of enchanting it so that you'll be protected, just as the Māori have believed it to do. The rock it's made from is pounamu, which is also known as New Zealand Jade. Whatever happens to you during your journey, this necklace will protect you. It will return to you if you lose it, and it won't break. Jade is pretty hard to break normally, but I've enchanted it to make the chances of the string breaking zero.

I hope you're doing alright.

Dawn. S.

Jason looked from the letter to the necklace. Pounamu… Dawn had taught him the Māori vowels, so he knew how to say it.

"It's pounamu," he said.

"Pounamu?" Shiva repeated, copying the way he pronounced it with a slight frown.

"New Zealand jade, according to Dawn. It's in the shape of a creature that's believed to be a guardian, so it's meant to protect the wearer. Dawn said that she enchanted it so that it'll always return to me and it won't break along with protecting me." Shiva hummed and reached out to trace the shape of the creature.

"It's beautiful," she murmured. Jason hummed in agreement. He took the pounamu out of the box and put it on. There was a faint thrum of protective magic waking, and then it was gone. It rested in the middle of his sternum, right next to his heart. "Jade is associated with similar things, as well as bringing good health, in China."

"It's a really loved stone, huh?"

"Look at it, Érzǐ. It's a beautiful stone, and beautiful things are treasured."

"Who needs shiny jewels when you have jade?" Jason asked. Shiva smiled.

"Exactly, Érzǐ. Who needs something shiny when you can have something as beautiful as nature itself?"

Jason had to agree with the idea of the pounamu being as beautiful as nature. It was a dark green like a pine tree, and the meaning behind it was actually really cool.

Dawn had thought of him, had decided to get him something that was filled with meaning from a culture that she grew up with.

Perhaps this Christmas wasn't so bad.

Chapter Text

Jason trudged through the streets. The wind was cold and his clothes didn't do much to protect him from it, and the snow was melting steadily. Spring was a month or so away, and Jason was eager for it to be warmer. For now though, he had to deal with a cold night and his breath being visible in the air.

This was Shiva's idea. He was in the city, walking around and avoiding her detection as much as possible. He'd improved a lot, though his mother could find him nine times out of ten, so any chance he could, he worked on his stealth.

There was movement behind him. Jason didn't pause, but he listened out.

"Kid there," someone said. Their voice was deep, and it slurred in the familiar way of a drunk man. What drunk idiot would try and steal from someone who was fully sober and could literally kill them?

Though, the beauty here was that they didn't know.

No one knew that Jason could kill if he wanted to. Well, except for a few people, but none of them would say anything about it.

Now he was curious about how this would work.

"Hey, kid," another person called out. Jason continued to move. "Fuckin'- get 'im!" Someone grabbed Jason. He let it happen, hardly flinching at the knife that was pressed to his throat.

"The fuck d'you want?" He snarled, a full Gotham accent coming through.

"Feisty little bugger, eh?" A third man asked. Jason rolled his eyes.

"I'm from Gotham, dipshits. I could take you down in five seconds," Jason told them. He could. They wouldn't know it until it happened.

"The fuck's a Gothamite doing in London? I thought that you were all too poor to leave the city," The first man said.

"Most of the money goes to the rich. Also, pro tip from someone who had to steal to survive, don't try to rob someone when you're drunk."

"Why's that?" The first man asked. Jason grinned. It was feral and unhinged in the way that only a Robin could really manage.

"Because," he said. He grabbed the arm hold the knife to his neck and brought it down on his knee. There was a crack, and the man holding him let go to hold his arm instead. Jason punched another one of them in the face and the third in the crotch. They were all down in five seconds, just as he said he could. "You're lucky it wasn't worse." He grabbed one of their phones and dialed the emergency services. He put the phone on speaker and let it drop onto one of the men.

He walked away. Each minute wasted was another minute Shiva could use to find him. He had to move.

The streets were quiet except for an occasional drunk man or group of drunk people. There were a few girls walking home after a night out, and Jason ignored them. Though it was hard to avoid making women feel uncomfortable when you were a guy and it was dark. It was unfortunate, but it was the truth.

So he paused for a few minutes until they were gone, looking at a map. When they were gone, he finally started moving. He had an idea of where he wanted to go, though not a lot of places were open at this hour of the night anyway. He was just walking around, after all.

There was a gas station nearby. It was green, and there was one car there. It looked like there was a cafe inside, so he decided to have a look. Maybe he could get something warm to drink as he walked around.

There was one bored looking employee behind the counter. Jason walked through slowly, unsure. The employee noticed him.

"How can I help?" They asked in a bored tone. Jason glanced at the options they had for the hot drinks they offered.

"Could I just get a hot chocolate?" He asked.

"Do you want that as a small, medium or large?"

"Uh, large please." The employee made his drink, then took it to the counter. Jason paid for it with cash and left. Drink in hand, Jason continued his walk. The hot chocolate did well to keep some of the cold away from him.

It was another hour of walking before anything interesting happened.

"Hey, kid, shouldn't you be at home?" Jason stopped to look at the police officer. He finished off his drink and threw the cup into the nearest bin.

"I'm fine, officer. I've got a phone to call my mom or emergency services if I need anything," he replied.

"I'm just trying to make sure you're not up to something." Jason eyed the officer. He had never really trusted police officers, at least not ones that he'd never worked with before. This was one small reason – the idea that anyone who was outside at night was up to no good, especially kids.

"My mom's rich, sir. I have no reason to steal or harm others unless they try to kill me or something," he replied. He walked off, not wanting to get caught up in whatever dumb shit this man was trying to rope him into.

"Hey, come back!" Jason slipped away into an alleyway and lost the police officer. He really, really couldn't be bothered having to deal with that shit tonight.

_______________________________________

Shiva seemed to like the exercises where Jason had to avoid being found by her, because Jason was doing the exact same thing but in the day time.

Day and night were different here in London. In Gotham, the day was filled with people going to work, and the night was filled with the sounds of guns and sirens and the occasional explosion. Here, it was peaceful. Everyone had their things to do, and no one bothered others unless they had to. Nights were filled with drunk people or those who were going somewhere to get things, but there were no gunshots ringing out over the city, or the constant sound of sirens.

Jason moved through busy parts of the city and quiet parts, weaving through buildings and crowds with no problem. Blending in and hiding was a skill that all street kids learned from a young age, anyway. Older kids taught it to the younger ones in hopes that the younger ones could live long enough to get a better life.

The exercise didn't last for long, since his phone rang. He looked down at the contact. Mǔqīn. Jason frowned and answered it.

"Mother?" He asked.

"Jason. I have been assigned a job," Shiva started.

"Oh. So what are we going to do?"

"I want you to come with me."

"Are you sure?" Jason's frown grew. He left the spot that he'd been standing in and moved through the crowd that had appeared at a market in a small square.

"Experience is the best teacher, Érzǐ." Jason knew that. He'd known that since he started living on the streets, when he had to learn more about life without anyone there to care for him. It was the first lesson that one of the working girls had taught him, something that she'd told him in exchange for a cigarette.

"Do you want to meet me anywhere?" Jason asked.

"London Bridge," Shiva said.

"I'll be there as soon as I can." They hung up.

Jason made his way to the bridge via the Tube. When he got there, he looked out for his mother. She was standing there, looking out over the Thames, the wind blowing at her hair. Jason went and stood next to her, looking out over the river under them himself.

"What are we doing now?" Jason asked.

"We are getting you some new clothes. I have a friend nearby who can help us with that," she replied easily. Jason hummed. Shiva moved, and Jason followed her.

"Where are we going next?" He asked.

"Italy."

"Is there someone there that we need to have a talk with?" Jason asked. Shiva smiled.

"There is," she confirmed. "This person that we will have to talk to is powerful, and has been found guilty of some things that are making my blood boil."

"Okay." It was better to not ask any questions. Instead, his mind ran through the list of what the hell could be happening that they were asked to kill someone. There were a lot of things, since there were so many things that went against the Geneva Conventions. Jason was curious, though.

The place that Shiva led him to was run-down and plain, nothing worth noting in a travel catalog. That was the point of it though, wasn't it? To be so plain and boring and unassuming that no one bothered to look closer at it. The inside was dusty, with a few shelves lined with random things. He couldn't even catalog any of it, that was how random it was.

An older woman came out of the back room. She looked to be close to Alfred's age, with short graying hair and glasses on a chain. She smiled at Shiva and Jason, but there wasn't any warmth behind her eyes.

"Sandra," the woman said. "How may I be of service today?"

"Elizabeth," Shiva replied with a nod to the woman. "This is my protege. We have just been given a job, and he needs clothes for it." The woman, Elizabeth, studied him.

"You never teach anyone unless you believe that they have potential. I wonder, what makes this one so special to you? Is it the way he fights, or is it his stealth?"

"He is my son," Shiva replied coolly. She looked back at Jason, who could see pride in her eyes. "And he is a fast learner."

"Well, let's hope that he doesn't turn out like the other one. Say, who is this child's father? Surely it isn't Cain." The woman practically spat out the name of Jason's step-father in the same way that Jason would. Something told him that no one liked Cain much.

"I would never have a child with him. He is infertile, after all, so I have never cared for him. And there is nothing wrong with my daughter, Elizabeth. My son just has a goal that he wants to achieve, and I am the only one that I trust to train him so that he may reach it."

"Very well. Come, let's get him his clothes." Elizabeth led them to another room where she got Jason to stand on a platform and measured him. Shiva stood behind them, watching like a hawk. Jason guessed that you could never really trust anyone when you were an assassin. Anyone could betray you at a moment's notice, so you had to be careful.

This was the world that Shiva had been a part of before Jason was born, and it was the world that Jason had entered the moment he won that fight so that he had the right to learn from his mother.

The measuring didn't take long, and Jason soon had a bag with his new suit in it. He left with Shiva after she paid Elizabeth for the suit, and they went right back to the house that they were staying in. Shiva helped him pack his bag, giving him a special suitcase that he used.

_______________________________________

She looked at the screen in front of her. According to an operative of hers in London, Sandra had a son that she was training.

She very clearly remembered how the woman had hated the idea of her daughter becoming like them. When Cassandra left, Sandra had followed in her wake, going to find her daughter and help her get away. It was why Cassandra was in Gotham at all.

So what was different about the boy? How had this come to be?

The questions burned in her mind, and she had to find out. Because maybe, just maybe, this boy could get him out…

She looked up Sandra's next assignment. If this was happening, then she would go and track down the woman and the boy herself.

_______________________________________

They were in a smaller Italian town, where their apparent target was. Jason didn't ask questions about it, since it would probably be like trying to get answers out of Bruce when the man didn't want to talk.

The suit that they'd gotten from Elizabeth was all black, with a hood, mask, gloves, and armor in all of the right places. Shiva helped Jason learn how to put it on, and then spent a bit of time helping him adjust to it. It was easy to, since it had less armor than the Robin costume he'd worn.

How the hell Joker had managed to drag a crowbar through Kevlar enough so that Jason was left with a scar, he didn't know. It was a mystery to Jason, and he wasn't in a hurry to figure that one out.

"When do we start?" Jason asked. He was eating some gelato, and not the dumb tourist trap type, either. It was good.

"Soon. Our goal is to gather information before we do anything else."

"So… what's this guy done anyway?"

"Meta human trafficking, mostly. He owns a ring himself, which has rumors of spreading, though where is unknown." Jason clenched his jaw.

He had always hated people who hurt the innocent. When people were willing to kidnap people to sell them or experiment on them, he got pissed. His reaction to realizing what Overhaul was doing to Eri had been proof of that. He'd managed to get pen ink on the ceiling, which was tall enough to fit a nine foot human. He still had no clue how he'd done that, but he'd been so angry, and it had led to him shooting Overhaul with his own drug.

"What do we have to do?" Jason questioned. He finished his gelato and threw away his trash.

"We have to get close to him. His name is David Martinez, and he's an older gentleman that likes single mothers."

"You're going to play into that, aren't you?" Jason asked. His mother smiled.

"I am. Come, our information should be at the villa that we're staying at."

The villa that she mentioned was nice. It had a good view of the town, and they got sun in the living room and bedrooms at all hours of the day. Jason settled into the smaller of the two rooms, where a file sat on the bedside. He opened it and flipped through it, memorizing the information inside of it. Everything detailed was his alias for this mission, which was a kid who loved art. Apparently, this was because Martinez liked art too, and had illegally bought some bits in the past. The White Collar units would love to investigate him.

Honestly, if Jason could fuck with this man and then take him down, then it would all be worth it.

Chapter Text

There was a golf club nearby, because of course there was. When the next day came, they ironed out the smaller bits of their aliases before they headed over there, because apparently that's where the man would be.

Rich people.

Technically he was a rich person…

At least he used to try and stop the whole human trafficking thing! Not try and add to it.

The golf club was as pretentious as he'd expected, with a few sculptures here and there and dark wood walls and marble floors that made Shiva's heels click sharply. It was an effort to keep up the idea of her being a rich person who thought herself more important than she actually was. Jason stayed quiet, his shoes hardly even squeaking against the marble floor. He was supposed to be quiet, quick and sly.

They ended up in a bar area where there were a few TVs showing some sort of sport. People were scattered throughout the area, sipping on drinks and talking. A group of people surrounded a pool table, and a group of men in another corner burst out laughing.

This was a different scene than what Jason was used to. He was far more used to the rich going to Galas and dancing and drinking and making snide comments. Well, the bar patrons looked over at them as they entered and turned to whisper to each other. Jason surveyed the room and followed Shiva.

"Hello! How can I help you today?" A young man, probably only four or so years older than Jason (Dick was four years older than him…) asked. There was a slight accent to his words, years of learning and perfecting English paying off.

"What's your finest wine?" Shiva asked.

"Oh! That is easy. Here, it's a-" Jason tuned it out. He could feel a pair of eyes staring at them, especially his mother. Their target, perhaps?

"Danny?" Shiva asked.

"Oh, sorry. Did you… say something?" He put on his most innocent face.

"I was just asking if you would like something to drink," Shiva replied. Jason hummed.

"I'll just have a coke if that's okay," he replied.

"Of course!" The man grabbed a cold glass from a fridge and filled it with ice and coke. He handed it over to Jason, who took it with a wide smile and a thank you, and followed Shiva to a table.

"There's someone watching us," Jason murmured.

"There is," Shiva agreed. They sat down, facing each other. Shiva scanned the room. They were sitting in a place where they could both see the entire room. The people, the bar, the pool table and the doors.

"So, what are we going to do while we're here? You didn't really plan a whole lot, Mom," Jason said. Shiva hummed.

"I was thinking that you could take charge of our vacation, Danny. Have you searched for activities in the area?"

"I didn't think about that. Why did we come here, anyway?"

"Because smaller towns and cities that aren't as famous as Venice, Florence or Rome deserve some love too. A lot of the things you see in those cities are designed to be tourist traps, you know, and I'm not all that interested in being in a busy city while we're here," Shiva responded smoothly.

"Maybe, but there's so many things I want to see in those cities! Like the art they have. I'm not entirely sure if they have an art museum here."

"Well then, you'll have to be patient. Maybe you can go when you're older."

The bartender came over and gave Shiva a glass of white wine. Jason knew that she preferred red wine over any other type.

"Oh, I didn't order this," she said, her eyes falsely wide. Jason guessed that he knew where his love of theater came from, now.

"Someone ordered it for you," he said.

"O-okay." The bartender left. Shiva turned her attention to the glass.

"Are you actually going to drink it?" He asked. Shiva swirled it, studying it.

"There's nothing in here that could mean anything…"

"If a rich person wanted to drug another person, then they'd go to a nightclub where everyone gets high," Jason murmured. In Gotham, that meant literally every nightclub, including the Iceberg Lounge.

"Good point," Shiva acquiesced. She took a sip and raised an eyebrow. "Not what I would prefer to drink, but not the worst I could have."

"I knew as soon as I saw it that you wouldn't be the biggest fan of it. You're more of a champagne and expensive red wine person." Shiva raised an eyebrow.

"You've been studying me."

"No, I just know that you prefer the finer things in life. It's unfortunate that my father was never anywhere close to that, and your ex is an idiot."

"Your father was also an idiot, and not a very good man."

"So you have better taste in wine than you do men," Jason retorted. Shiva lightly slapped his arm.

"No more of that," she told him.

"Okay, okay, I was just saying." He was smiling though. Somehow, over a few weeks, he'd gotten comfortable enough to make fun of her partners. Not that she had been given any choice with Cain, but still. The fact was there.

"Hello, I'm so sorry to interrupt," a man, who Jason recognized as their target, said. He was smiling kindly, but there was some kind of ulterior motive in his eyes that Jason knew Shiva saw. "But I couldn't help but over hear your conversation about what you want to do while you're here. It just so happens that I know the town quite well."

"Oh! Well, Danny would appreciate it, I believe," Shiva replied with a warm smile that was aimed towards Jason.

She was having fun here.

Okay, he could have some fun too, he guessed.

"My name's David Martinez, by the way," the man, who looked to be Alfred's age, introduced himself.

Their target.

"I'm Amelia, and this is my son."

"Lovely to meet you both," Martinez said. He shook Jason's hand. He subtly wiped it under the table. "Is it alright if I join you?"

"Go ahead," Shiva told the man. Jason sipped the rest of his coke. Martinez sat down with a groan. Jason hated every single part of this.

"So, you're looking for things to do while you're here?" Martinez asked. Jason vaguely wondered why a guy like him was in Italy at all. Not that he could fault anyone from wanting to see how pretty the country was.

"I am. Do you know if there's anywhere that displays art? I know that Italy has a lot of it, and seeing art from even the unknown artists is so interesting." He was practically vibrating in his seat, as Danny would be.

Martinez chuckled.

"It's always refreshing to see a young man such as yourself so interested in art," he said, "there's actually a small portion of my art collection here, and there's a museum nearby that has some magnificent displays of all kinds of artifacts from the area, including some beautiful Roman pieces too."

"There's Roman stuff here too?" Jason asked. His inner theater kid was having a blast.

And it was so clear that Martinez was trying to appeal to Danny, with the things that he was saying.

Too bad that this specific Danny didn't exist.

Martinez chuckled. Jason was getting sick of how often he did that.

"It's good to see such a handsome young man like yourself be so interested in art. It's not common these days," he commented. Jason grinned bashfully and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Well, it's just… it's history, preserved on a canvas and in color. You can tell a lot about how people lived through the techniques used and the colors found in the paintings. And Greek pottery! They had stories painted on their pottery."

"Tell you what, how about you take this," Martinez slid a card towards Jason, "and go take a look at some of the things here?"

"Are you sure? I won't get in trouble for it, will I?"

"Oh, no, no. No, you won't. I own the place, and my staff know that I have a soft spot for those who enjoy art."

"Can I, Mom?" Jason asked Shiva. She looked at him.

"Go ahead, darling. Be careful, though, okay?"

"I will, Mom," Jason promised.

There was a message hidden in her eyes. See what you can find. Be careful.

Jason took the card and left the main room.

There were signs pointing to different parts of the building. Jason followed one towards the gallery, taking notes on the layout and making a mental map in his head. He noted the security cameras, the doors and halls that said staff only.

He took note of all of it. He had to, realistically.

The art gallery was small, but it was filled with paintings and carvings. Jason thought that they deserved to be in a proper museum, where anyone would be able to see it. But here it all was, hidden for only the rich to see. And it was a shame, since there were some truly beautiful pieces.

Jason wandered around, acting as though he was entirely engrossed in the art. There were a couple of others in the room, also looking at the art, but they weren't bothering him, so he didn't bother them. After a while, when he'd made a couple laps of the room and read every single detail of each piece and spent some time studying them, he left.

He turned down one of the staff only routes, and he noticed that there was a lack of cameras down it. Jason took a deep breath. Punching something would only leave suspicion behind him.

"I would like to know-" Jason hid in a shadowy alcove. This could be-

Oh.

Fuck.

_______________________________________

A dark blue suit with gold, a mask, and her bag.

That was all she needed to go out and help where she could. If it was possible to start helping, to form a good relationship with the people who would end up in his territory, then she would.

She had a name in mind, but she wasn't sure about if it was good enough or not.

Even so, she went out to help.

Crime Alley was just as shitty as the name suggested. There were prostitutes all over the streets, some of them children who had no other way to make any money. High or drunk people wandered the streets, seeking out another hit. Sellers didn't bother hiding, too used to people wanting a hit and police doing nothing to care.

She drew an arrow and aimed it at someone who was trying to grab a kid. It sailed through the air with ease and went through the man's arm, right between the radius and ulna. The man screamed, and the kid ran to the shadows. The scream drew attention. She moved, hiding on the rooftops and jumping over the gaps in buildings.

There was another man trying to grab a kid. They were struggling, and they were injured. She jumped down into the alley.

"Hey, dipshit," she said. The man turned around. She aimed a high kick at the man, right in the nose. It broke with a resounding crack that left a sort of satisfaction in her heart.

"You fucking-" The man tried to punch her. She moved, just an inch. Breaking his nose had made him dizzy though. She'd probably given him a concussion.

She turned him around and kneed him in the crotch, then hit a nerve point that made him black out. She turned to the kid, who was sitting on the ground, clutching at their leg. A quick spell forced the man to stay where he was until the police came to get him – though she wasn't hopeful that they'd do anything.

"Hey, kid. You good there?" She asked. The kid glared at her.

"What's it to you?"

"I'm a doctor, you know. I can have a quick look if you want, see what needs to be done and do what I can here. You won't have to go to the hospital if you don't want to. Whatever you want, kid. I won't force you to do anything if you don't want to."

"What's your name?"

"Call me Eclipse."

"Do you work for Batman?"

"No, I don't. I am here to help pave the way for someone who will do what Batman's too afraid to do, and I am here to help whoever wants or needs it," Eclipse said. The kid watched her.

"… My leg hurts a lot. And… I don' wanna go to no hospital. Don' have the money for it. You won' charge me, right?"

"I would never take money from a kid who needs help, only hand it over. Here, let me have a look, yeah?" The kid nodded and let go of their leg. They extended it, though it clearly caused them a lot of pain. Eclipse took it and carefully felt along it.

There was no external injury, but the bones were broken. It would need to be reset and healed.

"You have a broken bone. From what I can tell, it's a clean break, and only the tibia, which is your shin. I'll reset it for you and heal it, but you'll have to be careful for a little bit, okay?"

"Okay. Just… do what you have to."

"Here, bite into this." Eclipse handed the kid a clean cloth. They took it and bit into it. "Alright, on three, I'm going to set it. One… two… three." She pulled the bone back into place with a snap. The kid yelped, sound muffled by the cloth. She grabbed her wand and murmured a spell, binding the bones together with magic. "How's that feel?"

"It's… better… are you magic?"

"I am," Eclipse confirmed. "Now, be careful, okay? And here, take this, get yourself something to eat. Let the other kids know about me, and tell them about a Red Bird that will come and help Gotham in a way that the Bat is too scared to do, okay?"

"I will! Uh… my friend's sister used to be a boy… and I was told that it's good to ask a stranger their gender…"

"Demigirl, she/they pronouns. Thank you for asking." They smiled at the kid, who smiled back.

"I'll let them know, then." And the kid left.

Eclipse went back up to the rooftops.

There was a group of kids standing around a bin that they'd lit on fire, trying to stay warm. She jumped down to them, cash in her hand.

"Hey, you kids alright?" She asked. They turned to face her, the older ones pushing the younger behind them. Smart kids.

"Wha's it to you?" One of them, the eldest by the looks of it, snarled.

"I have cash. There's… about six hundred. Take it, go get something to eat and warm clothes. I'm not going to go back on my word, here. My job here is to help as much as I can, and you lot need to eat and get warm clothes." The eldest took it and looked through the bills. "I'm gonna go and stop people from taking others. Stay safe, okay? I'll find you if you get taken by someone, that's a promise." She left them.

The kids swarmed the eldest, looking at the cash and whispering before they left, running to find food and clean, warm clothes. She watched over them, making sure that no one took the money from them.

A police officer tried, but she shot him in the leg. Corrupt cops didn't deserve her help, only the people who had to survive.

By the time the sun was due to come up, she had taken out fifteen criminals and two cops.

She made her way back home. She had to sleep.

And honestly, her first patrol had gone well.

_______________________________________

Bruce climbed into the room. It was dark, the lights off except for a few around the patient's bed. His arm was bandaged, and a plastic bag sat on the bedside. An arrow was concealed in it.

Oliver followed him through the window and went right over to the arrow. He looked at it.

"This is better used in target practice," he murmured. The door opened.

"Gentlemen," Gordon greeted.

"What do the victims say?" Bruce asked. Gordon sighed.

"Well, the victims all have the same thing to say. They were doing their thing when they were shot, though they're all suspects of kidnapping and human trafficking. The doctors are saying the same thing about the injuries, too. That arrow was lodged between this man's ulnar and radius."

"That's hard to do unless you have a really good shot. Do we know the distance?"

"Our archer was on a rooftop, about five stories up."

"That's extremely hard," Oliver confirmed. He pulled the arrow out of the bag and held it. "This arrow's made for a traditional bow, just from the feeling of it. It's not from any of the archers I've trained, either. Tigress had green arrows like myself when she was younger, then changed it to orange. Red has… well, his arrows are red on the fletching here. Arrowette's own arrows are the same color as her suit, and Arsenal… well, it's not him either."

"So that rules out any of your lot," Gordon sighed. "I don't know what this new archer wants with these men."

"A new vigilante," Bruce said. It was obvious. The corrupt cops they shot, the people who were known to kidnap and traffic humans… "Our mystery archer wants to take down these kinds of people. They shot them in places that would send a message." The three men looked at the patient in the hospital bed.

A new vigilante in Gotham… What did it even mean?

Bruce had to find them and talk to them, if only to make sure that they weren't going to turn on the city and its people.

Chapter Text

It was rather easy for her to find the place that Shiva was staying at. It was empty, a rather normal thing for the hour of the day.

"Why are we here, Mama?"

"To talk to Lady Shiva and her son. I have… a hope… for the boy."

"Lady Shiva has a son?" A tiny brow furrowed.

"She does. I am the only person in the League that knows any details about him, so unless he and his mother agrees, then no one can know about his existence."

"Okay, Mama." She watched as he moved around, finding pens and blank paper to keep himself occupied. She smiled. Her son was an incredible artist for his age.

She sat down in a chair and waited for Shiva and her son to get back from whatever they were doing.

_______________________________________

"So, what are we going to do about this… whole thing?" Jason asked. Shiva hummed.

"We will have to strike earlier than anticipated," she replied.

"Are you sure? I mean, I'm all for that but… do you think that he might be expecting… Mother?" Shiva had paused, her body tensing at something. Jason looked at what she was looking at.

There were two people in their living room. The thing was that Jason knew at least one of them. Talia Al Ghul sat in one of the armchairs, green eyes surveying the room with a sharp eye. She looked up at them. She stared at Jason for a few moments, clearly recognizing them. Jason looked at the other person there.

A kid, no older than five or maybe six, sat at the coffee table, a pen in hand and multiple pieces of paper spread around him, drawings covering the paper. Jason looked back to Talia.

"Talia. To what do we owe the pleasure?" Shiva asked. She walked into the room. Jason followed behind her and stood behind the chair she sat in.

"I was just… curious… about how your son is training to be like us when you said that you would never do that to him," Talia replied. The kid was looking at Jason now. Jason stared back and was surprised.

"He won the right to train with me in a fight. Though that can not be all that you are here for, is it?" Jason felt out of place. He looked at the kid, who looked the exact same. And the way that he looked…

It was almost comical, just how similar they were while being so vastly different. The kid had the same skin and eyes as his mom, but his hair was all Bruce. So was the structure of his face. There was no doubt about it.

"Talia, the kid… his dad…" Talia looked at him, and nodded.

Jason had met Talia briefly a few times, but never enough to actually get to know her. He knew that she'd dated Bruce for a little while, too, but that was before he'd tried to steal the tires off of the batmobile. He'd never heard of Bruce having a whole child with her.

He'd try and get him away from the League of Assassins (why were there so many criminal organizations that had the word league in their names?) and get him to Bruce. Bruce would keep the kid safe.

"Yes. In fact, I am here because of Damian's safety." The kid, Damian, looked up at his mom and then to Jason.

"Does he know who Father is?" Damian asked his mom.

"Yes, habibi, he does. Your father claims Jason as his own son."

"Which would make us brothers," Jason said. He moved to sit at the coffee table with Damian, legs folded underneath him. He looked at the pictures Damian had drawn. They were actually way better than any other kid Damian's age. "Oh, these are really good."

"Thank you," Damian said. He puffed up with a bit of pride.

Holy fucking shit, Jason had known the kid for five minutes and he'd do anything for his baby brother. He was… He had a soft spot for kids. There was no denying it, and no point in trying to even attempt to deny it.

Talia and Shiva saw it.

"So… his safety? Isn't he like, the heir?" Talia sighed at Jason's question.

"He is, but my father… he doesn't trust that Damian will be a good heir. There are those who follow my father and believe that Damian's existence is pointless, and our enemies… I am more worried about our enemies, than anything else." Something protective settled in Jason's chest. It had always been there, but it was growing. Damian's existence, being an older brother to two people, it made him feel more protective than he already did.

"So what do you want us to do?" Shiva asked.

"I was thinking that, if your son truly does want to train to be like us, then the League of Assassins will provide whatever tutors he will need. In exchange, I want him to be the personal bodyguard and carer for my son when I am away." Jason leaned towards his little brother.

"Do you ever hate how people talk about you as if you're not there when you're literally right there?" He asked in a low voice.

"All the time," Damian replied. Jason nodded.

"Mhm, thought so. Hey, do I get a say in this?" He asked. Both women looked at him. Talia raised an eyebrow. "Because Damian's my baby brother, and I'd do anything to protect my brothers. I'd still like the choice to be up to me, though." Talia smiled.

"You know what you want. I admire that." Jason shrugged.

"You've gotta know what you wanna do and how to get there. I'm just taking whatever chance will help me get to my goal of helping Gotham better than others have been able to do."

"Alright then. What do you want to do?"

"I'm gonna take you up on that offer." Talia smiled.

"How about you two go and bond? We'll sort out the details here," Shiva suggested. Jason shrugged.

"Come on, let's let them talk." Jason got up and left the living room. Damian followed, his footsteps silent in a way that suggested stealth training since birth.

They ended up in Jason's room. He sat down on the bed and looked at his new baby brother.

What the hell did he even do with an assassin kid? He was nothing like Eri, which was obvious because, again, assassin child.

He was an assassin child… his mother was a fucking assassin.

"Okay, my life does not make any sense at all, whatsoever." He flopped backwards on the bed.

"Are you… alright?"

"I have not been alright a single day in my life."

"You're strange," Damian declared. Jason snorted.

"Our entire family is strange, Damian. Dad, our brothers and sister… nothing in either of our lives is normal in any definition of the word." They were silent for a while. Then-

"What is he like? Our father, I mean?" The bed dipped a little with the weight of a tiny child. Jason sat up and grabbed Damian. He pulled him close, then laid back down.

"Dad's… he's the best. He took me in from the streets, you know. Mama – that is, my step-mother, my old man's wife – she passed away when I was what, nine? The old man was killed in prison. Mother and Cassandra… I didn't know where they were. So I was alone in one of the worst cities in the world. I ended up stealing from Dad, and he didn't punish me for it. Instead, he told me that he'd buy me food if I put the tires back – because I stole his tires. He ended up taking me home and adopting me a while later."

"You… stole his tires?" Damian gave him an incredulous look, and it looked so much like Bruce's face when Dick and Jason did something absolutely stupid.

"I did. I was hungry, and needed to get money in order to eat just one small meal. Those tires… they're expensive. They would have gotten me enough money for a few months if I sold them individually, and I was…"

"You were desperate enough to take his tires, just to have food…"

"Yup. Oh, and our older brother? Dad took him in after his parents were murdered. Dad's own parents were killed in front of him, just like our brother's parents were."

"Father is kind," Damian concluded.

"He is. He is kind, and he loves each of the kids he takes in. Biological children or not, he loves his kids. And he'll love you the second he sees you. Though, he might need to do a DNA test, just to be sure that you're his kid because he's paranoid too."

"Mother says that he is the Bat of Gotham. Is that true?"

"It is. He became Batman because his parents died, and he continues his work because he wants to stop other kids from losing their family, because he wants to help the city as a whole."

"Mother has only ever told me about his strength but never… never his kindness." Jason's heart broke for the kid.

How lonely must it be, living in a fortress with assassins that were all older than you were? Without anyone to trust besides your own mother? To never know if your food was poisoned or if you would actually live beyond the next day?

Jason would do anything for Damian. That much was clear to him.

"Don't believe that Dad's never had an embarrassing moment. There's a lot of weird things that he's done in his life, and becoming a bat-themed vigilante is not the worst of it."

"Like what?"

"He once fell into a fountain. No one pushed him. He didn't even trip or anything. He was fine one moment, and the next he was in his own fountain. People were talking about it and how he is a dumb guy. Not always dumb, he can be very smart."

"He fell into his own fountain?"

"Yup. Even the smartest people can be the dumbest people you have ever known."

"That… was weirdly wise."

"That happens sometimes." They went silent for a few more moments. "Want to play hide and seek?"

"What is that?"

"It's a stealth game. One person hides, the other seeks them out. If you're playing in a large group then the last person found wins. If it's just two people, the amount of time it takes for the seeker to find you counts as a point. Longer times count as a point to you, faster times count as a point to the seeker."

"I think… there might be some merit in this game of yours."

"Stay in the garden and the house. Go past the fence, and lose a point."

"Those terms are agreeable. Which one of us will be the hider and which one the seeker?"

"You hide, I'll find you. I'll count to twenty, you have to be hidden before I finish. Oh, and when you're the seeker, you need to cover your eyes."

"Alright." Damian got up. Jason covered his eyes and started to count. Tiny feet ran through the house, and Jason smiled as he counted down.

Damian thought of it as a way to train, perhaps to prove his worth to Jason. For Jason, it was a way to get the kid to be a kid. Also, there was nothing wrong in encouraging the kid to figure out how to hide with limited options. It was, in part, how Jason learned stealth with Dick and Barbara. Hide and seek in the alley had helped him learn better stealth skills.

Jason hit twenty, and he got up and went to find his brother. He checked each room, but Damian wasn't there.

He found him a few minutes later in the kitchen, in a high cabinet.

"Found you," he said with a grin. Damian huffed and jumped down. Jason caught him halfway down.

"I think that this… game of yours… might be good." Jason grinned.

"What are you two doing?" Talia asked.

"Hide and seek."

"He says that it is a stealth game."

"It's a good game to play. It's your turn to count, now." He put Damian down. Damian covered his eyes and started to count down. Jason left the kitchen and headed outside. He wouldn't climb anywhere except for that tree.

It was easy to climb up the tree. He'd climbed worse things before.

It took Damian a few more minutes than Jason to find him. When he did though, it was because Damian climbed the tree. His eyes lit up when he found Jason.

"I found you!" Jason ruffled his hair.

"You sure did." Damian scowled at him for it, but there wasn't any heat. "You look like Dad when you do that. Which is weird, because you've never met him before."

"Jason, Damian, come inside. We have something to talk about," Shiva called.

"Coming, Mother." Jason jumped down from the tree first. Damian followed him, and they went back inside.

The two women were standing in the kitchen still. They looked over at Damian and Jason when they entered the kitchen.

"We're striking soon," Shiva said in response to the silent question Jason had.

Something satisfied settled inside of Jason.

_______________________________________

The darkness of the night was a familiar thing to him. Standing there, in his stealth suit with his weapons, it felt almost as though he was back in Gotham, searching for the next idiot who tried to harm someone else.

Jason crouched low. Damian stood next to him, staying close.

"What do you see?" Shiva asked. Jason scanned the building. He looked for access points.

"There's a few security cameras, but the roof doesn't have any sort of security. I doubt that the vents have any sensors, too. If I can get through the vents, then I can get to the main security office and disable the security on the place," Jason said.

"Good. You and Damian can go. Do you have what you need?" Jason pulled out his utility belt and put it on. He put the red brace with his holocomp on as well.

"Affirmative."

"Then go." Jason nodded.

"Climb on," he said to Damian. His younger brother did as he was told. He held on securely. Jason scanned the building and got the locations of the cameras. "Blind spots found. Going now." He jumped down, using the building to lower himself and Damian to the ground. He watched the cameras and waited. Damian was silent on his back, the only sound they could hear being their breathing.

Jason took his chance when he saw it. He dashed across the grounds, light on his feet, and used his grapple to get the both of them up onto the roof. It was just like the missions he'd gone on with Dick and the Team. Except they were never there to kill anyone. Jason and Damian were both there to kill a man.

Jason went to a vent and knelt down. Damian slid off of his back while he pulled off the cover. He helped Damian in, then climbed in after.

They made their way through the vents until they found the main security office. There was a guard in there, watching some kind of show and eating take-out. Jason removed the cover. Damian moved to jump down, but he stopped his baby brother.

He threw a wing-ding down. The gas knocked the guard out, and Jason was able to jump down. He shoved the guard off the chair and sat in it.

"What are you doing?" Damian asked.

"Hacking," he replied. He connected his holocomp to the computer and set to work, bypassing the security to turn it off. When he was finished, he pressed the comm. "We're in."

"We're both a little… preoccupied, Érzǐ." He could hear a fight going on. "Complete the initiative without us."

"Copy that." He clicked off and looked at Damian. "Looks like it's just us," he said. Damian nodded. Jason turned back to what he was doing.

"I think he's waking up." Jason got up and tied up the guard. He gagged and blinded the man, too. Then he hit him over the head just to be sure.

"Not anymore." Jason went back to the security. Once he had all that he wanted, he disconnected his holocomp and stood up. "Let's go."

They made their way through the halls, hiding when they came across people. Somehow, despite the late hour, there were a lot of people.

Someone must have found out, because halfway through, the sirens went off.

"How?"

"It wouldn't have lasted long. And yes, I am speaking from experience. Get on." Damian didn't argue, just climbed on and held onto Jason as he ran through the halls, hiding in rooms and wherever he could.

He rounded a corner, only to be met with people with guns.

"Halt!" The leader commanded.

"Damian, find your way to somewhere safer," he whispered. He lowered himself to the ground and let Damian slide off his back, his hands help up to try and say that he didn't mean any harm. "Hey, can't we all just… get along?" He was stalling.

"Don't speak, and don't move!" Jason sighed.

"So bossy. Guess I've got to do this the hard way." Jason ran towards the group.

He grabbed the first man's arm and twisted it, smoothly disarming him. He used the gun in his hand to strike another across the temple a few times, knocking them out and probably leaving them with a concussion. A baton appeared in his vision. Jason grabbed it, flipped the person holding it over his head, and took it out of their grip. He jabbed it into another person's knees, breaking a bone and leaving them in pain. He struck another across the face, winded a different guy, and broke the nose of another different guy.

One of them went in for a punch. Jason grabbed their hand and flipped them over before he dislocated their shoulder and the opposite hip, making it impossible for them to get back up again. He kicked another in the head and used his momentum to hit the first one again. He probably broke a jaw somewhere in the chaos.

They were down, either unconscious or unable to move due to pain. Damian walked up to him, climbing over the bodies and kicking one of them in the face when they tried to get back up. He looked up at Jason.

"You're good," he said. Jason couldn't miss the tiny hint of awe in his voice and eyes.

"Thanks. We should get going, before more come after us." Damian nodded. The two of them started to run through the halls. A woman in a security uniform tried to stop them, but Damian knocked her out as he ran by. "You're good!"

"Thank you."

They ended up in an office. Martinez sat behind a desk, looking extremely ugly.

"I don't appreciate it when my people are knocked out," he said. He tilted his head a little. "Or when my operations are interrupted."

"You mean you hate that the kid you've spent the last few days buttering up to? I'd never guess," Jason said. Martinez's eyes widened.

"Danny?"

"Actually, it's Jason Woosan." Jason pulled out his sword and stalked closer to the man. Damian stayed by the door.

"W-we can talk this out, surely!"

"Shut. Your. Fucking. Mouth. Meta humans are human, you dumb bitch. You're getting what you deserve. No second chances, no way to get out of this." Jason switched his sword out for a knife and slit Martinez's throat.

Blood poured out of the wound. Martinez choked on it, holding his hands to his neck as though that would stop the stream of blood that was pouring out of his neck. Jason put his knife back and watched.

"Do you feel anything?" Damian asked.

"For someone as horrible as him? No. My emotions are better saved for those who I care about enough to kill for," Jason replied. He knelt down. "Let's get out of here." Damian allowed Jason to scoop him up.

He left through the open windows, melting into the shadows and making his way to the rendezvous point that they had agreed upon. Their mothers weren't there yet, so Jason cleaned them both up while they waited.

Shiva and Talia showed up a little while later.

"Let's go," Talia said. She got into the driver's seat, and Shiva climbed into the passenger seat. Jason and Damian climbed into the back, all of their things packed away.

They drove off into the night, leaving behind wailing sirens and a dead body.

_______________________________________

Nightwing, Tigress, Miss Martian, Aquaman, Superboy, and Zatanna and Rocket walked through the halls. They'd been tasked with protecting a prominent man from an assassination attempt.

"I think we're too late," M'gann said through the mindlink. They stepped over barely conscious men and women, following a path of violence to the office.

"I do too," Dick agreed. Kaldur knocked on the door to the office, then opened it.

"Definitely too late," Artemis said.

The body was sitting at the desk, throat cut and blood smeared over his clothes and skin. Dick walked over to the body and started to study it.

"He tried to stop the bleeding," he noted. The hands were coated in blood. Dick stood up from where he'd knelt down and started to look around.

There was a red flash drive on the desk, he noted. He picked it up and looked at it before he plugged it into his glove to send the information to Babs.

"What's it say?" He asked.

"It's elaborate plans for an international meta human trafficking scheme. Looking at it, I'd say that it's been running since the invasion," Barbara replied. The Team looked at each other.

"He was killed because he's trafficking meta humans," Dick said numbly.

Who would do such a thing?

And who had killed this man?

"Oracle-"

"Pulling all security footage… nothing. Someone cut it off, and they did it well. It's hard to notice unless you're a Bat." Dick sighed.

"So we've got nothing on the killer," he mumbled.

"Perhaps not," a voice said. Dick looked up at the speaker. Lady Shiva melted out of the shadows and circled the body. "My new protege knows what they're doing, don't you think?" She disappeared.

"What the fuck is happening?" Artemis asked.

"Good question," Dick agreed.

Chapter Text

He watched from his perch across the street as the father and daughter cooked. His heart ached, seeing them together but not being able to go in and say hi, to introduce himself, but he had chosen this life for himself.

He sat there instead, watching and waiting. When it was late, and he was sure that they were both asleep, he swung across the street, a black blob in the night. He climbed in through a window, the alarm system recognizing him as who he was and letting him in. He made his way to the child's room first.

She was fast asleep, tucked into her bed with a toy. He left a bag on her dresser, with a note written in Dick's own writing. Forgery was easy, when you knew how to do it.

He slipped into Dick's room. For a moment, he just watched, taking in the fact that Dick was right there. He didn't do anything, though. He just left a bag on Dick's dresser, a Kid Flash toy sticking out from it.

He left before anyone could realize that he was there and wiped the evidence that he was there away. He gazed at the apartment for a moment before he turned away and left.

He couldn't disturb them. He would never disturb them.

She would never know him outside of stories.

It hurt more than it should have.

_______________________________________

Some day, if Jason ever had kids, he'd probably end up dropping random bits of insane Dad Lore. Well, going from the streets to living in luxury and then being thrown into another dimension was all insane enough.

But this was probably next level.

Jason walked into Nanda Parbat with his mother, slightly behind her and on full alert. Talia and Damian walked ahead of them, up to where Ra's Al Ghul himself sat. The man had dipped into the Lazarus Pit so many times that his eyes were a toxic green, brighter than neon and looking radioactive. He wouldn't be surprised if the man was radioactive.

"Father," Talia greeted him.

"Talia, Lady Shiva," Ra's replied. He ignored both boys. Jason could see the way that Damian deflated a little bit.

"Great One," Shiva said in greeting.

Great One. That was a dumb thing to be called. What was so great about losing your mind a little each time you took a dip in your evil Jacuzzi and lead a murder cult? Jason didn't dare to voice his thoughts with Ra's there. The man was influential, and offending him would put a target on his back. Jason had learned his lesson about doing stupid shit that could get him killed, thank you very much.

Well, maybe not, considering what he was doing right now.

"Who is the boy?" Ra's asked, looking right at Jason.

"He is my son," Shiva explained.

"Your son?"

"Yes. I had twins, a boy and a girl. Jason was left with his birth father and step-mother when Cassandra was forced into training to be Cain's weapon."

"You had two?" A man with gray hair asked. He was giving Shiva a nasty look.

Was that Cain? He looked like a fucking creep.

"I did."

"And you never told me. You will pay for this you-" Cain stepped closer to Shiva. Jason moved in front of her, blocking him from getting any closer.

"Out of my way, boy."

"Are you David Cain?" Jason asked.

"I am." Jason tilted his head, just like a bird, just to unsettle Cain.

"That's good to know. Touch my mother, and I will kill you." Cain laughed.

"You? Kill me? Your idiot sister felt bad when she took a life. What makes you different?"

"I saw him kill a man," Damian spoke up. All of the attention went to him.

"You saw him kill a man?"

"I did. He slit the man's throat, and when he looked at him, there was no remorse, no guilt, for what he had done."

"Oh?"

"That man was the third person I have killed. There were two others. One was killed when I injected air into his bloodstream. The other was shot, buried under and animal and then a plant put on top. It was an endangered one that was common in the area, so it was illegal to dig it up. I left no evidence that it was me."

"Oh, so you killed three people. Did your mother kill the first two?"

"I was believed to be dead when I killed the first two. I only showed up about a month ago for my training with Mother." Jason stared at Cain, unblinking. Blue eyes could be really freaky, though Bruce had the really creepy ice blue eyes, Jason's had a bit of green in them. Still, he stared and tilted his head to creep out Cain.

"Why did you bring the boy here?" Ra's asked.

"I have made a deal with him. He can train here, with the best we can find, and in exchange he becomes the body guard for my son and cares for him when I am not around, to ensure that Damian can receive the most training possible."

"And you did not run this by me?"

"I believe that all matters that surround my son are my responsibility, Father." The father and daughter stared at each other for a little while, before Ra's decided on something.

"Fine. But this time, Shiva in in charge of the boy's training. The last time Cain tried to train one of her children, it did not… end well." Cain stiffened.

"But sir, Shiva can't-"

"The boy has proven that he is superior to his twin. Perhaps, Shiva should have been the one to train the girl instead of you. I will not allow another failure like that." Jason would probably end up running back to Gotham with Damian, but no one needed to know that.

"Thank you, Great One," Shiva said. She reached out and pulled Jason back.

"The boy can start his work today. Tomorrow, he must start his training. Talia, take the boy and his mother to get a new uniform fitted. The child's guard needs his own one, so that he is easily found in times of struggle."

"Yes, Father. Come." The last word was directed at Jason and Shiva. They did as they were told and followed Talia. People stared at them. Jason ignored them.

Talia led them to a room where there were servants sewing together cloth to make the uniforms for the League of Assassin's people. One of them, an older woman who was probably about sixty or so, walked up to them.

"My Lady," she addressed Talia.

"Lady Shiva's son is to be my son's bodyguard. My Father has ordered for the boy to be fitted with a new uniform, one that will allow Damian to find him easily in times of distress."

"Of course. What color?"

"Red," Damian decided.

"Red?" The woman asked. Damian nodded.

"Yes. Red is a good color. Not too bright, not too dark. Easy to hide if needed." Talia nodded.

"Are you alright with that, child?" The woman asked Jason.

"Red is the perfect color," Jason agreed. The woman nodded.

"Then it shall be done. Come, let us get your measurements." Jason followed the woman to a raised platform that he stood on. There was a lot of movement as the woman called to the other tailors. A few of them grabbed the red fabric, one of them grabbed a measuring tape. They took his measurements, held up squares of fabric to him, and let Damian decide what worked best.

Jason allowed it. He'd agreed to this whole ordeal.

It took too long for them to get everything sorted out. Talia ended up picking up Damian, resting him on her hip. Damian rested his head on his mother's chest, bored.

Jason was glad when it was over. He was finally allowed to step down from the platform and leave the room that the servants were working in.

"So, what happens now?" He asked. Talia turned around to face him.

"Now, you stay close to Damian at all times, which means that you will be sleeping in his quarters with him. Shiva and I will work out a schedule for both of you, so that you both can train."

"Alright."

"Now, let's go to Damian's quarters."

Damian's room was nothing like what a kid's room should look like. There was a bed, and books and weapons. No toys, no activities for a young kid except for art supplies laid out on a table. Jason looked around the room, hoping to find something that meant that Damian had the ability to act as a child.

But there was nothing.

He really wanted to get his baby brother out of there. Damian deserved to be a child, not have to train every single day he lived for a fate he probably didn't want.

Damian deserved to have the life that Jason couldn't have.

"Damian's room is one of the most well-protected rooms we have here. He shouldn't be attacked in the middle of the night, but if he is, you will be alerted immediately." Jason nodded. "You will have to know his entire schedule. I will have someone get it to you so that you can keep track of it."

"I understand. Anything I should know about in particular? Anyone who might have the incentive to try and attack him?" Jason asked.

"A few of the trainees do not like Damian. They have the most reason to try and attack him," Talia replied. She looked over at Damian, who was sitting at the table and drawing. Jason watched him. "Your first training session will have to be with them, so that you know who they are and how they fight. What do you think, Shiva?"

"I agree with that motion. It is certainly easier to take down someone whose moves you know than someone who is unpredictable."

"It is," Jason murmured. It was the reason why he'd taken so long to kill Shigaraki – he had to study, observe, see how the man worked, before he did anything. One wrong move, and Shigaraki could have killed him instead of the other way around.

"Dinner is soon. You will be eating with the other trainees before returning to your duty. Shiva will lead you to the dining hall when it is time to eat." Jason nodded. The adults left, and it was just Jason and Damian left behind in the room. He watched his brother for a few more moments before he walked over to Damian and sat down.

"There's almost nothing in here," he said. Damian glanced at him.

"Grandfather says that anything else is a distraction to my training."

"You should be allowed to act your age," Jason whispered. Damian paused briefly.

"I am the heir to the Demon's head. I don't have time to act like a child." Damian… sounded bitter.

"Do you want to be the heir?" Jason asked.

"Will you tell anyone my answer?" Damian asked.

"Here, give me your pinky," Jason said. He reached out with his right and and linked his pinky with Damian's. "This is a pinky promise. You never, ever, break a pinky promise. Okay?" Damian stared at their linked pinkies, then up at Jason.

"Okay," he whispered. His pinky tightened around Jason's own, and right then and there, he promised that he'd do everything to keep Damian safe.

_______________________________________

Tim stood in front of the case with the red uniform in it. He couldn't count how many times he'd stood there, just staring at Jason's Robin uniform. It was almost haunting, how it stood there. A ghost in the batcave, in their lives. He haunted the halls of the manor and the memories of Bruce, Alfred, Dick and even Cass. Hell, he haunted Tim, too.

"Tim?" Cass walked up to him. He could see her in the reflection of the glass. She stared at her twin's old uniform.

She was about the same height that Jason was.

"Hey, Cass." He didn't say much else. Cass didn't say much either.

"He'd like you," Cass whispered. Tim looked up at his sister, then back to the uniform.

"I've heard that before. I'm… not sure if I believe it. I've never met him before, though I did pass him from time to time at school. It's just… sometimes I feel like a replacement for him and- wha- hey!" Tim glared at Cass. She raised an eyebrow, a learned behavior from Alfred. "Don't flick my head!"

"Then don't be so self-deprecating!" Cass retorted.

"Am I wrong?"

"Yes! You're not a replacement, Tim. You came to pull Dad out of his head, and he decided that he was your dad. You never were, and never will be, a replacement for a dead person, Tim. You didn't know him, but you… you know more about him than I do. Even so, I just know that he'd flick you in the head if he ever heard you say that stuff about yourself."

"You think so?" Tim asked.

"Oh, he definitely would," Dick spoke up. He walked up to them, looking at the case with a bittersweet look. "Yeah, he'd flick you in the head and call you a 'fucking idiot', then start to prove it. However, he's not here, so I'm going to take on that duty myself."

"You don't have to- OW!" Tim held a hand to his head and rubbed it. Dick had flicked him as well.

"You're a fucking idiot. You're not a replacement, Tim. You showed up and pushed your way into this family, and we're not letting you go. You could never be a replacement for Jason, you could never even come close to it. Okay? We love you for who you are, not for what you can do. You're a little weirdo stalker, and we love that about you."

"Little weirdo stalker?" Tim deadpanned.

"Am I wrong?" Dick asked, with a raised eyebrow. Tim rolled his eyes.

"I guess not," he mumbled. He smiled.

The three siblings turned to look at the case again. Dick pulled them close. Tim leaned into his older brother, resting his head against him. Cass wrapped her arms around Dick and leaned against him like that.

"What are you three- oh…" Bruce looked from the three of them to the case. There was a sad look. in his eyes. It subsided when he looked at his three living kids though, as though they helped to ease his pain, even if a little bit.

"Dad! Come here!" Cass insisted, her hand reaching out for Bruce. Tim gasped.

"Group hug!" He said.

"Yeah! Come on, Dad!" Dick made a grabby hand at Bruce. Bruce smiled and walked over to them. Each of them wrapped around him. Bruce let them, wrapping his arms around them and hugging them close. It was tight, it was warm, and it was perfect. Tim buried his face into Bruce's shirt.

Perhaps they would always be haunted by Jason's ghost. Perhaps the pain of losing him would never leave them, like the pain of losing their parents would never leave them. Whatever happened, if the grief of losing Jason never left them, at least they had each other.

Alfred came down a few minutes later. They managed to convince him to join their hug.

_______________________________________

The servants were quick. Jason's new uniform was ready by morning, and the first thing he did, before even breakfast, was follow Talia and Damian to the room from the previous day to make sure that it fit him well.

It did. There was no need to make any adjustments, a fact that surprised him, but it really shouldn't have.

Now, where everyone else was wearing black, Jason stood out in red and black, his signature colors. Damian studied him, his eyes squinting, trying to decide if Jason looked good or not.

"What do you think, habibi?" Talia asked.

"It's good," Damian decided. Talia nodded.

"Then Jason will start his duties as your bodyguard today." Jason nodded and, with everything sorted out, he walked over to where Damian and Talia were standing. Damian looked up at him, and Jason looked down at him. They left, heading to the dining hall. "You will do everything with Damian. You will eat with him, sleep in the same room as him, and you will train with him. From now on, everything Damian does, you will be with him. Understand?"

"Yes." Heads turned to look at Jason as he walked down the hall.

"Good." They entered the dining hall. Jason followed Talia and Damian to a table. It was so weird, and he felt majorly out of place. Still, when Talia gave him the okay, he sat down and ate with her and Damian.

Then it was time for training.

He walked with Damian to the training area. It was outside, with a dusty dirt floor and all kinds of weapons scattered around the walls. There were a few people there, with their mentors. Jason and Damian joined Shiva on the training area's floor.

"Are you ready to begin?" She asked.

"Yes," both boys said at the same time. They briefly exchanged a look, one that said that neither of them were expecting that to happen.

"Good. Get your swords."

Maybe Jason would never go home to his dad and his other siblings, but he did have Damian, and his mother, so he would be okay. Hopefully.

He really hoped that he'd be okay.

Chapter Text

A week into his training with the League of Assassins, and he wasn't sure to think of it. The League of Assassins were very set in their ways, and Shiva and him were outliers. Others would stare at him, whispering about Lady Shiva's son, wondering if he truly was more willing to kill than his sister was. Some of them even whispered about how he treated Damian – not with the same attitude as the others, and not as though Damian was better than him, but as an equal.

They would often whisper about the games the two of them played, too.

He snuck through the halls, searching for Damian. He hadn't lost his brother, but they were playing hide and seek again. It was an easy way to help Damian with his stealth, and it was a way to get him to act his age. Two birds, one stone.

He heard a little giggle. Jason paused and looked up at where he heard it come from. Damian was looked down at him from an alcove up in the ceiling. Jason grinned.

"Found you," he said. Damian giggled again, a sound that wouldn't have been heard in these halls a week ago. He jumped down and ran off. Jason chased after him, jumping over a few things as he went.

Damian ran past their mothers, who were walking together.

"Hi Mother, bye Mother," Jason called out as he ran past to try and get to Damian. The two women laughed as he ran after Damian.

Damian ran down a different hallway. Jason followed behind, quick on his feet. He caught up and scooped up the smaller child.

"Gotcha!" Jason declared. Damian wriggled in his hold, but Jason was able to hold onto him. Jason carried him away. "Now, we've got to go to the library. You have a tutoring session there soon, and it'll be better to be early." Damian huffed.

"Put me down." Jason did, and the two of them walked next to each other.

The library was filled with ancient texts and modern ones. Jason hadn't read anything from there yet, since his attention was on Damian most of the time, and it wasn't that high on his list. Still, he couldn't help but look at some of the texts while they waited for Damian's tutor to show up.

The tutor was a middle aged assassin that Ra's trusted with this task, which meant that Jason didn't trust the man at all. He observed the man when he walked in, books in hand, and went over to a table. Damian went with him, and Jason wasn't too far behind. Always watching, always cautious with his little brother's safety. The man, whose name Jason couldn't be fucked to know, eyed him, a nasty look in those beady, watery, rat-like eyes. Jason shut off all emotions inside him and stared him down.

The man flinched and turned to Damian. Jason didn't miss the glint in his eyes as he did so.

Was this man for real?

Well, Jason would have to wait and see before he acted. Recon.

At first, the session was going well. Then, it fell apart, all too quickly.

He noticed the tutor reaching back and pulling out a knife. Jason knew that the lesson had nothing to do with knives. He acted quickly, jumping over the table and knocking the guy down before he could even process what was happening. The knife cluttered across the stone floor, and the room was in a state of stasis. Then-

"You really thought you could try," he said, his voice flat and monotone. Cold fury filled his body.

"You don't have the same experience as I do! How'd you notice-"

"Tell me. Was this supposed to be a test? Or were you truly going to kill Damian?"

"That brat doesn't deserve to live-"

"Wrong answer." Jason broke the guy's leg. Then the other one. "Damian, let's go find your mother, see what she decides." Damian wordlessly slipped off of the chair he was sitting on and followed Jason as he dragged the man through the halls, knife in hand.

Talia was in the room that she could normally be found in, and she looked up as soon as they entered. She took in the sight of Jason and Damian walking together, Jason dragging the tutor with a knife in his hands. Fury filled her eyes, and Jason knew that he wouldn't want to be on the other end of that.

At least they were on the same side when it came to Damian, though.

"What happened?" She demanded.

"He pulled out a knife in the middle of the lesson. I was able to take him down before he could harm Damian," Jason reported. Damian walked up to his mother and leaned into her space, glaring at the man that was supposed to be teaching him. "I broke his leg to ensure that he wouldn't be able to escape so easily."

"You dare to try and harm my son?" Talia demanded. Jason forced the man to kneel before her, making the pain in his broken leg worse than it already was.

"You have heard what the Great Ones says about the brat. He's useless, and is not worthy of being Heir. It will be better for everyone if he just dies," the man said.

Jason's anger was ice cold now, and that, he had learned, was a recipe for disaster. Cold anger was when he was his most cunning, his most violent. He stewed in the anger, planning and tracking, until he acted. It was never pretty when he acted.

The three dead bodies left in his wake were pretty good indicators of that by themselves.

But it wasn't like Talia's anger, which was fueled by the idea of Damian, her beloved son, getting hurt. Her anger was the anger that a mother felt when someone harmed their child in anyway, strong and burning, willing to do anything and everything that it took to keep her child safe.

The man realized that too late.

"You do not get to decide my son's fate. Only I, as his mother, can do such a thing." Damian smirked at the tutor, and Jason smirked at the way that he shrunk in on himself. "You will pay for what you tried to do. Kill him, Jason."

He didn't hesitate. He pulled out his sword, the man tried to beg for mercy. Jason didn't care. He stabbed the man through the heart, effectively killing him. He pulled out his sword and watched as the body fell onto the floor. He felt nothing. Was it still a little freaky to not feel anything when he killed people? Maybe. Did he care if it meant less people intent on harming innocents? No.

Damian stared at the body, a look of disgust on his face.

"Clean this up," Talia said to a servant. Jason wiped off the blood and went to follow Talia and Damian.

They ended up in a garden that was filled with flowers that were, quite honestly, really pretty. They kind of reminded him of Alfred's garden, though some of the flowers here wouldn't survive in Gotham or America for one reason or another. Still, it was pretty, and it was calm.

As soon as they were alone, Talia knelt down to Damian's level and cupped his face.

"Are you alright, habibi?" She asked.

"I am, Mama. Jason stopped him before he could do anything," Damian replied. Talia looked up at Jason.

"Then I made the right choice."

"Family protects family," Jason said. Talia nodded, then took a couple of moments to soothe her nerves before she stood back up. Damian wandered off to look at some of the creatures in the garden, still in full view of both Jason and Talia. Though, who would try to attack Damian after seeing that Jason was quick and Talia was angry, Jason didn't know. They'd be suicidal if they tried anything.

"I won't be able to protect him for long," Talia said.

"That's why I'm here, isn't it? To protect him when you can't?" Jason asked. He'd honestly be fine with never returning to Gotham if it meant that he got to protect his brother for longer.

"Well… yes… but I don't want him to become the Demon's Head. That could take what remains of his humanity. His humanity, which you are helping him to restore." Jason froze. He wasn't sure about where this conversation was going, but he already didn't like it.

"Talia… what are you planning?" Jason asked. He turned his attention to her.

"To get him out of here." His eyes widened, and he turned back to Damian. The boy was watching a couple of birds hop around with interest and awe.

"That's why I'm here, isn't it? So that not only will he be protected, but you can get him away from here quicker."

"It is. I… I feel as though I am a bad mother for desiring to leave my child with his brother, but you are my only hope. We have no bases in Gotham. My father respects Bruce too much for that, so when you do leave, you will have to take him with you." Jason was silent for a while, watching Damian.

"Do you know when that will be?" Jason asked eventually, sounding small even to himself.

"No." They were silent for a while longer.

"I'll take him when it's time, and I won't let anyone hurt him, ever again," Jason promised.

"I know."

Two simple words, but they meant everything.

Because Jason had no need to say anything about the subject. He had no promises to make when he'd followed through on doing anything to protect his little brother.

And Talia knew that.

_______________________________________

"What are our siblings like?" Damian asked. It was after dinner, and they'd both retired to their room to wind down from the day and get ready for bed.

Jason was cleaning his sword when Damian asked the question. He was silent for a little bit, forming his answer while he cleaned off the last of the remaining blood from earlier.

"Well… Dick's the only one that I know a lot about. Cass might be my twin, but we haven't seen was other since we were three or four. I don't really know a whole lot about Tim, but from what I can tell, he's incredibly smart. Dick… he's a good person. He became one of the people that I allowed myself to attach to for the first time in years, you know. He'd make sure I ate, and I know that he added to my food stash in my room so that it didn't deplete too fast."

"You had a food stash in your room?"

"Yeah. I used to live on the streets, and it's hard to care for yourself when it's just you and you have no money, and you're too young to work. I had to steal car parts for a living, get money that way and buy whatever food I could afford. I met Dad because of that."

"And… Dick? What kind of a name is that?"

"Dick's Romani. His English name is Richard, but that's only when he's in trouble. We call him Dick instead. But because he's Romani, he's got another name. It's where Robin comes from, actually." Damian perked up at that.

"Robin? You mean the mantle that Grandfather says should be mine because I'm the blood son?" Jason snorted.

"No. Gods, no. Damian, Robin was Dick's name. He only passed it on because he wanted it to continue. Robin will always be in Batman's shadow, Damian. It's training wheels for something greater, our own legacies. Dick made Robin after his parents were killed out of anger. According to Alfred, Dick was down right murderous. Dad gave him a way to focus his anger, and that was Robin. His Romani name is Robi, and Robin stemmed from that. His mother called him both." Damian was silent for a while.

"Do you think that I could be Robin?" He asked.

"When you're older, Dami. You should have time to be a kid."

"I don't know how," Damian admitted.

"That's why we are playing a bunch of games. I say that it's to help with your training, but honestly? It's because you deserve to have normal childhood experiences, like chasing your brother around, playing tag, hide and seek. I played those games with Dick, and while they can help with training, they're more for fun."

Damian's eyes were wide when Jason looked up at him. There was some sort of emotion in his eyes that Jason hadn't seen yet.

"You… have us play those games… because you want me to be able to act my age."

"I do," Jason confirmed. Damian stood up and ran over. He wrapped his tiny arms around Jason, and he acted on instinct in that moment.

He pulled Damian into his lap and curled around him slightly, in the same way that Cass used to when they were tiny toddlers. He knew from experience that it felt safe, and warm, and caring.

"Thank you, Akhi," Damian whispered. Jason pressed his face into soft black hair.

"Anything for you, hermano pequeño."

_______________________________________

"Why do you do it?"

"What do you mean?" Jason asked.

"Why do you treat the heir the way you do?" Jason paused what he was doing.

Damian was doing something with Talia while Jason trained with the other trainees. They were taking a break after several hours of brutal training. The question caused all of the others to stop and look at him with curiosity.

"He's a child, and I have been tasked with not only protecting him, but caring for him. I have nearly an equal standing as his mother, and his father is the man who took me in and became my own dad. So, I wonder why I treat him the way I do."

"Seriously? That's your only reason for playing childish games with him? He should be training!"

"And then you realize," Jason started. He stared the speaker down with a cold look. "That hide and seek is the perfect way to help him with stealth. Chasing him around Nanda Parbat is the perfect way to help his agility. That those 'childish games' can actually help him learn those things in ways that training can't." He stood up and looked down at them. "He's a child. Playing games are a good way to help him learn. In fact, it's better for him." He walked away.

"You're a good influence on the child." Jason stopped and turned to face his mother.

"Do you think so?" He asked.

"I know so. I have seen it, Érzǐ. The boy is laughing, and his success in his training has gone up ever since you introduced him to those games you play with him." Shiva looked at him, a proud look on her face. "I could not be prouder of my children and each of your achievements." Warmth bloomed in Jason's chest.

"Thank you, Mother. I… have to admit that it's better to see him happier. It's worth it to do these small things, to care for him in small ways. The games… I say it's for training, but he deserves to be a kid, you know?" Something in Shiva softened.

"I do." She walked forward and pulled Jason into a hug. Jason melted into it. "And you're such a kind and caring person. Catherine did well when she was able to." Jason's heart clenched.

What the hell was up with the last few days and emotional conversations?

"Now, go. Damian and Talia are nearly finished, and you are excused from exercises if it is to stay near Damian."

"Yes, Mother. And… Thank you." Shiva smiled and let him go.

Jason found Talia and Damian in the gardens again, watching the animals that inhabited the area. He joined them, watching a couple of tiny animals running past them. Damian looked up at him, something happier in his eyes.

Somehow, in just a week, Jason had helped Damian out of his shell.

"What're we doing?" He asked.

"Learning about the animals," Damian replied. Jason sat down next to him.

"Yeah? I don't know a whole lot about animals."

"I'll teach you."

"You know what? That sounds good."

Damian talked about the different animals for an hour.

Jason just knew that Damian would probably end up owning a crap ton of animals once he moved in with Bruce. That man had a weak spot, and it was his children.

The thought of Damian asking for another animal in the sweetest voice ever, and Bruce caving while Alfred gave him a disappointed look with a bunch of animals surrounding them, was extremely funny.

He just listened to Damian talk, asking whatever questions came across his mind about the animals.

Chapter Text

He'd originally planned to not return to the team until his heart no longer hurt when he even looked at something that belonged to Wally. It had been to keep himself from going insane, but he was going insane anyway.

So when he'd been asked to help take down one of the Meta trafficking rings that was near Gotham, he'd agreed, because why wouldn't he? He was missing the fight, and he needed a break from everything for a night.

He dropped Roxy off at the Manor to have a sleepover with Tim and Cass, then went to meet his friends as night fell on the city.

His team was waiting for him on a rooftop. M'gann stood there, waiting for him. She smiled when she saw him and held her arms out. Dick had to oblige and hug her.

"Let's go get those people to safety," she said. Dick pulled back and nodded.

"Let's," he agreed. They climbed onto the bioship. He paused where he stood, looking around at each of them. Kaldur sat in his spot, which was the unofficial leader's seat because it was at the front. Artemis sat in her chair in front of Conner. Zatanna and Raquel were there too, and it was as though they were all teenagers again, with their main worry being how to be a kid and a hero at the same time.

He sat down in his spot, in front of an empty seat, his throat a little tight. He had to ignore that Wally wasn't there. He had to.

Zatanna turned around and held his hand. It seemed like everyone was feeling a little sad about the fact that Wally wasn't there.

A few moments, and then they turned around and left Gotham behind. Dick took a deep breath. Calm. He had to be calm. He had to focus. Missing Wally wasn't going to help him all that much, not here. He could go to the Manor and climb into Bruce's bed if he really had to.

"What are we looking at?" He asked.

"The place that we're going to is a warehouse that's been made into offices. A scan of the building that Oracle completed revealed a basement that seems to have a few hallways and multiple rooms," Kaldur explained. His friend slipped into a leader position easily. They didn't really need a leader anymore, but they all still listened to and followed Kaldur if they were all working together.

It was nice.

"These," Artemis said. A push of a button revealed red and orange dots. "Are the guards and the security cameras. It seems normal from the outside, but the inside? Not at all."

"And we're going in without much of an idea about what's there," Dick murmured. It felt like when he was younger. Just… no speedster to get him out of any majorly bad trouble he could get himself into.

He forced the thought to the side. He couldn't think about Wally here, not right now.

They landed a good distance away from the warehouse. M'gann established the familiar link, and they were off.

They slipped past the guards and up to the roof.

"That was easy," Artemis said with suspicion.

"Too easy," Kaldur agreed.

"I don't trust this." Dick looked at Conner.

"Neither do I, but we've got to keep going. If this is a majorly bad thing, then we need to try and stop it now before it gets any bigger," he said.

"Stay together," Kaldur ordered. Dick nodded and pulled out his lock picking set that Selina had given him years ago. He picked the lock, and they went in, ready to fight at a moments notice. They didn't have to, though, because they were able to get through to the lower levels easily.

"This is definitely a trap," Zatanna said.

"Oh, a hundred percent."

"Why does this keep happening to us?" Conner asked. Just as he finished, guards swarmed them. Dick grabbed his escrima, and a fear he hadn't felt yet rushed through him.

It was one that he hadn't expected to feel. His breath hitched and he thought of Roxy, how he couldn't leave her without any parents to care for her. Sure, Bruce or even Barry and Iris would care for her, but she needed him. He saw it in the way she looked at him, how she came to him when she was scared. He saw it when she smiled, or when she called out for him.

He couldn't leave her.

Is this how Bruce felt after he showed up? A visceral fear because he had a child that needed him alive, and he needed to get home to that child.

Dick had thought that Bruce was too protective when he was younger.

Now, with Jason dead and standing here, surrounded by guards intent on killing or capturing him while he had a daughter at home, he understood.

He blocked a blow from some idiot that thought that they could try to hit him. The fight started.

He flipped over a group of men and landed easily. He ducked a blow and swung his escrima up into the man's jaw. There was a cracking sound. Oh. He'd hit them hard enough for them to need their jaw wired shut for a little bit.

He didn't care about that. His daughter was more important.

Dick flipped backward, using his foot to hit another guard, and flipped towards Conner. Without needing to be told, his cousin boosted him so that he could jump to where Zatanna was overwhelmed to help her. M'gann threw things at the guards and picked them up and Kaldur used his water gauntlets to knock out as many of them as possible.

They were a team, and still a good one despite missing a piece of it. Still, they were outnumbered here. He didn't even know how.

Conner got hit with kryptonite. That was the only explanation for how and why he crumpled to the floor in pain. Zatanna got hit pretty badly on the head, and Dick shifted his focus to protecting her. Artemis grabbed her and dragged her to where Conner was. The rest of the followed, making a protective circle.

"We're outnumbered," Dick said.

"It's not looking good at all," Raquel agreed.

"Give up. We're the winners here," one of the men said.

"Never." Dick's voice betrayed his anger. He was so easily angered these days. It was the same as when he first created Robin.

"Then I'll just have to shoot you." The man held his gun up. Dick braced himself.

An arrow appeared in the man's arm.

_______________________________________

Perhaps the dumbest thing she'd ever done was become a vigilante. After all, her entire life had been spent in war. Why would she want to become a vigilante?

Because of him. Jason. The boy who loved so deeply that his heart bled. The boy who would do anything for those that he cared about, even going so far as to kill to protect them. The boy who, in so many worlds, would die his father's son but become something that none of his family could recognize or accept as the new him.

He'd inspired her. The version that she knew and the different stories she'd read had inspired her to do something more than just working in a hospital. It was why she became Eclipse.

She knew that something wasn't quite right. She didn't know what it was, but there was this pull. It urged her to move, so she did. She packed a bag and got on a bus out of Gotham. She didn't like that part. She hated how America did busses, but maybe that was because she was so used to having to flag down the bus and get on it that way, not for it to stop if she was simply just standing there.

She also hated driving in America, but at least road rules were fairly universal.

She got off on a side road that led to a decrepit warehouse that she knew, just by instinct, was filled with something bad. Like, capital b bad. Bad.

She walked towards it. A quick flick and her clothes changed. Instead of the clothes that she wore to get anywhere in Gotham as a civilian, she was wearing her uniform. There was a new part, a black hoodie that was cropped and sleeveless, hood pulled over her head so that only a portion of her hair could be seen. Hair that was was long enough to be a rather long plait that she had done in a similar style as Katniss Everdeen. She strung her bow as she walked, and her quiver was full and heavy on her back. A familiar weight, one that she was perhaps too used to. The bow went on her back as well.

She hid in a nearby bush and observed. She found the security cameras, saw the pattern of the guards. She saw the Team going in, and she followed after them, staying hidden from them.

The fight wasn't fair for them. She waited anyway, watching for the perfect chance to swoop in and help. The most of what Eclipse was doing was watching how the Team fought together.

She'd seen stuff from Teen Titans and even the Young Justice show that she'd become obsessed with. The fights in those were good, but not this good.

Years of working together had the Team knowing each other and their fighting styles well. Even without Wally around, they worked well. Like a machine that was missing a piece but was still functional. Or a heart that had a small defect, but was still doing its job – not working as well as it could or should, but working nonetheless. The way that Dick fought was breathtaking in person. Like gravity didn't have much of a hold on him. He seemed to float, and she hadn't understood it at first, but now she did.

It was like he was actually a bird.

Good thing They got rid of the Court of Owls. Dick didn't deserve to become an undead, owl themed assassin. He deserved this.

Conner was hit with kryptonite. He crumpled like a building in an earthquake. Zatanna was hit on the head. She wasn't unconscious, but Eclipse wouldn't be surprised if she had a concussion. The Team formed a circle.

Eclipse grabbed her bow and an arrow. She held it in position to pull it back. She watched, waiting. She pulled the string back and aimed.

One of the men held up a gun at Dick.

She let the arrow fly.

It landed.

Everyone was quiet for a moment, staring at the arrow. She took the opportunity to shoot another one. And another. She hit arms, legs, their knees. Anything that would make it hard for the guards to chase the heroes. It carved a path that the heroes took. Eclipse followed them. Artemis joined her in shooting the guards down.

She jumped down from her perch and landed next to the older woman. Artemis spared her a glance before she turned back to the enemy. Eclipse stood with her, firing arrows and buying the others time to get out. Then they followed suit. Eclipse ran with them to the bioship, where Conner was laying on the ground and looking green. M'gann was fretting over him, panic in her voice.

"Get him on the ship," she said.

"We need to get him to somewhere safe to heal him," Kaldur said.

"I can heal him myself," Eclipse said. M'gann floated Conner onto the bioship. Kaldur looked at her, frowning a little.

"You can?" He asked. Eclipse nodded.

"I might not know Kryptonian biology, but I know enough about him and his abilities to know that a Kryptonian heals best with sunlight. I've worked on worse injuries and much more different biology before, and Kryptonians have a biology that's similar to a human's. It's the only reason why Kon exists," she said. Kaldur's eyes flicked to one side, then back to her.

"Come on," he said. Eclipse followed him onto the bioship. There was chaos. Dick was trying to find a first aid kit for the unconscious Kryptonian.

"What's-"

"She says she can help him," Kaldur explained before the question was even asked. Eclipse went over to Conner and M'gann. She used her magic to switch her quiver for her bag and opened it. She looked at the wound. The fabric had been removed from the area, revealing the green veins that spread out from the wound. She changed the gloves she wore for her archery to blue rubber ones. She muttered a spell to analyze the damage. She frowned when she got the results.

"This isn't good. The kryptonite's hit an artery. Removing it's going to be a bloodbath, so I can't be wearing these." She slipped off the gloves.

"Why not?"

"Because I need my skin to touch the skin around the wound in order to heal it." She pulled out supplies – gauze, tweezers. Dick appeared with a case in hand.

"I'll put the kryptonite in this once you get it out," he said. Eclipse nodded. She placed the gauze near the wound and picked up the tweezers.

"I'll fly the bioship to the Hub," Kaldur said. Eclipse focused on the task at hand.

Carefully, she grabbed the vibrant green stone and started to pull it out with a surgical precision. Even when the bioship started moving. She'd done bigger surgeries on much more rocky forms of transport.

She pulled the rock out slowly, inching the gauze to the wound each time she got it out even a millimeter. It was slow, and Conner definitely wasn't doing well, not with a piece of his father's home planet stuck in him.

She pulled it out. The gauze went to the wound, which was bleeding heavily. Dick took the tweezers. Eclipse placed one hand to the red skin around the wound, moved the gauze, and moved the other one to the wound. She focused.

Gold lit her veins along her skin. It transferred to Conner's skin and flesh. It knit back together under her hands. Blood pooled, but the bleeding stopped. It clotted until it vanished and there was no scar, but she didn't stop there. She pushed the gold through Conner's veins, chasing away the green. She nearly collapsed, but an invisible force held her up. M'gann and her telekinesis.

Eclipse found herself being placed on a seat close by M'gann and Conner, who was looking less green.

Rocket found some wipes and offered them to Eclipse. She took them and cleaned off as much of the blood as she could. By the time she'd finished, she had a pile of red wipes in her lap and damp hands that were cleaned except for the blood under her nails. She'd deal with that sensory hell later.

She pulled out a bottle and took a couple of sips from it. Almost instantly, she was feeling better. Less tired, more energized. She put it away and vanished the dirty wipes and gauze and the lingering blood with a wave of her hand.

"So… uh… magic," Artemis said. Eclipse snorted.

"You sound way more awkward than I do when I'm overwhelmed too much sensory input," she said. She tilted her head, a wolfish thing that she had always done for some reason. "But yes, magic. I don't really fit this world's definitions of different magical classes, but I call myself a witch. What I did just then wasn't magic though. It was something that connects me to the less human side of myself."

"So what was it? And thank you, by the way. You saved him." She smiled at M'gann.

"I'm kind of like a solar panel. I take in the sun's energy and store it in my body as energy, which I can then use to heal people."

"That's actually really cool," Dick commented. Eclipse smiled.

"Thank you."

The bioship landed in a place that Eclipse had to assume was the new base for the Team. She had to go now, it seemed. She stood up, bag in hand.

"Well, it was nice to meet you, but I have to go now. Until the next time we meet!" She disappeared, leaving several confused heroes behind.

And another thing, but that didn't matter.

Chapter Text

"I don't trust these people," Damian whispered conspiratorially. Jason simply hummed, carrying him through the crowds of people, following Shiva closely.

"You don't have to, but they're normal people. Most normal people just want to have as normal of a life as possible without assassin training." Jason said the last words in the LOA's dilect, which he'd been learning for a little while now.

"I still don't trust them," Damian grumbled. He crossed his arms and pouted, leaning his head on Jason's shoulder. Jason snorted. He didn't know why he was expecting anything different.

"You've got to hold your suspicion for others who could actually hurt you," he reminded the young boy.

"Boys?" Shiva asked.

"We're okay, Mother. Damian just doesn't trust anyone around us." Shiva hummed.

"We are the only operatives in this city. I would know if there was someone from another assassin group around here," she soothed. Damian was still pouting, still distrusting of anyone who wasn't his brother. "Let's stop here for some lunch." They were outside of a cafe, in a city in Germany. Jason could understand snippets of German. He really needed to brush up on his German.

They went in and sat in a spot where they could all observe the people around them. Jason placed Damian further from the open room, something that he would do even if they weren't assassins-in-training.

Someone came to take their orders, the basic German coming more easily to him now that he was speaking it. Then it was just the three of them again.

"Why are we here?" Berlin was a fairly nice city, with reminders of Germany's history all over the place, just so that history wouldn't repeat. Germans were determined not to let their history repeat.

"Training," Shiva simply said. Jason and Damian looked at each, equally confused. When he looked away from his brother, Jason looked at the people around them, including Shiva.

"Body language," Jason murmured. An approving glimmer appeared in Shiva's eye.

"The language of the shadows," she agreed.

"Oh." The singular syllable was soft on Damian's tongue, a surprise. Honestly, neither of them should have been surprised, not with what Shiva was well known for.

"You both need to look at those around us and their body language. Think about what it means. When you can understand the basics, you can achieve silent conversations with each other and know what your opponents will be doing before they do it." Jason didn't need to point out that he already had an idea of what he was doing. Years of having to guess what Willis' mood was and if he was drunk or not combined with living on the streets by himself for three years had taught him a lot.

He was just refining his skills here, technically. Adding to what he knew, to what he had learned out of a need to survive.

Assassins were better at keeping their emotions hidden than drunkards who worked for Rogues and crime bosses. If Jason wanted to get out alive with Damian, he had to learn more.

He had to become a weapon and a shield for his little brother to be able to be a child for as long as he'd be allowed to. Before puberty and life came knocking on the door, wanting to take Damian and what little innocence he had left.

Was this a lot of responsibility to put on a fifteen year old boy? Perhaps. But Jason would do whatever he could for his family.

Their orders arrived. Shiva studied the drinks and the person who had given them out. Damian sniffed at his tea, only drinking when he knew it was safe. The likelihood of Damian ingesting small amounts of poison to build his resistance against such a thing was high, but Damian didn't need to worry about that with Jason around.

He did the same thing as Damian, drinking only when it was safe to do so.

"What stories can you see?" Shiva asked. Jason surveyed the room.

"That person there, with all of the books. They're a student, studying for exams. They're scared to fail."

"How can you tell?" Damian asked.

"They're hunched over their books, and their hair's messy, as if they've been running their hand through it. There's tension in their shoulders, too." He'd seen that exact same posture on all kinds of students – Hero students, Dick, the people who got into Gotham Academy through scholarships and didn't want to risk loosing them, lest they lose their only chance to get into college and turn their lives around.

He looked at the other people. Silently, he thought about what their lives were like. Teenagers studying, an elderly couple sitting together and talking, clearly in love. A group of adults, smiling and laughing together, relaxed. There were a lot of things that could be happening in their lives.

One of the elderly couple was sick, and they were spending time together before they had to say goodbye until they were reunited in whatever afterlife existed. One of the adults was going through a hard time, so their friends had dragged them out to this cafe for a change of pace, something good in a hard time. From the looks of it, it was likely something huge, something that would change the rest of their life. The people studying had varying body language. Some of them were confident, while the others were silently panicking about what they were going to do about their grades.

He let Damian make his own conclusions. With one hand holding his head up and the other one picking up his tea to take sips of it, he became quite bored, and watching the people around him became fun.

"Is this all we're going to do?" Jason asked his mother.

"It's the start," she said, "there's things I will have to explain, but that can come a little bit later. For now, we can just sit here." Jason's eyes flicked over to his mother, studying her. For some reason, the only person that a Woosan could not hide their body language from was another Woosan.

He knew that it was so that Jason and Damian could have a break from their other training. Time to be children instead of the weapons that Ra's was training Damian to be and that Jason was making himself into. Shiva might be a weapon herself, but the files that Bruce had on her stated that his mother had never really been a child herself. Training from birth was not a normal childhood activity, and being forced into a marriage with an old man like Cain was not anything that anyone wanted, really.

Shiva knew that he knew. Her eyes held a heavy weight in them when she looked at her son, a quiet plea to the universe in them, asking for him to have time to act his age.

_______________________________________

Shiva did indeed tell them how to read people, but most of her lessons were practical, telling them what to look out for in dangerous people and getting them to practice it. Even those who weren't dangerous had their actions and behavior analyzed by the two of them.

After a week, they went back to Nanda Parbat, acting as though half of their time hadn't been spent acting like children, bickering and laughing and being stupid under Shiva's watchful gaze. She spent more time with them, getting them to learn to hide their body language from the other assassins around them. Jason succeeded quicker than Damian, again from the years of abuse at the hands of one Willis Todd and the time he had spent on the streets.

By the start of March, Jason was by far better at hiding everything. Only his mother knew what he was trying to hide, and he knew that Cass would know who he was just by body language for that same reason – Woosans just couldn't hide their body language from their own family.

It had started out as a dumb little thing. A way to test their skills on the other assassins at the base.

Jason had told one of the trainees that another one had said something, hiding his body language from them to see if they would take the bait. Damian had stood by his side, watching and hiding his own as best he could.

It worked.

And it grew from there.

Just… little things. Dumb rumors about people liking others. None of them were supposed to form romantic relationships, and Ra's questioned them, but never Jason and Damian.

He was surprised when the old man believed him.

Jason very quickly discovered the thrill of manipulating those who believed themselves to be better than him. It had started when Talia took him and Damian to a meeting with Ra's and other members of the Light under the guise of Damian needing to learn how to work in a team with other powerful people.

Sportsmaster and Deathstroke were there, which he knew was a bad combination before he even saw them in a room together, glaring at each other as though they were school boys who had some dumb rivalry with each other.

Jason stood behind Talia and watched the others there. Luthor, Queen Bee and Vandal Savage. A small group, all things considered.

Still, they bickered over what they were going to do about the Team. Sportsmaster declared that no one was to order anyone to kill Artemis or Jade unless he said so, and Jason was mildly surprised when he'd heard that Jade had turned from the Light and sought protection with the Heroes. Silently, he thought that she had the right idea to run before it was too late.

But ideas were brewing in his mind.

Ideas that would upset the balance between the Light.

Ideas that were fed by their own plans and bickering.

Something casually said to Talia about how her father must be loosing the plot, even just a little bit.

Then small things, little rumors that were whispered in the halls and allowed to spread and fester. No one seemed to know it was him that was doing it.

Was this how Gotham's high society felt, when they began to tear down others? How Bruce felt when he used his evidence he gathered as Batman and the Brucie Wayne persona to spread it? It must have been.

"You're spreading lies," Shiva said. Jason was alone, Damian off with Talia. Jason tilted his head at his mother and smiled, a wide sly thing that would set people on edge.

"Don't you agree that Ra's is insane? That he's actually sexist and that Talia would be a better leader for this place?" He asked. Shiva raised an eyebrow.

"I did not think that you would be one to spread such things. It makes me curious about what your real intentions are here." Jason hummed, his head tilted to one side.

"The Light is blind to the truth. They're all power hungry, all wanting something that no one singular person should have. Why should it be them, who decide if humanity needs to evolve further, that we're being held back from our true potential?"

"They want more Metahumans," Shiva told him. She sat down with him.

"The world that I was in. They had this theory, the Quirk Singularity theory. It says that the more people with powers marry and have kids, the more common and the more powerful those powers become, until they get so strong that they kill the entirety of humanity. Why is it that a group of people who want power are to decide if people have more kids with powers? If those powers become stronger and we all become slaves to them until humanity kills the entire Earth through powers alone?"

Power from control was hardly any use to Jason. Even with the idea of controlling Gotham's underground, he would never be able to have full control. There would always be rebels, just as he was a rebel within Ra's ranks, right in the inner circle of assassins, trusted with the safety of the heir to the Demon's Head.

Shiva appraised him.

"You do not think as simply as so many others. You have seen horrors yourself, have experienced them, and yet you still care, still love. You are the singular strongest man I have ever known in my life because of it." Jason smiled bashfully.

"I'm not perfect. I'm willing to kill to protect, and I have done that."

"But men would go insane to have the power you have," Shiva told him gently. "You have learned a few things in the art of reading and hiding body language, and yet you are sowing small seeds of doubt in people without them knowing." Jason bit his lip.

The League of Assassins was a complicated subject, really. Jason didn't agree with them, but he needed their knowledge in order to do something similar in Gotham. Though planning to become a crime lord and stopping people from hunting down Metahumans and those of other origins wasn't entirely similar. The League of Assassins wanted people with powers indebted to them and the Light.

Jason just hated it when people tried to fuck with other's lives.

He knew that the Heroes were still trying to take down the Light. Starting with rumors in the League of Assassins was his way of helping them.

Jason might not be the same kid that used to be Robin anymore, but he still cared.

Some would think that he was too soft, too kind.

But Jason had always been like this, really. Just as Dick had murderous tendencies, Jason had always been overly competent at hiding and watching, waiting for a moment to strike.

Bruce had just taught him patience and how to gather intel before he made a move, and Gotham's high society had taught him how to make lies out of the truth.

Chapter Text

A group of them gathered together in the hall. Six of them, Jason included, stood at attention and waited for Ra's' orders. The man observed them, and Jason had to wonder what exactly he was doing here. Had he been caught spreading rumors?

"Count Vertigo has asked for my help in taking down his pesky niece. I told him that I would send you six to Poland, where the Queen will be visiting. Woosan." The last name was shouted. Jason walked forward and knelt before the man, feeling slightly disgusted as he did so.

"Yes, Great One?" He asked, his voice emotionless.

"You will be leading the attack. The safety of your comrades is up to you. Normally I would not consider someone who has not been training with us for long, but you have proven that you are skillful and more… thorough… than your peers."

"Thank you, Great One, I will do my best."

"I know you will."

They were dismissed, and Jason had to go straight to his room to pack.

Damian was there already, probably having heard about what was going on. Wide green eyes turned to him as soon as he entered.

"You're going on a mission," Damian said flatly. Jason looked at his baby brother. He was doing an admirable job at trying to hide his emotions, but Jason knew him too well by now.

"I am," he said softly. He bent down and scooped up Damian, holding him in his arms.

"Why are they sending you?" Damian asked quietly.

"I have no idea. Your grandfather said that I'm more skillful and thorough than the others he could've chosen from," Jason replied. He settled Damian on one hip and grabbed his things. He already knew what he needed, having had it drilled in his head by Shiva.

"I don't want you to go." Damian sounded his age, all of his five years. Jason had to take a deep breath. When he was calmer and not feeling like he'd burst out into tears at the sad admission, Jason adjusted Damian in his arms so that he was fully supporting his little brother. He pressed his face into soft black hair.

"I know you don't," he whispered. Another breath. "But I have to. Ra's decided that I'm the leader of the squad, responsible for them. I'll come back to you, okay? I promise you that." Damian looked up at him.

"If you don't keep it, then I'm getting Mama to put you into the Pit then kill you myself," he threatened.

"I don't doubt it." Jason pressed a kiss to Damian's head. "You don't have to worry about it, though. I know what I'm doing. I've faced worse, and I've done worse, and I know exactly what I'm doing. Just… keep yourself safe while I'm gone, yeah?" Damian nodded, his head pressed into the space under his head.

"You stay safe too, Akhi."

"I will."

"Woosan! We have five minutes!" A voice shouted. Talia appeared in the doorway, and Jason handed Damian over to her. He changed into his stealth suit, red braces on his arms, just in case he needed them. With his weapons and a final goodbye, he walked out the door and to the hangar where the others were waiting. They got on the plane, and Jason left Damian behind for the first time.

He hated how it made him feel.

The ride took a couple of hours before they landed in the general area where Vertigo wanted them. Jason had a plan in his mind, but he needed to get the others away as quickly as he could without causing suspicion.

Vertigo wasn't even there, when they got to the point that they were told to. A house in the middle of a major city in Poland, where they were to wait until their mission started. Jason picked up one of the briefing packets that was set on the table and opened it. The others followed him.

Jason read through the information, and was somewhat surprised. Will Harper, the very same Roy Harper that he had met when he was younger, had apparently started his own business, and his wife, Jade Harper, was helping him out. The details said that Bowhunter Security would be there.

Bowhunter. Of course he'd choose something as dumb as that. Dick had often said that the clone was incredibly dull when it came to who cared about him and what not. Apparently that stemmed to names, too.

But the packet told Jason who to expect, and so he was expecting them.

Vertigo just wanted them to play as distractions, threatening Queen Perdita and pulling the attention of her security away from her.

As if that would ever work. All of those who had been Heroes at a young age were stubborn and determined. They kind of just had to sometimes, if they were to get anywhere and not be coddled by some of the heroes. It was the biggest driving factor behind Dick, Wally and Kaldur going to Cadmus at any rate.

He didn't say anything, just prepared himself for the mission.

Finally, the time to go out came, and he led his group to where he had been told to. Another house, where Perdita was being kept safe until it was time to move her. Movement caught Jason's eye. A flash of blue that he knew well. He ordered the others to get into position, keeping an eye out and his mind blocked against M'gann. There was a high chance of the other members of the Team being there if he'd seen that flash of blue.

The group led Perdita out of the house, Will and another red head that had to be the real Roy Harper close to her. Jason wondered what the hell Roy Harper was thinking, shaving his hair off like that. The arm was cool, though unfortunate that he needed one at all. Anger bubbled in Jason's gut at the thought of what Luthor and the Light had done, kidnapping Roy and making a copy of him.

He pushed it aside to watch out. The others moved. Jason didn't know their names, didn't even care about them. All he cared about was actually stopping them from hurting Perdita, or letting Vertigo close enough to try anything.

A flash of blue and black came to him. Jason knew Dick well enough to go under the kick his brother aimed at him, acting on instinct. Dick came at him with his escrima, blue energy at the ends of them making him a more formidable opponent.

Jason's heart squeezed painfully at seeing his brother again and being the enemy, not the Hero trying to protect Perdita. He rolled out of the way of the sticks.

"What's wrong? Can't fight me?" Dick taunted. Jason rolled his eyes. He rolled backwards, planting his hands on the roof behind him and using the momentum to kick up at his brother's chin. Dick moved out of the way. Jason flipped away and ran off. He spied one of his teammates.

It was natural, really, to flip backwards over his brother and steal his wing dings to throw at them. Dick froze, his eyes wide behind his domino mask.

"You're sabotaging your own team," Dick murmured, confusion lacing his entire body and his voice.

"I'm only with the League of Assassins to gain knowledge I need to help others," Jason said, thankful that he was wearing the red mask from his Redwing suit, if only for the distortion. "I don't want Queen Perdita to die, but I have been put in charge. I have a role to play, something you are well aware of, I believe." He knew that Dick understood the importance of masks. Hiding his hero identity as a civilian, hiding his civilian identity as a hero.

Jason jumped off the roof, only his skills from living in Gotham and being Robin helping him climb down without hurting himself. Other wing dings that he'd stolen from Dick were carefully hidden in his pockets.

Jason made a bee line for the youngest Harper, who reacted quickly. But Jason was quicker by far. He ducked and came up close to Roy, sticking out. He had to be believable, to some degree. Roy Harper wasn't an easy target, either, and Jason relished in the new fight. He managed to break Roy away from the group, Will refusing to leave Perdita's side, Artemis in a new suit right next to him.

He let the others try their luck. The only thing that kept Jason going was his training, past and present. Roy pushed back though, his jaw clenched, and Jason tried to remind himself that he couldn't pull a Cheshire and fall in love with a Harper. Not right now, anyway.

He lured Roy up to the other side of the street.

"Arsenal!" Will shouted. Jason had to smirk at the way he sounded like an exasperated older brother. There was mostly worry in his voice though which, fair. Jason would be worried if his younger brother was lured away by an assassin.

Jason played a game of chase with the other boy, flipping from time to time. Roy caught up to him and tried to grab him, but Jason was quicker. He flipped them both around so that he was on top of Roy, leaning down to whisper to him.

"I don't want the Queen dead," he whispered, the modulator off. Roy glared at him through his domino.

"How can we trust that?" He asked. Jason heard one of his supposed teammates, and he reacted without looking or caring.

A knife, right into the chest. The choking sounds of someone dying, and the thud of a lifeless body collapsing. Jason tilted his head.

"You don't have to trust it," he said. He leaned closer. "But I have a mask to keep, and a brother to protect. I can't leave and neglect him, not when I made the promise to protect him." Roy's breath hitched. Jason felt it, with his position on top of Roy.

"You're actually serious?" Roy asked.

"I am," Jason confirmed. He rolled off of the older boy and disappeared off into the night to follow the Team. He ignored the way that being that close to Roy had felt – thrilling, in a way, because they were on completely opposite sides, yet also on the same one.

He threw another knife at one of the other assassins. They fell, blood spilling from their wound. Jason didn't let himself stay for long. He could blame their deaths on some other assassin group, or claim them missing or something. He didn't know yet, but Shiva and Talia would side with him. They knew what he wanted to do, anyway. Both of them had their own reasons for not letting Ra's get rid of him in some way or another. For Shiva, it was because he was her son. For Talia, he was her beloved's lost son and her child's older brother.

Vertigo decided that it was good to show up then, a grin on his face. Jason hid in the shadows, watching them. Vertigo went on the typical, villain monologue. Hubris would be his downfall, Jason decided.

Another knife, with enough force to lodge into Vertigo's brain. He wasn't sure if it would actually kill the man, but it was enough to get rid of the effects of the device in his head. Sure, it was for some issue with his ear, but Vertigo had decided that he'd become a villain and a dictator.

Vertigo stood for a few moments, his eyes wide, fluids flowing out past the knife in his skull. Vertigo pulled it out, and more gushed out, and he fell. Knees first, the knife clattering to the ground, then the rest of his body. Blood pooled onto the streets of a city that had been taken over by Nazis and filled with the blood of innocents. This time, it was the blood of a lunatic that covered the stones of the small street.

"He's…" Perdita started.

"Dead," Conner confirmed. M'gann let her cloaking ability fall.The entire Team stared at the body.

"There's an assassin," Dick murmured. Jason could see when his brother surveyed the street without looking up from where he was staring at the body. "With red wrappings on his wrists and forearms." The last two tried to attack the Team, but Jason was quicker. He killed them both, the bodies falling. "Who doesn't want Perdita dead." Jason jumped down and stood before the Team.

"They'll have questions about this… whole thing," Will said. Jason shrugged.

"Being trained by Shiva and being the heir's bodyguard will protect me," he said, modulator on again. He tilted his head in that Robin way, and he saw the moment recognition filled Dick's face. He turned and left. The shouts from the Team telling Nightwing to stop spurred him to run faster, further. He disappeared into the night, ignoring Dick's calls to wait up.

He had to stop somewhere quiet, far away from the Team and Dick, somewhere that he wouldn't be found, and removed his masks. He took a few deep breaths, but that didn't stop the tears.

He had been so close to Dick. To his big brother, and friends that he had once known so well. It actually hurt so badly, almost as though someone had reached into his chest and pulled out his heart, leaving a gaping hole where it was supposed to be. He breathed deeply and cried quietly, something he was far too used to now. He had another day to return, but he was allowed to go the rendezvous point whenever needed to get out.

He didn't count how long he sat there against a wall in a concealed alleyway, tears falling down his face. All he knew was that his heart hurt so much.

Someone landed near him. He tensed a little, ready to fight, but it wasn't going to do anything.

"Whero," the familiar voice said. Soft, understanding. Dawn pulled him close, letting him cry into her chest. He refused to be too loud out of fear of being heard, but having her there helped him, even if a little.

"I miss him," he whispered.

"I know you do," she whispered back. She rubbed his back. "But I think that it's time for you to leave and go back to Baby Bat." Jason didn't ask how she knew about Damian. She knew far more than people thought she did.

"Yeah," Jason agreed. He wiped his face and got up. Dawn pressed a kiss to his head and disappeared with a crack. Jason took a deep breath and left, going back to the safehouse. He cleaned up and packed up his things before he left for the airstrip.

"Where are the others?" The pilot asked.

"They disappeared," Jason replied, "though I don't know why." Dawn had likely handled it, if the way that she had been there had been any indication. She'd promised that she'd do a lot of things for him, including cleaning up his murder scenes.

The likelihood of the disappearance being chalked up to kidnapping and murder by another assassin group was actually really high.

He got on the plane and endured the long journey back to Nanda Parbat. People stared at him as he walked through the compound alone, all of them knowing full well that he had left with five others.

But there was no evidence that he'd killed them. The knives he'd used had belonged to someone else, stolen in order to keep suspicion away from him. Jason ignored the stares and went to report to Ra's, who wasn't happy that he'd lost five of his men to some sort of mysterious enemy, who was right in front of him.

It was a relief to go back to his own room to see Damian drawing. He showered and changed, then sat down with Damian, resting his head on the table.

"Are you alright?" Damian asked.

"I'll be okay."

"I meant if you were alright now." Jason sighed and closed his eyes. He was tired, and he needed to start taking his antidepressants again, but he wasn't allowed to take them here because Ra's was a bitch that thought that mentally unstable assassins were the best assassins, and he wanted his dad and big brother, but he had to stay here because of Damian and-

He wasn't okay. Jason didn't know if he had ever really been okay. He needed a hug, preferably one of Bruce's hugs that let him lean against his dad, wrapped up in his arms and feeling safe.

But all Jason had was his mother and Damian.

"I don't know," he admitted. He sat up and shuffled over to Damian and pulled him into his lap. The weight and warmth of his baby brother was a major comfort right then. His hair smelt nice. Something familiar that he couldn't place his finger on, though he didn't care. "I just need to decompress." Damian hummed, then continued with his art as much as he could while he was sitting in Jason's lap.

Chapter Text

Was it a dumb idea to try and invoke the ire of your murderous step-father? Yes, it was. Did Jason care? No. Not at all. And he wasn't even trying to invoke it!

Cain was the reason why his family and life fell apart before he was even born. That was something that Jason hated. His family had never really been a family, and he had never known just how loving a family should be until he was taken in and adopted by Bruce.

Until he suddenly had a father that cared about him, and a brother that watched him with a careful eye, always waiting to help, eager to be a brother. Until he had a grandfather of sorts who took care of all of them with a neutral face but eyes that saw and knew.

"I should have killed that bitch of a daughter," a voice murmured. Jason hid in the shadows and listened. "If I had, then I wouldn't have been embarrassed by that damned woman and that bastard son of hers."

"Isn't the bastard the girl's twin? They are of the same age," another voice asked.

"They're both bastards. No children of mine, anyway. Not when the boy has those damned eyes. That woman… I should just kill her." Cain was rambling angrily, his words slurring in the way that he knew too well from Willis.

"I think you have had enough to drink, sir," the other voice, probably one of Cain's people, said.

"'s fine. Fuck off." Jason breathed through his anger, jaw clenched and hands balled into tight fists.

Of course. Cain had hated Jason since he showed up, and he'd always known why.

But to talk about killing Shiva and Cass… and where Jason could hear him, too… Cain was dumber than he expected. And hearing it made Jason angry. So fucking angry.

Though hearing someone call him a bastard in the context of him being a child born from an affair was certainly interesting. While it was true, Jason could understand his mother's point of view, how she felt when she met Willis. Her freedom had been taken from her by a man who wanted to basically use her to breed a weapon, but had never been able to because of some issue with his own system. Willis had probably felt like freedom then, breaking vows she had never wanted to make for one night.

One night that gave her two children that she would never have been able to raise, no matter how much she wanted to.

That was the tragedy of their family, he supposed. Always around in groups of two. Cass and Shiva, or Jason and Shiva, or Cass and Jason. Never a whole. Never a mother showering her two children with her love.

Hearing Cain saying all of those things… Jason took a breath and left before he got too angry to think properly. He made his way to his mother's quarters and knocked on the door. He should tell her what Cain had said, though she was probably well aware of what kinds of things he grumbled about when he was drunk, because Cain was too careful to say those thoughts out loud when he was sober.

Ideas filled Jason's head, but he didn't know how exactly to go about any of it. Maybe he could get a message out to Dawn, see what she thought about the situation.

Shiva opened her door when Jason knocked. Her eyes flicked over him, searching for injuries. "Jason?"

"Mother…" What did he say? That he'd heard Cain talking about how he should have killed her? That he'd been called a bastard by the very same man who had no sense of what it was like to actually want to be with a woman? The very same man who had trapped his mother to use her?

Shiva saw something in his body language, and she gently ushered him into the room. It was simple, with a bed and a few weapons on the walls. Shiva pushed him towards the bed. He let her, and he found himself curled up on the bed, his head pillowed on her lap with sharp nails that could kill being so careful and gentle.

Jason relaxed. He hadn't really expected to get back to this, curling up with his mother while she hummed and scratched gently at his scalp. It was a testament to just how much she cared about him, even though she was never really able to be his mother.

It was a testament to just how much he trusted her, still seeing her as his mother and understanding why she did the things she did.

"What's wrong?" She asked. Jason sighed and closed his eyes, curling closer. The necklace Dawn had gifted him was still around his neck, warm and solid and protective.

"Sometimes it feels like everything's wrong," he mumbled. He opened his eyes again and looked at the door. "I overheard Cain talking about us. Me, you, Cass. He said he should have just killed her, called her a bitch and me a bastard. Then he said he should kill you."

"Your sister and I are far stronger than we seem. Cain knows it."

"Maybe, but I can't help but feel angry about it."

"You are full of love, Érzǐ. It is the thing that makes me so proud of you, the way that you are willing to love others. Damian is not your brother by blood, but you love him. You have not seen your sister since you were both three, and yet you still love her. You want to help children who are in a position that you once were in, and while Bruce Wayne is not your father by blood, you look up to him and love him. Your love fuels your anger." Jason thought about that.

His love fueled his anger…

He could see it. The anger at Cain for talking about killing his mother and sister so plainly, for tearing them apart before he was born. The anger at Shigaraki for attacking his class twice, putting children in danger for a selfish goal. His anger at Willis, for what he had done to Catherine, for being so terrible to a woman so wonderful, pushing her towards a drug that stole away the light in her eyes and the breath in her lungs.

"Stay here for the night. Talia and Damian will understand." They would, because Talia, for all her faults, understood a mother's love for her child, and by extension, so did Damian. And he knew what it was like to love his mother, to look at her and see someone stronger than himself.

Jason didn't try to leave. Instead, he fell asleep in his mother's quarters, feeling the safest he had since Joker took him.

_______________________________________

Getting a letter out to Dawn through Talia was actually easy. She didn't ask questions, just took it to mail it personally. All there was in the envelope was a time, date and place, with a request to talk about something.

He had to take Damian with him, though luckily Talia had it posed as training for the both of them. When he got to the rooftop he'd asked to meet Dawn on, he felt as though it was a breath of fresh air, though Damian didn't quite trust Dawn, something that Jason just knew from taking care of him for a while now.

Dick would be twenty by now…

"Dawn," he said. She tilted her head, long orange and yellow strands shifting.

"Whero," she greeted. Jason huffed. Maori again. He had kind of missed hearing how she used it so casually, like it was as natural as his mother speaking in Chinese, or him switching from one language to the next.

"What's that one mean?"

"Red. Kakariki is green."

"Why's green important?" Jason asked.

"Baby bat," she said simply, gesturing to Damian, who gasped, wide eyed.

"What?" He asked. Jason laughed and pulled Damian close. They weren't close to the ledge, something that Dawn had chosen and Jason was thankful for. Damian might be a baby assassin, but Jason didn't want to risk losing his little brother before he even got to meet the rest of the family.

"Dawn knows everything about everyone important in this world," Jason explained.

"Like the fact that you'll be Robin one day, and there's a high chance of you trying to kill the current one because you feel threatened by him because of your place in the family and you want the Robin mantle for yourself. It's not yours to decide if you get it, though." Dawn looked up at the sky, at the darkness of the night. Sirens wailed in the distance. After some time in Nanda Parbat, it felt nice to be in a proper city with sky scrapers.

"What?" Jason laughed.

"Told ya. Dawn knows more than you'd think she does."

"That's the beauty of being a woman in a world that's still so centered around men. Easier to know more than you'd be expected to, when you're underestimated."

"But," Damian began, a frown on his face, "women are actually really strong?" He sounded so confused that it made Jason snicker.

"Well, some men like to think that they own women."

"David Cain," Dawn said. "Bastard killed Shiva's sister and then forced her to marry him to use her womb to create a weapon. Luckily, Cass never listens to him, and almost always ends up a Wayne instead." Jason hummed and leaned back.

"I'm glad," he murmured.

"Why did you want to meet me? I know that I know more, and I'm Aware of more, but this is something I didn't See, or anticipate for that matter."

"I want to get rid of Cain," Jason said. Honest, plainly. Dawn didn't hide things without reason, and was often honest with him. Jason owed it to her to be honest as well.

"That's not going to be easy, but it's doable. You'd have to maul him, though, to lower the risk of him being thrown into the radioactive Mountain Dew most versions of you end up getting shoved into."

"Why do you call the Lazarus Pits those names?" Jason asked with a sigh.

"Because, that's what they are. And they're what a lot of the fandom calls them."

"FANDOM?" Jason yelped.

"Ooh, They won't be happy with you~" A voice trilled.

"Fuck off, Wade," Dawn retorted.

"What's got your panties in a twist?"

"You're supposed to be helping Parker and stopping him from accidentally relocating here for the… what would it be? Must be close to a thousand by now, with how addicted people are to those."

"Fine! I'm going!"

"Who was that?"

"Someone I like more than Deathstroke. He's not bordering on pedophile like Slade is." Dawn shrugged. "Anyway, in worlds like this, you've got to absolutely maul someone for them to stay dead. Even when you die, you wake up in your coffin because the universe needs you alive, but you're not really aware of anything, and Talia finds you and takes you to the League to be thrown into the Pit. Ra's was never happy with that, in any universe." Jason took a deep breath and thought of what Dawn was saying.

He had to maul his step-father to lower the risk of him coming to life, full stop. If Jason woke up in his coffin in other worlds, then there was a chance that Cain could come back too.

There was a chance that Joker…

No. He shouldn't think about that.

"I'd need to maul him even if there wasn't the threat of the Pits, wouldn't I?" He asked.

"Yup," Dawn replied, popping the 'p'. "But cutting off the head or removing the heart is a good bet. Most gods don't really know how the human body works, so if the head and heart were removed and they tried to bring the person back, then it wouldn't work. Hades would be more likely to keep hold of the person's soul." Damian sat on Jason's lap, leaning backwards and playing with his hand. Dawn handed him a clipboard with some paper on it and a pencil and eraser. Damian took them and started to draw.

"Wouldn't gods who try to bring humans back realize?" Jason asked. Dawn giggled.

"The gods who watch over Earth will talk to them and draw circles around them, which would be so easy! Especially since most of the gods who visit us are from other worlds. No god who watches over us humans wants another god from another world or pantheon to mess with their followers, you know. They'd all band together despite their differences."

"Huh. So most gods here on Earth are eager to stop other gods from fucking with the human life cycle…" Jason shifted slightly, leaning back on his hands and looking up at the sky. The lights of the city blocked out the stars. That was a shame. "How many gods exist?"

"As many as have been worshiped and recorded," Dawn replied. "I'm a pagan. Don't know if you realized that, but I worship the ancient Greek gods. My father… is one of them." Jason looked at Dawn, eyes wide.

That was why Dawn looked so… what word did he use here? Inhuman? Ethereal? Yeah, that one. Ethereal. She looked less human than normal because she was less human than most people. And the prophecy things…

"Apollo…" Dawn looked at him. "He's your father."

"He is."

"And your from another world-"

"Percy Jackson. And Harry Potter. The Draco Malfoy I knew was a son of Athena and actually a sweetheart, when you didn't push the ideas of Purebloods onto him."

"You knew him?"

"I was in the same year as him, though I was a Hufflepuff and he was a Slytherin. I had another friend, a son of Hades, who was a Hufflepuff, and one of my half-brothers transferred to Hogwarts in third year and was sorted into Hufflepuff." Dawn wrapped her arms around legs and hugged them to her body.

"Why are you here?"

"I'm a witch, Jason, and a demigod who can not only heal, but is a good archer and can See and deliver prophecies if there's no one else to do so. Athena's mother was a nymph that helped him to get Kronos to regurgitate the other Olympians, who he took as his wife and got pregnant. He was told that her children would be stronger than him, so he absorbed her. That's why Athena was born from his head."

"He did something, didn't he?" Dawn nodded.

"He would have killed me if Dad hadn't convinced him to just… exile me. As though I were Circe and more dangerous than I really am. How does a god feel threatened by a mortal?" Dawn scoffed at that.

"Do you miss your family?" Damian asked, a bit too quiet. Dawn looked at him.

"All the time. Not just my mum and siblings, but my found family too…"

"Found family?"

"The people you choose to be your family, Dames. Dad chose me to be his son, and he chose Dick, Tim, and Cass, too. Blood relations don't truly mean anything, especially not when a family that is built from ruins is often stronger. Hell, that's one of my favorite book tropes. I guess that's because I always used to dream of going off and creating my own family from the ground up, and Dad came along and brought me into his family that was created from grief…" Jason huffed.

"Found family has the strongest bond, because it is a family that is chosen, even if accidentally," Dawn murmured.

"What do you think would be the best way to get rid of Cain?" Jason asked, still needing to know her opinion.

Somehow he had come to value her input, seeking it out like he sought out Dick's thoughts on something. Like a younger sibling that wants to do something but is unsure, so they go to the elder one to talk over the options and debate about the outcomes and the best way to go about it.

"Do it when there's no one else around. Maybe get him drunk, spike his drink so that he can't fight back. Normally I'm against that, but he's a guy who forced a woman into a relationship she never actually wanted, so whatever."

"He'd know if his drink was spiked."

"He would," Damian agreed. He moved to a clean piece of paper, still leaning against Jason, and started to write in English. "Most of the older assassins are trained to know all kinds of drugs. How to identify them and fight even if they're drugged. You'd have to find something that none of them know." Dawn hummed. Then she reached into her bag and pulled out a couple of vials.

"These are potions," she said. She handed them to Damian. "One of them is one that slows a person down. The other makes them weaker. I can get potions that have the opposite effect, but I don't think that anyone would know what these are. Plus, they're very hard to get through. And this one-" she pulled out a third vial "-makes the person who drinks it nauseous. The three of them together-"

"Would make him think that he's drunk too much, and is just sick and needs to sleep it off," Jason murmured. He looked at the three potions. They had labels on them. Slowness 1, weakness 2, and nausea 4.

"The labels are more so that I know how strong they are. They're fairly similar to the stuff in Minecraft."

"Minecraft?"

"Yeah. I might have… definitely… modeled those… after the Minecraft potions." Dawn rubbed her neck a little sheepishly.

"Thanks, Dawn. Really." Dawn smiled at him. It was a little sadistic.

"You don't have to thank me. Just kill the bastard, and it'll all be worth it." Damian took the potions and hid them on his person, knowing that no one would search the heir.

A few goodbyes later, and Damian and Jason were heading back to Nanda Parbat, this time with a plan forming in Jason's mind.

_______________________________________

All good plans were thought out, with contingency after contingency in place, just in case the plan went off the rails. That was what Bruce had taught Jason, and that was what Jason kept in mind every time he started to create one. There was the main plan, plan A, then B, C, D, on and on through the alphabet, with different phases to each of the letters. That was how Bruce planned, and that was how Jason was planning. So carefully, with everything calculated.

Jason found himself using two swords, slowly but surely. The two blades felt right in his hands, like he was always destined to use two at the same time. Shiva put him and Damian through their paces, and as time went on, Jason became stronger.

He learned Cain's habits, too, either through employing Damian with promises that could only be fulfilled once they got away or by hiding away and watching, gathering intel. He used it as a way to train Damian in gathering intelligence, which the boy was eager to do. Despite being the heir, people ignored him, because Damian was young, what harm could he do right now?

A lot, actually. Kids were smarter than people gave them credit for, and Damian was no ordinary kid by proxy of being Bruce's only biological child. Bruce, from what Jason knew from Alfred's stories, and had always been too smart for his own good. Jason wouldn't be surprised if his IQ was near genius. Maybe beyond that.

Damian had definitely gotten that from Bruce.

So Jason taught him everything he knew about using his age and people's assumptions about a five year old child to his advantage. He told him how Bruce made himself seem dumb and clumsy to better hide his true IQ and – often enough – his true intentions.

March turned into April, and the death date of the Flying Graysons passed with Jason worrying a little for his older brother having to deal with his grief being made tenfold. But then April turned into May, and he was nearly ready.

He snuck through the compound, a silent shadow trained to kill. As silent as Cass was, apparently. He pushed away the swell of pride at hearing his mother say that about him. After all, it wasn't every day that one ended up on the same level as their sibling.

And well… instead of sneaking, he slipped through the halls, nothing but a shadow that slipped into Cain's quarters to find an open but not quite empty bottle of alcohol. Carefully, he removed the lid and poured all three potions into the drink. Then he put it back, exactly as he had found it, and left. No one saw him.

Now, it was just a matter of waiting.

The sun started to set. Jason ate with Damian, Talia and Shiva, just as they always had, then retired to his room with Damian to go to sleep.

But he didn't sleep. He waited, then grabbed a knife he'd stolen (again. Really, it was too easy to steal from others in this compound. They were all stuck on their high horses, looking down at him with disgust and not caring for him when he was the one ruining their journey to greatness) and he made his way to Cain's quarters.

He heard coughing and retching through the walls. He slipped into the room and watched Cain. He was shaking, weak, slow and nauseous. Normally when he was going to kill someone, he felt nothing. No glee, no remorse, absolutely nothing.

But seeing Cain like this? Coughing his lungs out and trying to throw up, kneeling on the floor of his room? It was enough to make him grin like the Cheshire cat.

Would that reference annoy Jade? Or would she be jealous that he had the guts to get rid of the vermin who had destroyed his family when she wasn't able to?

"You don't look too good there, Cain," Jason said casually. Cain looked up at him, hatred filling his eyes.

"You- you did- ack! You did this!" He accused. Jason shifted, taking on a faux casualness.

"Why wouldn't I? You destroyed my family before I was even conceived. Not only that, but you've been talking an awful lot about killing my mother and sister. I don't take kindly to threats against my mother and sister." He tilted his head, still so bird like. A habit he wouldn't ever consider getting rid of.

"You- you'll pay!"

"Will I? I'm pretty sure that no one here really cares about you that much. Even if you're a high ranking official here in the compound, you're easily replaceable, are you not? Ra's wouldn't waste his precious Lazarus Pit on you, especially since you failed with my sister." Jason watched Cain. Dawn had said that the potions had been inspired by the Minecraft ones, and he didn't know if there was a time limit on them. There probably was, since the body was able to flush out toxins that didn't immediately kill it.

He decided that he wasn't going to take a chance.

He stepped forward and grabbed Cain by the hair. His anger was ice cold again, as it often got when he was actually angry and not just scared. He yanked Cain's head to the side, staring at him with apathy.

"All of this is your fault," Jason murmured. He threw Cain to the ground and grabbed a bit of cloth that he used to silence the man that, perhaps in another life, would have been his biological father. Then he grabbed the knife and cut open Cain's gut.

He took his time, slowly cutting Cain open and letting him bleed, his intestines removed and thrown to the side as though they weren't important organs. He took the liberty of making it so that if he wasn't killing Cain, he would still end up needing to piss sitting down.

Slowly, carefully, he hacked away at Cain until he was nothing but blood and organs and body parts strewn around the room. He finally stood up and stared at the lifeless eyes that had lost any and all light in them a long time ago.

Jason left the room and cleaned up in a pre-planned place. He left the clothes he'd used there, the knife sitting on top, and went back to Damian. He laid down on his bed under the covers.

"Is he gone?" Came the tiny whisper.

"He is," Jason replied.

"Good."

Jason would keep his brother away from what remained of Cain. It was extremely gory, even more so for a typical Gothamite to stand. Jason slept easily that night, knowing that his remaining family was safe from not only Willis, but Cain too.

Chapter Text

Wake up, something said, you need to wake up. Wake up! Come on, wake up! You're going to die! WAKE UP!

He shot up. A knife came for him. He grasped the hand holding it. It tried to push him, taking advantage of the fact that he'd just woken up. Panic filled his mind as his arm shook, knife too close to his face, to his eye. He jerked his head away as the knife came down.

It didn't hit his eye, but it did cut through the right side of his upper and lower lip. Blood spilled from the wound. Jason rolled away, pushing Damian back behind him. Damian handed him a knife of his own. Jason took it.

"You're the reason why that mission failed," his attacker hissed. Jason grit his teeth. He felt it when Damian slipped out, heading off to somewhere safe. Hopefully.

"For a good fuckin' reason," he snarled. He stood up and spat out the blood in his mouth. The iron tasting liquid filled his mouth still, but he stood there, blood staining his teeth and ice in his veins. He was scared. He hadn't been scared in a while. Not like this. Not since-

Joker-

He lunged at the attacker. It was pure instinct that stopped him from getting injured. At least, badly so.

His shoulder stung. Something warm ran down it. He'd been stabbed. Jason ducked down another swing and aimed for the throat. Some would say that it was playing dirty, but he'd say that it was doing what he had to in order to survive.

Blood sprayed from the wound. Jason stared down at them, chest heaving, blood dripping. Footsteps outside, and the door swung open.

"Jason," a voice called. He swayed. The adrenaline was wearing off now, which meant that his injuries hurt now. Shiva help his face in her hands. She brushed a finger over the blood still on his lip, clotting slowly. "You're hurt," she murmured. another set of hands pressed against the wound in his shoulder.

"Come, let's get you to the infirmary," Talia's cool voice said. The hands secured something to his injured shoulder, probably a bit of gauze. Shiva pressed some to his mouth.

He was led out of the room and to the infirmary, where he was forced onto a bed. He went easily, safe with Talia and Shiva there.

Talia examined and stitched up his shoulder while Damian patched up the wound on his mouth.

"You need to be careful when you eat while that heals," he said. Jason hummed. He knew what the protocol was, there. Alfred had told him about that when he'd been Robin and curious about how mouth wounds were treated.

It would scar, so would his shoulder. What was a couple more of them, though?

"Your shoulder isn't damaged beyond a deep cut," Talia explained. "I would have expected some sort of nerve damage." Jason's right hand – because his left shoulder had been stabbed – went up to touch the green necklace he had never taken off.

It… had saved him, he realized. The voice that forced him to wake up, it had to have been because of the necklace. It had woken him up, and it had stopped him from getting any nerve damage, effectively saving him from death. Just as Dawn had intended…

How many times had it saved him without him realizing it?

"It saved me," he murmured. He looked at his mother, whose eyes looked down at the green manaia that Dawn had gifted him months ago, now. A relief filled her eyes, and he realized that she'd been scared. Damian had probably ran to both of their mothers, telling them that someone was attacking him, and Shiva had probably been so scared of loosing him.

A mother's worst nightmare. Loosing a child that she loved so much that she'd leave them behind to keep them safe.

He wondered how many hours she had spent grieving him when she had thought him to be dead. How much guilt she felt for not being able to do more for him, for not being a good mother, for not visiting more often. How often, he wondered, had she blamed herself for what happened to him?

"So he'll be alright?" Shiva asked.

"He will," Talia reassured. Her voice was careful, understanding lining her words. She placed a hand on Shiva's shoulder, reassuring. "I'll take Damian for the rest of the night. You are to stay here, Jason, and get some rest. I'll have someone clean up the body and the room." Jason nodded. Talia and Damian left, leaving Jason and Shiva alone.

"Mother?" Jason asked. His voice was quiet, but it seemed to echo in the empty room. Shiva held his face in both of her hands and took a deep breath. She pressed their foreheads together.

"When Damian woke me to tell me that someone was attacking you, I thought… I couldn't loose you."

"I'm stronger now, Mother, you've made sure of that," Jason mumbled. He was tired. He needed to sleep. Shiva pressed a kiss to his head.

"That does not mean that I will never worry for you, Jason. You're my son, and I love you, even if I can't show it. A mother will always worry for her child, no matter how old they get, or how much they have grown." Jason hummed. "Get some sleep, Érzǐ. You need it."

"Stay with me?" He asked. He sounded young, far younger than he was. Like the child he hardly got to be, asking his mother for her comfort.

"Of course," she replied. She helped him lay down and covered him with the blanket. She didn't leave his side as he drifted off to sleep, safe with his mother.

_______________________________________

They sat with each other, watching their sons interact. They were outside, and Damian was talking to Jason about something. The eldest looked tired, his arm in a sling to prevent him from overusing it while the wound healed.

This was the reason why she had tried to keep her children far away from this life. Simply put, it wasn't safe. Not for her, not for them, and it never would be. Sandra was tense, after the attack on the boys. Jason had killed them, but he had been wounded. She tried not to think about what could have happened.

She tried to never think about what ifs. What if her sister had never been killed? What if David Cain had never forced her to be his wife simply so that he could use her womb to create a living weapon? What if she had been able to be a mother to her children, like she had always wanted?

What if Jason hadn't woken up in time? What if he hadn't been able to fight off his attackers?

"You are overthinking again, aren't you?" Talia asked. Sandra pulled herself out of her thoughts. Jason wasn't dead. Injured, yes, but apart from that, he was perfectly safe.

"Perhaps," she replied. Somewhere between Jason and Damian becoming brothers and now, they had grown closer. Perhaps it was simply because of the bond their sons had formed.

Or maybe it was because they both hated that their children had to grow up in such a hostile place like this.

"It is understandable, you know. I have been prone to overthinking when Damian is harmed myself, you know."

"One would think that the daughter of the Demon's Head would not overthink and worry so much over her child."

"The same could be said of you. Nearly everyone on the planet has heard whispers of you, and you have more enemies than I do. Jason is as at as much danger as Damian is." Sandra took a deep breath and looked over at the boys again. Jason was smiling softly, his body language the most open she had seen it. Damian, too. They were good for each other, those two.

"I don't think that I have ever really felt that much fear," she admitted. Talia turned to face her, but Sandra kept her gaze on her son. "I felt fear when I had to leave Cassandra with Cain, but he had never called her a bastard like he had with Jason. If anything, giving him my daughter to train forced him to be kinder, in some ways. It was more knowing that Jason has been upsetting the balance for some time, manipulating others to his will…"

"He has?" Talia asked.

"Yes. He's been saying that your father is loosing his mind, that the Light will drag the entire League into the ground. He claims that the Light just wants the League for their own selfish desires, and that you would be the better one to take over."

"He's been sabotaging the League of Assassins for some time," Talia murmured. The two of them went silent, watching as Jason carefully teased Damian about something.

It was stupid, and Talia feared for him. She was scared that her son was trying to play god despite the fact that Sandra had made him promise not to do so. He didn't seem to spend all of his time doing that, though. He was more focused on Damian, on protecting one of his only siblings here in Nanda Parbat. The rumors seemed to be the last thing on Jason's mind, most of the time.

In a way, Sandra admired her children. Cassandra had been forced to become a weapon, while Jason hadn't been. They were both so protective over others who were vulnerable, and their hearts were in the right place.

"I don't think I want Jason to stay any longer," Sandra whispered.

"I don't want Damian to stay here any longer, as well," Talia admitted. Both women looked at each other. There was an agreement, a determination.

A common goal both of them wanted.

_______________________________________

Something was happening. Jason knew it from watching Shiva and Talia interact. They were planning something. Something that had everything to do with him and Damian. He was curious, but neither of them would talk about it with him around.

So he had no choice but to focus on himself and his own training. His injuries healed over the course of the next couple of months, and once he was cleared for training, he threw himself back into it. He had to push himself to be better than he already was, to be faster and quieter and better at everything. Damian needed him to be better.

No one else tried to attack him at night again. He wasn't woken by the necklace again, and he was able to just… exist.

He kept track of the months. August crept up and before he knew it, it was the sixteenth.

There was no celebration. The League of Assassins didn't believe in celebrating birthdays. He knew it from Damian's birthday earlier that month. Instead, his mother had to test him. And she did. She fought him personally, and even without the stone cold determination he had felt when he'd first been tested, he lasted a while against her.

"You have improved a lot, Érzǐ. It's impressive." Jason steadied his breathing and grinned.

"I've been working hard," he replied. She smiled.

"You have," she agreed. She walked up to him and pulled him into a hug. "You are by far one of the strongest people I have trained, and I can not tell you how proud I am to call you my son." Jason hid his face in her shoulder. He had to bend down a fair bit now, since he'd shot up a bit more during his training. He didn't know how tall he was anymore, but he was a whole lot bigger than he had been when he disappeared.

"Thank you, Mom," he whispered. Shiva's hold tightened, then she pulled away.

"Come, I have a gift for you. It is your sixteenth birthday, after all." Jason tilted his head, curious, and followed his mother to her quarters. There she handed him a box that had a simple bow type thing on it, something simple that made Jason smile.

The box was a long rectangle, with a small bit of weight to it. Jason pulled off the lid. He gaped at what was inside.

Two swords, part of a pair. The grip was black, with squares of red showing through. The sheaths were red, too, the exact color of his Redwing suit, with bands of black metal. He picked one of them out of the box and pulled it out of the sheath. The blade was black and wickedly sharp, and Jason was in awe of it.

"This is…" He couldn't speak. What could he say, when his mother had given him something so beautiful and deadly? Something that felt perfect in his hands, too.

"The blade is made out of a special alloy that is hard to create," she said, "so only a few are able to apply for it." Jason looked up at her.

"Really?" She nodded. "Then… why me?"

"Because you are my son, and you deserve the best. This blade can easily cut through whatever you want to, Érzǐ, including bones if you so wanted to." Jason looked down at the blade.

A special blade that can cut through bone. How strong was it?

"Go test them out." Jason put the blade back into the sheath and put it on. He grabbed the other one, too, and then he ran to the training grounds.

Damian was there with Talia, holding a sword that was larger than him. It had been a gift from Talia for Damian's sixth birthday. It seemed to be a tradition here to gift people deadly weapons on their birthday.

Damian looked over at him, and his eyes lit up.

"Akhi! You have new swords, too," he said. He put away his own sword and clamored to see what Jason had received. He was more than happy to let his brother look at the blades on his back.

He let Damian hold them a little before he took them back and tried them out on some of the training dummies. The blades cut through them with ease, something that made Jason grin. His work would be easier, especially since he was beginning his planning. What would scare them the most?

He could think about that later. Right now he had to focus on what was happening around him, which was Damian learning how to handle the new sword he had and Jason getting used to how easily his own new swords cut through the training dummies.

Chapter Text

Jason watched as the warm weather gave way to slightly cooler weather. They lived in a mountain range with forest surrounding it, which mean that it could and would get colder as it went into winter.

Something was happening. Shiva and Talia were talking in whispers, glancing at Jason and Damian, and they holed themselves up in Talia's study. Their secrecy made Jason nervous. He didn't try to pry into it. His focus was Damian.

He found out what it was when Talia pulled him into her study while Shiva stayed with Damian, teaching him something that Jason had long ago learned on his own.

"Is this about the stuff you and my mother have been whispering about?" Jason asked. Talia stared out of her window at the training grounds where Shiva was putting Damian through his paces. Jason walked up and looked out at them as well.

"It is," she agreed. She turned to him, worry and fear in her body language, and Jason knew.

It was time.

_______________________________________

He didn't fall asleep. Months had passed since that conversation in Talia's office, and it was hot outside. The heat was helpful in keeping him awake, since it was the kind that made blankets too hot and sleeping without one was too cold, and there was no middle ground between the two.

Damian, at least, seemed to be sleeping peacefully. He wouldn't be asleep for long, though.

A whistle. Talia, telling him to get ready to move. He got up and changed.

"Damian," he whispered. He shook Damian awake. He looked up at Jason like a kitten that had been rudely woken from a good sleep. "C'mon, we've got to go." He ushered Damian, getting him dressed and ready.

He whistled back to Talia once they were ready. The second Robin's call, loud and clear as though he had never stopped using it. Talia whistled back, knowing the call because of Jason.

Maybe they'd figure out a bird call for Damian.

Jason would teach him the whistle Jason had used when he was in trouble as Robin. Just in case Damian was in danger and Jason wasn't around to protect him, but the others were. It'd save Damian.

Talia gave them the confirmation to move. Jason grabbed Damian's hand, tiny in his own but so trusting of Jason, and left the room.

He moved through the shadows, one hand on a knife, the other keeping Damian close. He moved through the halls to the place where there was a car waiting for them both. Jason knew what he was doing here.

There were guards patrolling. Jason nudged Damian onto his back, bags and swords moved to make it more comfortable. He was heavier than he had been when Jason had killed that Martinez guy. Jason didn't care. He'd carried people bigger than him at fourteen.

He watched the patrols, moving when it was clear for him to do so. It was easy. Almost too easy. He didn't like it when things were too easy. Disaster was imminent if it was easy. He wasn't going to say the q word, either, since that had always resulted in an Arkham breakout or something similar – either Joker, Scarecrow, or Poison Ivy decided to act when they said the q word, and jinxes were very much real.

Jason snuck over to the car he'd been told to go to and put Damian into the front passenger seat foot well. He'd be relatively safe there, hidden from sight but still where Jason could see him.

"Over there!" Someone called. Jason looked up from where he was creeping around the car. Assassins were making their way over to him. He looked towards the control panel for the car bay doors. Someone was heading over to it. Jason could see the button that opened the doors.

He flung the knife at it. It landed, lodging itself into the button and breaking it. He hurried to get into the car and started it. The doors opened. He floored it as soon as they were open enough. He could hear weapons hitting the car, arrows lodging into the roof of the car, but he didn't stop. He couldn't afford to stop.

He drove down the mountain to a nearby village where another car was waiting for them. The car he'd stolen from the League had an empty tank by then.

Talia had organized it perfectly.

Of course she would, if she was breaking her own kid out of a literal cult. Talia would never cut corners when it came to Damian and his safety.

Jason followed the exact path she'd told him about, Damian still hidden in the foot well on the passenger side. He wouldn't let Damian sit somewhere that someone could see him until they were truly safe.

He drove for hours, switching the cars at the places that Talia had told him to, the tanks getting them only as far as their next pit stop.

After the third time that the sun had set, they found themselves at a safehouse that belonged to Shiva. Jason grabbed Damian and their bags and went inside first.

It was a cottage, with only the basics. A living room and kitchen with a table, a bathroom, and a bedroom. Jason went through all of the rooms before he cleared them, and Damian immediately went to the bathroom. They'd been using gas station bathrooms to do their business, but Jason assumed that Damian wanted a shower at least.

Jason understood the sentiment.

He went to the kitchen to look through the cabinets. There was a lot of canned food, non-perishables that he was used to seeing, to eating himself. You ate what you could get on the streets, even if it wasn't very pleasant.

He stared at the contents in the cupboard. He spotted some naan, pre-made and ready to heat up. He got an idea then. He grabbed the naan, some chickpeas, some rice, and some sauce.

By the time Damian had deemed himself ready to come out of the bathroom, Jason was dishing up some vegan butter chicken made with chickpeas. He handed it to Damian, who looked happy to see that there was no meat in it – as if meat wouldn't go bad if it was left alone for a while.

They ate in silence, then Jason washed the dishes and went to shower.

The water felt good on his skin. He had never liked being dirty, often hated it actually, so he would always clean up where he could when he could.

That was luxury right now, though. There wouldn't be other safe houses like this for a while.

He didn't stay for long, only cleaning his skin and hair before he got out and dried off to go to sleep. Damian was already under the covers when Jason entered, as far away from the door and window as he could get. Jason climbed in next to him. Damian turned towards him when he did, instinct telling him that he was safe even when he was asleep. Jason pulled Damian closer and curled around his little brother, just as Cass used to curl around him when they were tiny and always in danger of Willis' anger.

Sleep found him easily that night.

_______________________________________

Jason woke up to the sun streaming into the room and Damian fast asleep next to him, still curled into his body and drooling a little. Jason rubbed his eyes and got up.

There was a lot to do, and little time to do it. They'd traveled for days, and while the break from that was nice, there was nothing else to do but to continue running until they got back to Gotham. Jason needed a plan, because Talia had gotten as far as getting them both fake IDs and passports to get them to another country.

Ra's would know that they would try running to Gotham. Bruce scared the old man just as much as he impressed him, and Jason knew that Ra's was no fool – he knew that Jason Woosan was actually Jason Todd-Wayne, the second Robin. He knew that Jason would run back home to where it was safest.

The manor wouldn't be safe for either of them for a little while. Not until Ra's decided that he'd just try again. But how long would that take? When would Ra's decide that another heir would be fine? Who would his next target be? Tim? Fuck, Jason hoped not.

He needed somewhere safe, where no one would find him unless he wanted to be found…

Oh.

He already had a place to go.

She'd be more than happy to take them in.

They still needed to loose the assassins on their tail though.

"Looks like we're going to be severely jet-lagged, then," he murmured. He went to check his supplies. They hadn't looked at them too much except to change into the civilian clothes that Talia had packed for them and the rations she had given them to get them through until they were relatively safe.

Passports and IDs that Jason had known about before he'd even learned where the bags would be kept. And a note, for the airlines they would go to. Bribes to get their weapons through customs. Jason looked at the passports.

The first one was his. His photo, with a white streak, and his alias. Jamie… White… The fuck? Jamie White? Four of those letters were found in his actual name! Or five, if you included Todd in his myriad of last names.

What a name. Jason Peter Todd Woosan Wayne. A mouthful, for one.

He looked at Damian's passport. Daniel White. Jamie White's younger half brother. Jason's ethnicity was Mexican and Chinese on his papers, while Damian's ethnicity was Arabic and Chinese – that was enough to make them half brothers, as far as the law was concerned. One of their parents was Chinese.

"Akhi?"

"Morning, Dames," he responded. Jason started to separate everything, cataloging everything they had for this journey.

"What's the plan now?"

"We're on our own, though Talia has prepared IDs and cash to get us to Gotham."

"So we're going to go and see Baba?" Jason didn't know when Bruce had gone bring Father to Baba for Damian. Perhaps it was because of the stories of Bruce being human that had made the switch in Damian's brain, a kind of recognition that Bruce was not just someone whose DNA had help to create him. Jason was glad for it. Hearing someone call his dad father was just wrong.

"Not yet, Dames. It'll be dangerous. I'd rather live in the same city as him for a while until I know that Ra's won't look at Dad to see where you are than to risk anything crazy." He was also scared that Bruce would reject the both of them, but that was stupid.

Bruce would never reject a child in need, it just wasn't who he was. He hadn't rejected Jason when they first met in that alleyway where Jason was working on taking the third tire. He hadn't rejected Cass, even though Shiva was her mother. He wouldn't reject his missing child, or the child he had never known about.

But Jason still worried about it.

He lived with it every day of his life.

He forced those thoughts away.

"The first thing we've got to do is get the League off of our tails. If we stick to busy places then we should be alright. None of them want to risk governments finding out about them, for one. We'll zig-zag around the world. Singapore, South Korea, Germany, Britain, France. We won't stay in one place for too long, just long enough to rest, then we'll head to Gotham and stay there for a while. I'll teach you a call though, one that is particular to me, and you can only use it in Gotham when you're in danger and I'm not around."

"Why? The call, I mean. Why should I only use it if I'm in danger in Gotham?" Damian asked.

"Because it's particular to me, for one. For another, it'll get Dad's attention. He'll run towards the sound on instinct, call out to you to try and locate you. I'll teach you what that one sounds like, so that you can respond. Once you're in Dad's care, you can come up with your own bird call."

"So… you use bird calls to locate each other in the city," Damian guessed.

"We do. It's used to organize attacks and locate each other without people outside of our family knowing what we're saying. Dad uses a bat call, though, like a mother bat looking for her baby." Damian smiled a little at the comparison.

"Alright. I'll trust you, Akhi."

"I know you will." Damian had only really trusted three people in the League of Assassins, and that was Talia, Jason and Shiva, who had only really gained Damian's trust because Jason trusted his mother. Jason only trusted Talia because Damian trusted her.

Jason packed up and got Damian out of the door as quickly as he could after that. He drove them to the nearest airport and got them on the next plane to Singapore, which was due to leave in two hours.

Getting through security was easy, even with their weapons. A note from Talia to the officials proved that they were some of her people. That was, if their reaction to Damian wasn't enough of an indication.

Talia wouldn't have risked the airport if some of her followers weren't there.

Once they were through, Jason led Damian to a rest area near their gate to wait. Damian looked around, a little wide-eyed. Jason watched him, then sat down and pulled Damian onto his lap. His brother relaxed once he was wrapped up in Jason's arms, a sigh escaping him. Jason rested his head on top of Damian's and watched the world around them. There was a security guard nearby who was watching as well. He caught Jason's eye and tilted his head.

The assassins who followed Talia and not Ra's were actually very respectful towards him so far. Maybe it was because Talia worked with his mother, or because Jason was Damian's bodyguard and brother which warranted a little bit of respect for him because of how dangerous it was. Jason didn't know.

Anxiety curled in his chest, settling there like a snake coiling, getting ready to strike. Its venom became adrenaline, preparing him to run. For the rest of their wait, Jason sat there, arms braced around Damian and ready to grab him and run. He knew the basics of flying a plane. He could probably steal a small one and fly them out of here if they needed to.

Their flight was called. Jason gathered everything they had and needed, including Damian, and went to their gate to board their plane.

The flight was uneventful, and Jason got the most sleep he had gotten in a while. He'd slept for the rest of the night before, but it was hardly enough. This time, he only woke up to eat, go to the bathroom, and check up on Damian, who was also out cold, though he'd been allowed to sleep whenever he felt when they were in the car.

They landed in Singapore's largest airport, and Jason immediately went to book their next flight. In four hours. Which left them with a bit of time to explore a bit of the airport, which was a tourist attraction in of itself.

Their next stop was France, then they went to South Korea, then Britain, China, Germany, Australia because why not? They had to go all over the place to try and loose whatever assassins came after them.

They stayed in New Zealand for a while longer. A couple of days in a motel in Christchurch near a mall. It was a small one, only one floor. Dawn had told him about it. They were staying in Papanui, near Northlands mall. He had heard her talking to someone on the phone once, saying that Pak'n'save was the cheapest, and they had to get their food from there because of it. And no, Four Square was not cheap, nor did it have as much range as Pak'n'save, or New World, or Countdown.

The prices of fruits and vegetables was astounding, and Jason did buy a block of that chocolate Dawn had raved about a few times. Whittakers creamy milk chocolate. He liked it. It was so much less sweet than what he could get in America.

Damian shivered a lot, which Jason guessed was fair. It was New Zealand, and while the northern hemisphere was entering summer, the southern hemisphere was entering winter. Jason found a store that sold some very good jackets, and he didn't hesitate to spend about 300 dollars on a good puffer jacket and a fleece shirt to keep him warmer.

Jason bought himself a jacket and shirt too. They were nice and warm against the bitter wind found in New Zealand.

They were there for a few days before they got on another plane and headed to Canada. Then they got onto a plane to California.

Jason was still jumpy. Their journey had been far too smooth so far, and that was always a bad sign. He was ready to fight at a moment's notice.

He hadn't expected it to happen when they were on a sleeper train going from California to halfway through the country.

They were in their compartment when the train stopped without a reason.

"What's happening?" Damian asked. Jason frowned. He knew that the train sometimes did that, randomly stopping, but his gut told him that this was more than that.

"Grab your bag," he said. Damian didn't question it, just grabbed his bag. Jason grabbed his own bag. A flash outside had him dragging Damian to the ground.

"What is it?" Damian asked.

"They've found us," Jason whispered. A bang and screams confirmed Jason's worst nightmares. He glanced outside again. There were assassins getting onto the train further up, and cars. Jason started to crawl out of the train. He knew that they would go from the front and back and work towards the middle, where their compartment was. He watched, and when it was clear, they hurried to a car.

There was one guard that was easy to kill, blood pouring from his neck. Damian hid in the foot well again. Jason searched for a tracker and destroyed it, then got into the driver's seat. He hot wired the car and floored it.

There was shouting from the assassins. Jason ignored them and the blood drying on his hand as he got them away. Far, far away from where the assassins were. He looked into the rear view mirror and swore violently. His accent came out for the first time in a while – it often did, if he swore a lot or was angry. Living in Gotham's high society had him learning how to speak in a neutral accent years ago.

He drove away from the train, making sure to go off the roads and through the wilderness. Ivy would be mad that he was destroying the foliage. He kind of wished that she was there, or at least another Rogue that could be helpful here. Hell, he'd be happy to see Harley Quinn again, even if her laughter might be a trigger.

He drove for hours through the wilderness until he got to a town. It was dark when they got there, and their tank was nearly empty. Jason didn't want to stop though, he couldn't.

So he opted for stocking up on supplies before they began to run on foot. It was dark, and they couldn't see, and they stumbled, and they were tired, but they had to move. Jason couldn't risk them being stuck like this. He wouldn't let them take his baby brother from him.

Kill to protect. The words repeated themselves in his head as he ran, his hand holding onto Damian's hand as they went. Kill to protect. Do whatever was necessary for survival. Lessons he had learned as early as five came flooding back to him in full force, forcing him to move, to keep moving. It was nothing but pure instinct that kept him going now.

"Akhi," Damian gasped. Jason stopped and looked down at Damian.

"What is it?" He asked gently, quietly. It still sounded too loud in the open space around them.

"I'm tired, and hungry, and I-" Damian sniffled. Jason picked him up. "I want Mama." Damian pressed his face into Jason's shoulder and sniffled again, trying to keep the tears at bay. Jason felt so bad.

This whole thing was stressful for the both of them. Not only that, but they were in a country that Damian didn't recognize or know much about beyond what his lessons had taught him. They were also in the middle of nowhere in said country, and they had to go east. It wasn't easy to tell if they were going east right now.

Jason carried on walking, searching for somewhere to rest. He found a cave, though he hardly trusted it. He lit a match and stuck it inside, Damian resting on his left hip. He moved it up and down and side to side, waiting for it to go out. It didn't. Not until he shook it when the flame got too close to his fingers.

The night was cold, and Jason had never been more glad to have gone to New Zealand. They bundled up in their fleece and used their jackets and bags to keep away the cold. Jason fed Damian and drank a bit of water. He was used to hunger, but he wouldn't let Damian become acquainted with it as well.

Damian fell asleep. Jason slipped in and out of sleep through the night, checking for threats when he was awake and sleeping with a knife next to him. When the dawn came, Jason woke Damian. They ate, and gathered their things. Their fleeces and jackets went away, and they started their journey, walking towards the rising sun. They'd been pretty on track the night before.

They trekked through the wilderness, pausing a few times to eat something and drink.

"Akhi, you should eat too," Damian said once, when Jason didn't eat anything.

"I'm not hungry," he lied with a small smile. It was the exact same one that Catherine had used multiple times, before the drugs started to drain the life from her body. It the same lie that all people who couldn't afford food used.

In this situation, they couldn't afford to run out. Who knew when the next town was going to appear?

They walked like that for a long time. They walked during the day, and during the night they hid in caves and crevices, wearing their warmest clothes to keep as much heat as they possibly could. Damian didn't like it. That much Jason could see. Jason was far too used to having to fight to survive, to sleeping in whatever space he could find that was as safe as it could get, to having to go a while without food and water.

He kept track of the days. On the fifth day of this, when they were nearly out of supplies and Damian had clocked that Jason was refusing to eat so that Damian could eat, they stumbled into a town. Jason found the nearest hotel and booked a room. The lady at the front desk must have given them a discount, when she saw just how tired and dirty they were.

Jason did a sweep of the room and then collapsed onto the bed.

"Go shower," he told Damian. The kid didn't have to be told twice. He ran to the bathroom and locked the door behind him. Jason heard the water turn on moments later, and his shoulders slumped. He pressed his hands to his face and took a few breaths.

He couldn't break down yet. Not when Damian needed him to be strong.

He could, however, break down in the shower for a little while before he fell asleep. And he needed to eat, because those hunger pangs were getting painful. Like, stomach-is-about-to-eat-itself levels of painful.

He looked at their rations. They'd need more food and water, and a good amount of rest. Unfortunately, Jason didn't think that he'd sleep properly until he got home to Gotham and he knew that they were safe.

He unwrapped a granola bar and started to slowly eat. It was a little dry, but he didn't care at this point. He could get a proper meal after he slept for ten hours, he decided. Right now, he needed to eat, shower, sleep, and then he'd start planning what to do from here.

What did he do, here? He'd have to ask the lady at the front desk about food and where they were, as well as how to get to Gotham from here. She'd probably think him to be insane. Though only a Gothamite truly understood how bad the city was. He needed to find some sort of transport though, because walking was not getting them anywhere quick enough.

He took a deep breath, then finished his granola bar and drank a bit of water before starting on another granola bar.

He really wanted Bruce to be there right now, to help him through his problems, to protect him and Damian and to hug Jason and tell him that he did good. He wished that Dawn was there, missing her protective and soothing presence that was as warm as the sun on a pleasant day. He missed his brother and sister, how they were both protective over him, even though Cass was only older than him by 25 minutes. He really, really missed Alfred and his steady and quiet presence, how he always knew what one of them needed. How he was calm under pressure and was not afraid to shoot someone.

He missed his family.

When had Dawn become a part of his family? He didn't even know. She'd shown up, brought him back to his own world, and she'd stayed. Why had she stayed? Why did he trust her so much, even though they had only met about a year ago?

A year ago…

Jason wondered how his friends in the other world were doing. How Eri was doing. What effect did him killing Shigaraki have on that world? Dawn probably knew.

He just… really wanted to be somewhere that he knew was safe. Where Damian would be safe.

The water shut off. Jason finished his food and drank some more water. When Damian came out, hair damp and in clean clothes, Jason got up and grabbed some of his own, then went to shower himself.

He didn't bother stopping the tears once he was under the spray of the shower. He stayed quiet though, something he'd also learned from his time on the streets.

When he'd calmed down, he grabbed the complementary shampoo and started on his hair. Dirt and grime and sweat from the last few days washed down the drain as he scrubbed it away. He felt much better when he stepped out of the shower. He stared at himself in the mirror. Bags had formed under his eyes from the sleepless nights, from never truly falling into a deep sleep while he was running. He looked a little thinner from days of running and not eating enough, but he couldn't be sure. His eyes were duller and a little lifeless, so much like they were when he had been young, before Bruce extended his care to him. Some of his scars were faded and stretched with time and age, but the one Joker had left him was just as prominent as the mental scars Jason had gotten away with.

He steadied himself, closing his eyes and taking a few deep breaths before he pushed himself away from the mirror and started to get dressed. He dried off his hair, the black dye in the white streak gone now. He found that he didn't care about it. He was actually a little fond of it now.

As soon as he was dressed, he went to the main room where Damian was out cold. Jason joined him, flopping onto the mattress and blacking out as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Chapter Text

Jason was the first to wake up. The sun was bright, and he was getting hungry, and he felt like shit. He took a few moments to let himself feel the emotions that seemed to sit in his stomach, then he packed them away and got up to start planning the rest of their journey.

They needed to wash their clothes, and get more food and figure out a way out of here. There was so much, and he felt as though there wasn't enough time. Anxiety had created a home inside of him, paranoia stuck close to him.

Deep breaths, he reminded himself. He breathed in and out, over and over until he was calmer. The anxiety receded a little, still there but not as prominent.

He needed a plan. So far, his plan had been survive, not anything else. Survive each day, move as often as possible to ensure that survival. That was how it had been on Gotham's streets. He'd never expected his old survival instincts to be used to keep a sibling alive. It was stressful, and Jason could understand why most older kids preferred to turn to people like Penguin or Black Mask to try and stay alive rather than steal shit from the streets. It wasn't a very practical way to survive.

As Jason had proven though, he was a stubborn motherfucker, and Damian was similar to Bruce, who was also a stubborn motherfucker. Jason couldn't even attempt to count how many times Bruce had tried to go out until Alfred raised his eyebrow.

He slipped out of the bed and went over to their bags. Carefully, he pulled everything out of the bags. He sorted through it and counted the money that they had left. He grabbed a pad and a pen that he found in a drawer and started to make a list. They didn't have a whole lot of money left, but they did have cash from foreign countries. If he could find somewhere to exchange that for American cash… they'd have to be careful with where they exchanged it, though.

Damian woke up while he worked, and just… watched him.

"What will we do now?" Damian eventually asked.

"We'll have to be careful with our money, but we should have enough to restock on food and get our clothes cleaned, as well as pay for the room." Damian walked over to him.

"What about the rest of it?"

"We can exchange the money from other countries at places that'll do that. We'll have to go to different places in different cities, spread out as much as possible, but other than that, we should be alright." They went quiet for a while.

"What if they find us before we reach Gotham?" Damian asked quietly. Jason bit the side of his mouth.

"We fight like hell and get out of there," he said. He thought about the zeta tubes.

There were zeta tubes in every city, every town. There were the main ones that were used frequently, often coming with a zeta cache to store gear just in case. Jason knew how to hack into the zetas. He knew how to add people without anyone finding out except for maybe Babs. He'd have to add Damian, teach him the Robin call that Jason had learned when he first became Robin. He had to plan for the worst.

Jason gathered their things, packing them away carefully. Then he stood up, clean clothes in hand, and went to get dressed. Damian followed his lead and changed into cleaner clothes.

Then they left the motel room they were staying in, the pad of paper and the pen in Jason's pocket, and moved through the town.

Jason dragged Damian to the laundromat. There was nothing to do there, which meant that Damian got bored. Jason ended up giving him the remaining paper and the pen to draw, while he silently recited Hamlet in his head while their clothes were washed and dried.

He took the time after they were dry to go through and fold everything into their respective bags. Damian helped, putting his clothes into his bag when Jason handed them over.

Then they went to the nearest supermarket. Immediately, Jason knew that he needed to be careful here.

"What is taking you so long?" Damian asked. Jason compared the prices of two products that were the exact same thing.

"We've got to be careful here. If we spend too much money, then we won't have enough to get us through until we can get more." He chose one of the products and put it the cart. Damian was also sitting in the cart, surveying everything Jason put in.

"What do you normally look for when you are buying food?" He asked.

"I look for whatever's cheapest and offers the most nutrition," Jason replied. Damian hummed. Jason grabbed a product that he knew was good for living without a home. A thought crossed his mind.

Would a foodbank somewhere out here let two homeless kids get food? He sure as hell hoped so. Jason could easily say that they had a mom that was hooked on drugs, something that would be believable.

Jason never thought that he'd be homeless again after Bruce took him in.

Whatever. He survived the first time alone on the streets, he'd survive this.

Jason added some cheap soap and some gum into the cart, then went to the checkout. The person who scanned their items looked like they didn't want to be there, but they were because they needed money for college. There was no talking except to give Jason their total, and then they were off, back to their temporary accommodation.

He started to open boxes and separating everything. Damian didn't question it. He understood what Jason was doing all too well.

Beef jerky for Jason, and a lot of dried fruit strips for Damian. Muesli bars and freeze dried camping food. Fruit snacks and electrolyte drinks, and everything else that they would need while walking.

"We'll stay here one more night, then head to the nearest city. There's a bus station nearby that travels to the nearest city over a couple of days and nights. We'll work from there." Damian nodded.

They spent the rest of the day resting, and they fell asleep when the sun started going down.

They didn't stay long after they woke up the next day. They paid for their stay and headed to the station to get on a bus. Damian sat next to the window near the back, Jason next to the aisle. No one bothered them, though a pudgy old guy eyed them with an intention he recognized from similar men in Gotham. The idea of what the man could be planning for them made him sick to his stomach.

He hid away his emotions, packing them away so that he could focus on what was important.

They were able to get to the city with no complications. It just made Jason suspicious about what could happen.

He, rather unfortunately, got his answer when the guy from on the bus tried to intercept them. Jason stared at the man.

"Why don't you two come with me, eh?" He leered. Jason looked down at Damian, then up at the guy. He pulled out a gun. How had no one noticed that?

"Only if I choose where we go," Jason said. That gun would be incredibly handy to him.

"Sure thing." Jason led the guy through to an alley that was empty and had no cameras. He kept himself between the man and Damian. "Shall we begin?"

Jason pushed Damian to hide in the shadows near the trash and turned to the man. He was approaching Jason.

It was a damned good thing that Jason was who he was. He punched the guy in the face. He tried to pull out the gun. Jason let him, but he quickly disarmed the man and checked for bullets. There were enough. He smirked and held the gun up to the guy's head.

"Mine, now," he teased. He pulled the trigger.

The sound was loud, and the blood splatter was familiar in how it landed across the walls. The smell of gunpowder was just as familiar to him as the sound of the gun. Jason clicked the safety on and pocketed it.

"Damian, come on," he said. He could hear the sirens. Someone had heard the gunshot, there was no way they hadn't. Damian took his hand, and Jason picked him up and ran through the city. He found a needle on the ground. He looked around. Saw another. If he followed those needles, they would end up in the worst part of the city. If they were in the worst part of the city, then they would blend in with the homeless and they wouldn't be found. It was dangerous, but they were dangerous.

They could also steal a shit car if they wanted to. He did want to. A car would mean that they would be able to get to Gotham faster. Going to the worst part of the city raised the risk of homelessness, of being stuck. There was the risk of being captured, of being trafficked. So many risks that always came with being homeless.

Jason knew them all like he knew Hamlet. It wasn't something to be proud of, but what choice did he have here?

He made his way to the worst part of the city. Buildings became dilapidated. There were more high people, more drunk people, children who were thin and hungry. Jason could see the glares.

"Akhi?" Damian asked.

"Yeah?"

"Why are we here?"

"Because it's technically safer for us. I know how to survive in this place. Trust me, Gotham has it worse."

"Oi! Give us your money!" The kid had a knife.

"Sorry, can't do that. We're in the same position as you." The kid sneered.

"Are you really? With those clothes and shit?"

"What d' you know, kid?" Jason snarled in his Crime Alley accent. "I'm a Gothamite, born and bred. I've taken lives. I know what you're going through, kid, I know that hunger, but I ain't giving you my money."

"You're a Gothamite?" The kid asked.

"Yeah, I am," Jason confirmed. The kid lowered his weapon.

"We're planning a stint. Major one, gonna get us a lot of money. We could use your help if you won't give me your money." Jason tilted his head, thinking.

"I'll need more information on it. If I don't want to do it, then I won't. Got it?"

"Sure. Come on, you gotta meet the boss." Jason nodded.

"Explain what you're doing, Akhi."

"These people are asking for help. I've already crossed the line of murder, and I've been a criminal for most of my life. I know how these kinds of people work."

"You're going to help them steal?"

"We're assassins," Jason hissed into Damian's ear. "We have both done worse than steal, and on the streets, this is the only way to survive for so many." Damian's eyes went wide.

"Really?"

"Yes. It is how I am here now. At least, it is a part of it. I would have never survived if Dad had not picked me up, but honestly? Stealing was my life line. If I can help these people get the money they need to survive, then I will do it." Damian was silent, and Jason could see the realization in his eyes. He looked around. He looked at the people who were milling about. Some were drunk, others were high, some were both. Some kids were wearing skimpy clothes and flirting with older men, and it was all things that Jason had seen before. They were new to Damian.

Jason simply followed the kid.

"Can I get a name for you? I'm calling you kid in my head, I don't wanna do that." The kid turned back to Jason.

"Call me Thread," the kid said.

"Thread?" Damian whispered.

"Just a random name that he's using. It's a way for kids to protect themselves. Makes it harder for people to track them if they're using a fake name," Jason explained.

"His first time?" Thread asked.

"Yep. Half-brothers, Dad slept around a lot, got drunk a lot. His granddad on his mom's side is crazy. I took him when I left to protect him."

"You brought him to a bad place."

"Just a pit stop on our way home. I was taken in by this guy when I was a kid. He helped me, see, became my real dad."

"Hoping that he'll take you back?" Thread asked. He led them through an alley to a building. He started up the fire escape. Jason moved Damian to his back and started up.

"He'll take the kid, but I'm not sure about me. He doesn't like it when people kill others."

"That's odd for a Gothamite."

"His parents were killed when he was young, made him hate murder."

"And you killed someone?"

"Multiple people. All of them to protect people I care about."

"Could definitely use someone like you." Thread climbed in through a window. Jason followed. "Hey, guys! I brought a guy who can help us out."

"Goddammit, Thread, we told you not to bring anyone in!" A voice said. Jason looked around. It was a shitty apartment, with a stained couch, dirty mattresses, and a table filled with scrap paper.

"He's a Gothamite," Thread said.

"A Gothamite?" A girl said. She walked out from the shadows. Her hair was short, her face a little dirty, and she wore ratty clothes. She eyed Jason and Damian with distrust.

"I've been stealing since I was four. I have killed people to protect what I love. I think that I know what I'm doing." He walked over to the table and the plans. He looked through them. He raised an eyebrow. "You're going to steal money from a rich guy?" Jason had to smile at that. "Gutsy."

"What do you think you're doing?" Another person asked. They looked rough, like they were going to try to kill him at any moment.

"Looking at your plans. There are a lot of flaws. They'll have security, maybe a pet."

"What are we doing in case of a pet? Kill it?"

"No!" Damian gasped.

"I can go in with Daniel to see if they'd like a pet walking service. Gain their trust if they do. Offer pet sitting, actually. I can get into their systems if they agree to a pet sitter. Scout the place out, figure what systems they use."

"Shit, I think he does know what he's doing."

"He's smart," Damian said.

"What's your name?"

"Jamie," he replied. The lie came easily. He'd lied about his name so often in his life. Jason Todd, Jason Woosan, Jamie White. Whatever name he used, he didn't care.

"And the kid's Daniel."

"Yup. You know, no one suspects a kid who loves animals to be helping in a robbery. If I can get in with him, I can gather intel and we can plan better with that." He pulled the target's picture out of the pile. "Marie Summerfield, fifty years old. Got rich off of health and beauty scams, from what I can remember. She's definitely the type to have a little white dog or something."

"You know her?"

"My real dad – that is, the one who took me in – he liked to keep up with the richer parts of the population. If they were dirty, then he'd be able to take them down. Detective." The others nodded.

Well, Thread and the girl did. He didn't think that the guy liked him.

"Listen, this is my operation! You can't just barge in on it like this!" The guy said. Jason raised an eyebrow.

"This is your boss?" He asked.

"Yeah, he is. Theo, he can help!"

"Like hell he can!" Theo snapped. Jason watched him carefully. "Whose side are you on? Mine or his?" They all stood there, watching, waiting. Jason kept his body language calm, casual.

"I've snuck in and out of places before. I've stolen and killed to survive, and I am from Gotham. Your plan here? Has so many flaws that you'll all be caught. I'm trying to do you a favor by lending you my skills for literally nothing."

"Dude, you're out of touch here. Just… let the guy help us." Theo looked between them all.

"No. I'm done. You're all on your own here. In fact, I'll prove that my plans are better than yours!" Theo left through the window. They all watched him.

"Is he normally like that?" Jason asked.

"Unfortunately. Name's Allison, by the way."

"We're going to need a new leader if we want to survive," Thread mumbled.

"I vote the new guy. He seems to know a lot of stuff, and after Theo? We need a smart guy after that disaster."

"What do you say, new guy?" Thread asked. Jason thought about it, weighed his options.

Having these people on his side when he went back to Gotham and started to carry out his plan could be the worst disaster ever. The assassins after him and Damian might kill them both. On the other hand, they needed money, and Jason could offer them a new life and good jobs…

"Sure," he said. The other two smiled at each other.

"What's the first order of business, boss?" Allison asked.

"We're changing our target. If Theo wants to prove himself, then he might target her, and I don't want us to get caught up in that. We'll find another, get some sort of cleaning job with another, richer person. Cleaning means more access, richer person means that there are things that they won't truly care about going missing," Jason started.

"There's one person we can target that's like that. Brooke Hobbs, an influencer that's gotten real famous. She's been invited to Wayne Galas the last few years. Rumors says that she tried to seduce the eldest Wayne kid, but he freaked the first time. He got a restraining order against her." Jason hummed.

"I need pictures, all socials, what she talks about, and an estimation of how much money she makes. Do we know where she lives?"

"She's not quiet about her location," Thread offered. Jason smirked.

"Let's get started."

Chapter Text

His mind was constantly against him, now. Maybe it was because he wasn't in constant danger, though danger did still lurk around the corners. Maybe it was because he had been here for nearly a week now, and his body wasn't registering the fact that there was still danger.

But he drifted more, now. When he wasn't planning or working to keep himself and his friends fed, when he wasn't too focused on Damian, his mind took that as permission to disconnect from the world. He had a few more nightmares, but he managed to not wake up anyone else. He was sure that Thread and Allison could see it too. Neither of them made any comments about how sometimes he'd mentally check out, or how sometimes he jumped more than normal. Damian chalked it up to paranoia, something that Jason had told him was normal for their family.

He hated it.

But what could he do?

It was another sleepless night for him. He sat at the window that doubled as their door, staring out at the city and trying to push away the homesick feeling.

The city was different to Gotham. While there were sirens and the faint sounds of cars in the distance, there were no gunshots. No gunshots, no chirps or whistles. There was no shouting from the alleyway. There was nothing that Jason was used to.

He turned his face away from the window, eyes closed.

"Hey, Boss. Is something wrong?"

"Thread. Uh, no. Nothing's wrong." Thread huffed.

"That's a lie if I've ever one. You can talk to me if you wanna." Jason went back to staring out the window.

"The city's different to home," Jason murmured. Thread sat with him, listening. "There's just sirens and cars. In Gotham, there's at least one. or two gun fights each night. Crime bosses shooting each other, their gangs fighting, all seeking territory. There's scuffles in alleyways, kids running around and hiding and doing whatever it takes to survive. There's a lot of people that turn to prostitution just to survive, and crime is a way that people survive."

"It sounds like a shit city. Why do you want to go back?"

"Because it's home," Jason whispered. "It's where I was born and raised. I know that city like I know myself. It's shit, but I can do something."

"What is there to be done? Are you going to build a criminal empire? Or are you going to do something else? You know that city better than I do, sure, but is it really worth it? With all of the people that run around with gasses and venoms and shit? I don't mean to offend you or anything, but sometimes I hear about the horror stories from that place, and I wonder why anyone tries. It seems like it's useless."

"Tell me why. Don't worry, I won't judge you for it. I'm just… curious… about what you think about it." Thread eyed him, wary of his words. Then they sighed and looked out at the city.

"From what you've said, it's a ruthless cycle. There's a clear divide between the rich and the poor in that city. The rich take from the poor because they're greedy, that's a universal truth. Then the poor are left to survive. The poorest of us on a good day can't afford proper education or healthcare. There's rape, the inability to get an abortion, and then a kid is born into a family that can hardly keep them alive. If they don't die, then they don't go to school, and they end up committing crimes just to survive. Then there's the addictions that happen because they want something to make them feel like it's all worth it, and how many people get rich off of drugs? Off of the overdoses that could have been prevented? My family's dead because of that."

"It is a ruthless cycle," Jason agreed. He turned to face Thread. "I get that. Rich people don't care about us, the government doesn't care about us. But I do. I care about us. So I'll break the law. I'll take control of drugs, and human trafficking, and the weapons. I'll take control of all of it in Crime Alley, the area I grew up in, and I will give the kids a chance. I will give them clothes, food, shelter, and an education that will get them out. Because I was one of them, and I was given a chance. I won't let people exploit others. I'm tired of it, so I'm going to change it." Thread looked at him, seeing him in a new light. He laughed, a little breathless.

"I knew you were an odd one when you didn't freak out about the weapon in your face. You said that you're a Gothamite, and I thought you could help us."

"Why did you bring me here? Even though you tried to rob me?"

"Because I knew that Theo was on a suicide mission. He's never cared about the tiniest details, and when I met you, a Gothamite? The sole fact that you're a Gothamite told me that you're not one to take something like this, like survival, lightly. I was desperate to find someone who would prove Theo wrong."

"And I'm the one you picked for the sole fact that I'm from the worst city in America," Jason mused.

"It seems like I was just using you to get back at Theo, but you've been here a week, and you've been doing more than Theo ever did, and I know that I did the right thing. You're just as determined to survive as Allison and I are." Jason smiled and looked back out at the city.

Something moved across the rooftop.

Jason froze.

"Boss?"

"Okay, so, there's this assassin group after Daniel and I."

"Assassin group? What?"

"My mother's Lady Shiva," Jason told him.

"The fuck?"

"And Daniel's the heir of the assassin group. His mom got me to take him to our dad."

"Why are you saying this?" Thread asked. Jason slipped away from his perch and went to his bag. He grabbed his Redwing suit – Dawn had enchanted his bag to have more space and be light no matter how full it was. He was thankful for it now, because he'd been able to fit his entire suit and his swords in it.

He slipped away to change, then went to Damian.

"Habibi," he whispered. Thread was violently shaking Allison.

"What?" Allison snapped.

"Our boss is an assassin and his brother is the heir of a deadly assassin group apparently."

"What?"

"Akhi?"

"Be prepared to run. Thread, Allison, if anything happens to me, take him to Gotham for me and find Batman."

"What are you doing?" Allison asked.

"Taking care of the trash." Jason finished suiting up, his swords where his escrima sticks used to be. He slipped out of the window and into the night.

He ran through the city, leading the assassins away from the hideout. He knew that his friends were probably packing up the hideout and planning to move to somewhere else. Their robbery plans were probably going to be for nothing.

He dodged a knife and ducked under a sword.

"Give us the prince," the assassin demanded. Jason was surrounded now. He drew his swords and stayed crouched.

"You do know that I was told to take him by his mother, right?"

"His mother has been disgraced," the assassin told him. Of course the leader was the one talking. Jason rolled his eyes. He blocked a blow and stabbed one of the assassins. He pulled his sword out while pushing them backwards.

He jumped up over the cluster of assassins that lunged at him, a trick he'd learned from Dick years ago and the first one he had mastered as Robin. A way to get out of harm's way quickly and efficiently. Jason landed easily and ran to the edge of the building. He jumped off, twisting in mid-air and landing on a fire escape. He put his swords back and ran down the fire escape.

They followed him. He'd expected it.

So he ran through alleyways and wove through buildings. He had to stop a few times to kill another assassin. Jason used the fact that he cared about Damian to push himself. He turned the fear of what could happen in anger, but a quiet one. One that was sharp and precise, just like his mother was, just like the words Jason could use to bring down anyone of his choice.

"Haven't you heard the rumors about Ra's?" He asked.

"What about them?"

"Wait, rumors? What rumors?" Another assassin asked.

"Ra's is said to be going insane, sending his people on suicide missions. Haven't you noticed the amount of people that have gone missing?" Jason flipped backwards, dodging a few knives and shuriken.

"Lies!" The leader hissed. "You are trying to turn us against the Great One!"

"The 'Great One' that could keep all of his men and women alive with a pit of green water that slowly chips away at a person's sanity? How many times has Ra's taken a bath in the Lazarus Pits? How many of his men have? Or Talia Al Ghul? Or the Prince?"

"You are a child that knows nothing!" The leader's voice was full of venom, their sword raised to strike. Jason blocked it.

"I have never had the pleasure of being a child," Jason hissed. He pushed against the assassin. "And neither has Damian. Have you ever been a child? Truly and fully a child? Because you've been brainwashed, you can't see the truth. I know you. I know your kind. Poisoned against the truth, only seeing the lies. You are a blind man leading other blind men. You are- the one that- knows- nothing!" He pushed them back. They got up, trying to fight, but Jason was quicker.

Their head rolled across the rooftop. Jason's blade was covered in their blood. It pooled onto the ground from the neck and dripped slowly, audibly, from his sword.

There was not a drop of it on himself. Only the sword, only the ground.

Jason was crouched from the swing at the assassin. Both hands on his sword that glinted in the lights of the city. He tilted the blade to make the crimson and black more obvious.

He'd made his costume black and red because red was his favorite color, and black contrasted it nicely. Now though, the red of his suit was like the blood on his blade, a symbolism of how much he'd changed over the months. He was far from being the kid had had been, wearing a costume of dark green and yellow and a red that was the same shade as a robin's feathers.

Now he wore the same shade as his mother. Clothes that looked like they'd been dyed with blood and nothing else, still fresh, never drying.

Jason tilted his head up to look at the other assassins around him, slow and deliberate, letting them see the white of his eyes.

"Tell Ra's this," he said, his voice deceptively soft. He stood up slowly. "Tell him that Damian Al Ghul is now Damian Wayne, and he will never go back. Tell him that any attempt to find an heir will be met with bloodshed. Tell him. TELL HIM!" The assassins jumped and ran off.

He didn't believe that Ra's would take him seriously, not for long at least.

But Jason had proven to the world multiple times over that he was his mother's son.

And his mother was the most dangerous woman in the world.

He cleaned off his blades and left the scene. Rain started to patter down gently, as if some gods were trying to wash away his sins.

He didn't see them as sins. Not in the way that others would.

Jason took a deep breath.

Then he whistled. And then he repeated it.

There was an echo that wasn't really an echo. It was a copy of his call, shaky and unsure. Jason rushed to follow it. He continued to whistle and listen for the reply, reminding him a lot of the call Rue and Katniss had used.

Hopefully this would end better than that had.

He found Damian, Thread and Allison, huddled away in a new building, bags packed. Damian launched himself at Jason when he showed up.

"Akhi!"

"Thread told me what you told them," Allison said. She studied Jason. "I want to join you. I don't what you say about Gotham, but I want in. You're the best boss I've ever had, and I ain't gonna lose that security you've given me. Okay?"

"I'm in too, by the way," Thread said. Jason looked at them.

Something eased inside of him.

"Okay."

"You're not going to stop us?" Allison asked, sounding a lot like she expected him to. Which was fair, honestly.

Jason shook his head.

"I've learned to pick my battles, and I'll need all the help I can get. Having you two on my side might help me gain more people, more popularity. I'll get a way to pay you guys and backdate your pay."

"You don't have to- ow!" Thread rubbed their shoulder where Allison had punched them.

"We've gotta take our chances when we can," she reminded him.

"Right."

"Do we have anywhere to stay?" Jason asked.

"Yeah. New place, two bedrooms and cheap rent. Just signed the lease with the landlord with the money from the job Hobbs gave me." Jason nodded.

"Let's get inside, then," he said.

The apartment was just as Allison had described. The only difference was that they had working water and appliances. Jason locked himself in the bathroom to change back into normal clothes, then he went and joined the others on the shitty couch was that even more shitty that the shitty one Dick and Wally had. It was better than the previous shitty couch, though.

The four of them sat there in silence for a while. Then-

"You look an awful lot like Cassandra Wayne," Thread mused.

Jason wondered how the hell he'd gotten into this mess at all.

"Shut the fuck up, Thread," Allison grumbled.

"Okay."

At least he had allies.

_______________________________________

The new apartment was technically shitty. It wasn't the warmest, or the safest, but it was better than a place where the stairs were gone and the only way up was through a broken window. It had working utilities, and that was all that they needed.

Damian definitely missed the luxuries that he'd had at Nanda Parbat. Jason didn't blame him. He missed the luxuries he'd had at Wayne Manor. It was easier for him to adjust to living from day to day than it was for Damian, but that was solely because Jason was born that way.

Allison worked as a cleaner at Hobbs' apartment in a rich part of the city. She pretended that it was a penthouse. Jason had gotten a hold of the floor plan. It was not, in fact, a penthouse. Jason knew the difference between a penthouse and a normal apartment.

Anyway, Allison was a cleaner there, getting the information Jason needed about her activities through the day. A lot of it was partying late into the night and sleeping with random men. Jason normally didn't judge people, but he'd been there when she tried to push herself onto Dick – which was insanely creepy, seeing as he had been like, sixteen, seventeen and she had been twenty-one. So he judged her and wanted to make it impossible for her to have sex again just so that she didn't try going after other underaged boys.

Jason was a protective older brother and a protective younger brother. He was fully aware of that fact, and he was not ashamed to say it.

"Why are we going after Hobbs?" Thread asked randomly.

"Because she's a pedophile," Jason replied blandly.

"Are you sure we shouldn't do something more drastic? I mean, pedophiles… that's freaky. I don't like that." Thread shivered violently, as if cementing their words.

"She's famous. I can't do anything but threaten her with violence and blackmail, maybe injure her in a way that makes her life difficult-" Jason cut himself off.

"What is it?" Thread asked.

"We blackmail her," Jason murmured. There was another idea, one that was dark but satisfying in a way that would make others squirm. "Ruin her reputation." Jason went silent. He refused to talk until Allison got home.

"Boss said something, and then went quiet, and I don't know what to think of that," Thread told her. Jason was scribbling furiously in a cheap notebook he'd gotten from the dollar store with some cash he'd stolen from a rich guy's wallet.

"What did he say?"

"That Hobbs is a pedophile, and that the only way to tear her down is to blackmail and ruin her. He's refused to elaborate."

"We need to get evidence. You've got access to her stuff, right?" Jason asked.

"I mean, yeah, that's why I applied to be a cleaner at all. What's your plan?"

"We go in, get evidence as well as some stuff to pawn off. I'll hack all of her accounts and post evidence of her being a pedophile if we get it."

"There's something darker there," Damian spoke up. His green eyes were knowing. He knew that Jason was going to cause bodily harm to Hobbs.

Damian was probably the smartest six year old he'd ever met. He knew what a pedophile was before Jason showed up. Talia had told him, taught him how to identify one for his own safety. Talia might have her flaws, but so did Shiva, and both women knew that Jason and Damian were safer with Bruce. Or at least within Gotham.

Damian had also lost his professional speech.

"Maybe there is," Jason agreed. He looked down at his notes. They were a mess of English, the few Romani words he could spell, Chinese and Spanish. No one would be able to make heads nor tails of them. Only Dick would be able to, and maybe Bruce, perhaps even Cass, but not a lot of people knew Romani. "It doesn't matter though. There's a lot of ways you could ruin someone's reputation."

"You're ruthless," Thread murmured.

"Thanks, it's a family trait." Thread practically screamed. Jason smirked while Allison lost her shit.

Chapter Text

Thread generally didn't trust anyone, much less a Gothamite that seemed to constantly scowl, was definitely traumatized, and was also an assassin? That part was a little messed up, but Boss was a good person. Thread genuinely believed that Jamie could make their life a little bit better.

Jamie and Daniel tended to stick with each other. When Daniel wasn't with his brother, he was with either Thread or Allison, drawing pictures and letting Thread take them to sell for profit. Boss did… whatever it was that he did. Sometimes he came back with cash, sometimes he came back with blood on his hands, sometimes it was both. Thread and Allison didn't ask. They'd both met their fair share of people who just wanted to survive.

But Jamie… Thread didn't know if it was the whole assassin thing or the Gothamite thing, but he carried himself in a way that was entirely different to others in their shitty little area of the city. That was why Thread questioned if they'd made the right choice in inviting Jamie into the headquarters.

Jamie carried himself in a way that said that he was far more dangerous than what one would expect. He wore fingerless gloves and a dark red hoodie and black pants. His face always looked sad, and his eyes never missed anything. He kept low but he filled an entire room. He was quiet but his voice was loud and confident when he spoke. Simply put, Jamie reminded Thread of someone who had to learn to be quiet their entire life, but was always destined to stand in front of a crowd and perform.

That wasn't even the scary part. The scary part was how Jamie knew what a person was thinking with just a look. How he moved quickly and silently, the shadows wrapping around him even though Thread was certain that the shadows weren't actually doing that. The scariest part was how he could catch a knife without even looking up.

The truly scary part, however, was how smart Jamie was. He freaked people out with a Gotham accent – a Jersey accent but rougher, less friendly and more threatening – or a neutral one. He used words that others who weren't able to learn how to read beyond the extreme basics couldn't understand. He knew more about how crime worked than even the most seasoned thug in the city. He knew more about technology than Thread ever hoped to know. He had an entire Shakespeare play memorized, Old English words included.

Jamie knew more than the average person did.

Rumor had it that a Gothamite who was smarter than the rest was likely to become a Rogue, or a Bat if Batman got there first.

Thread was curious to see what happened with Jamie, because it could go either way.

Though judging from the bat symbol painted in red on the suit that Boss had worn when he'd gone out to fight off those assassins, it was likely to be a Bat gone Rogue.

How would that work out?

Thread guessed that they'd figure that out later. You know, when they were actually in Gotham.

Right now, Allison was with Daniel, and Thread was with Jamie in a store, using the definitely stolen cash to buy some stuff. The two of them walked through the aisles together.

"What's one thing that you're looking forward to when you get back to Gotham?" Thread asked. Another store patron glanced at them like they were insane. Thread and Jamie ignored it.

"I'm honestly not sure," Jamie replied. He stopped and grabbed a can off of the shelf, studying it. "I honestly think… with what I've done… my family won't accept me as one of their own. It's not an easy thing to think about, but I'm trying to be realistic here, you know?" Jamie put the can into his basket. The two of them stood there, staring at the shelves for a little bit longer.

"I think," Thread started. Then they hesitated. What did they say here? That Batman (who very likely was the man who took Jamie in all those years ago) wouldn't care about seeing his son again beyond the fact that he was there? Thread didn't know much, but they didn't need to know much to see how much Jamie cared about his adoptive father, how much the man cared about Jamie. "I don't know much, I have to say that, but from what I've heard? Your dad loves you so much. I think that, if I were in his position, I would embrace it, take it as a second chance."

"We won't be the same as we used to be. Not with the last two years being lost between us. What I've done could put more strain on it."

"So?" Jamie looked at him.

"So what?"

"Exactly," Thread replied. They poked Jamie in the shoulder. "So what? If he doesn't want you as part of his family anymore, you'll still have us. We'll still be by your side through it all. You got that?"

"I do. It's just… not easy. Dad was the first one to look at me and see what I could become. He took me home and gave me a life. And I do love him, that will never change. I love him, and I admire what he wants to do. It's just… I want to stay as his son. I'm scared that if I try to go back to him, then he'll deny me that wish. He raised me, Thread. I still love my mama even if she wasn't there most of the time. She still did what she could with what she had." Jamie reached up and grabbed something. "I don't think that I'll ever stop wanting him to be my dad, even if he almost kills me." Jamie's eyes dulled far more than they had been before. Thread wondered how someone's eyes became so sad.

"Maybe. But if you ever need it… I'm here. So is Allison, and Daniel too. We've got your back." Jamie hummed.

"Thanks Thread," he said. The two of them stood there a little while longer and moved on to the next item on their list. They shuffled through the medical supplies.

It was there that it happened. Jamie stared at the Tylenol for a bit too long. Thread nudged him.

"Hey, Jamie? You good there?" Jamie snapped back to reality, his face panicked.

"I don't want to go down that road," he whispered. Thread froze.

Tylenol. Painkillers. Drugs.

They grabbed Jamie's arm and pulled him away from the medicine and towards the eggs. Jamie was shaking.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Thread asked.

"My mama… when she got hooked, it was because of depression. She'd stare at the painkillers we had at home until she caved. I-" Jamie took a deep breath.

"You won't end up like that, I promise you," Thread said. Something eased in Jamie's face. Now he looked like a tired kid who was forced to grow up too fast.

What the hell had he been through?

Thread wasn't sure they wanted to know the full details.

"Come on, let's go." They pulled Jamie along behind them. He was quiet, staring down at the floor. It freaked Thread out.

Jamie was normally confident in a quiet way. That quiet confidence had been replaced by Jamie just… seeing painkillers.

Thread took them to a checkout and scanned their items. They paid for everything and led Jamie out of the store. Jamie followed them silently, unfocused. So it was up to Thread to get the both of them home with their food.

The apartment was silent when they got back. Allison and Daniel were doing their own things silently. Jamie seemed to come back to himself once they were inside, because he slipped past all of them and to the bathroom. Thread let him and went to put the food away.

"Where's Boss?" Allison asked.

"In the bathroom," Thread replied. They started to put stuff away. Daniel came over to them and started to help them out where he could.

"Why? Also, weren't you two supposed to take longer?"

"Something came up, Boss needs some space for a little bit." Thread could imagine her face. The confusion in her face. Thread didn't elaborate. It wasn't their place to say anything about what had happened.

_______________________________________

He didn't want to be like his mama. He didn't want to. He didn't want to go down that road. Please, don't let him go down that road. He just- he couldn't. Why'd he look at that stuff like that? Why? Why was it so easy for people to escape their reality with painkillers?

Jason hit his head. Not hard enough to hurt for long, but just enough to get him out of his thoughts. He took a deep breath and ran his hands through his hair. It was greasy with improper care, and it reminded him of the last time he was living on the streets and-

Focus. He stared up at the light. It was a sickly yellow color, which made whoever was in there look sick.

Jason looked at himself in the mirror. He'd avoid it due to how sick it made him look, but he had to see himself right now. He took a deep breath.

The boy in the mirror wasn't the same as the one who had done this exact same thing months ago in another world. That boy had been a little weary but healthy. He had no hope of going home, had resigned himself to staying in that world until he died but tried to keep enough hope to continue on.

The person Jason saw… he was wrong. His muscles had grown enough that, if he had no white streak in his hair, he could be mistaken for a younger version of Dick. At the same time, he seemed a bit thinner than he had been, and it threw Jason off.

He ran a hand through his hair again. He grimaced at the feeling of it.

Then he pushed himself away from the mirror and faced the other wall. He leaned against the sink and pressed his hands to his face.

He wanted to go home.

They probably wouldn't want him anymore, though. Not after all of the people he'd killed.

But he'd done it to protect people.

Do you think that they would care? You're a villain now. A murderer. The one thing that they vowed to never become. You broke the vow you made as Robin.

Kill to protect. That was the thing that he'd been going off of. A motto. He didn't need to keep sight of his plans, his ideas and what he wanted or who he was. He wasn't like Bruce in that way.

You are Batman's greatest failure. Don't you know why he won't kill?

Because Bruce was too good to. Because he looked at people and saw potential. Even if he sent them to the hospital, he still paid off their medical debts, helped them out of the hole that other rich people refused to do.

Jason turned around again. The tap screeched under his hand. He ran it cold and splashed some onto his face. The coldness of it shocked him back to reality. He splashed some more onto his face and turned off the water.

It dripped off of his nose and down the strands of his hair. He listened to it drip into the sink, the small plip somehow soothing.

He could hear Allison and Thread talking. Damian's tiny feet padded to the door. He stopped. Jason closed his eyes and stayed silent. He couldn't let Damian see how weak he was right now.

"You have been in there for a while," Damian stated. Jason hung his head, his hands braced on the side of the sink.

Jason needed to go home.

But he wasn't eager to go back now.

He didn't think he'd been eager to go home since he'd first started to plan his first kill.

Bruce will be so disappointed in you.

He didn't disagree with that. Dawn had refused to tell him much about his other versions, but she'd been tense talking about it, no matter how calm she had made herself seem. Jason knew that practically every version of himself faced disappointment from Bruce.

Jason didn't want to see how disappointed Bruce might be in him. How the man that Jason had come to see as his father – his real father – would look at him with the corners of his mouth turned down, the furrow of his brow and the anger that Jason had seen burning in Bruce's eyes before, now turned on him.

He wasn't even sure that Bruce would accept Damian right away. He hoped that Damian wouldn't be seen as a murderer like Jason. He was a child.

Wasn't Jason a child?

Why did he have to have such a shitty life?

Jason took a deep breath. Focus. Don't go into what-ifs. Focus on the current mission.

Stealing from Hobbs was his main goal right now.

Protecting Damian until they got to Gotham was the priority, but they could only get to Gotham if they stole from Hobbs.

He grabbed a towel and dried his face off. Then he stepped back out of the bathroom and smiled at Damian. Somehow he'd learned how to make his fake smiles believable to everyone but Shiva. He wasn't sure what that said about him. Depressed but able to hide it? Actually… yeah. That was exactly what was happening recently.

"I'm okay, habibi," he soothed. He ran a hand over Damian's hair. It was also a little greasy. Dick would take offense to it, Jason knew, and he'd pick Damian up and put him into a bath and wash his hair until it was beautiful again. Dick took hair seriously. Jason only knew how to care for his own hair because Dick had decided to help him figure it out.

"Are you lying to me?" Damian asked. His green eyes squinted at him suspiciously. "I won't forgive you if you're lying to me."

"I'm not lying," Jason defended.

He wanted to be a little brother again, not an older brother.

He did love Damian. But sometimes taking care of a younger sibling wasn't easy. Jason felt more secure when he was allowed to be the younger brother. The one who wasn't expected to keep the younger safe all of the time, who wasn't expected to have all of the answers. Jason had never expected Dick to have all of the answers, but he knew that Dick hadn't seen it like that.

Was this how Dick had felt each time they were in danger? Like the whole world was on his shoulders? Jason didn't like it.

Damian looked at him for a while, then he accepted that Jason was telling the truth.

"Allison and Thread are making something for dinner," he informed Jason. They went to join the others.

Dinner wasn't fancy, and it wasn't particularly nice. Jason found himself thinking of what Alfred might have made for dinner that night. Thread gave him a concerned look that Jason ignored.

Jason wanted to go home.

The plan… the plan was sound. There were things that could happen, but Jason wasn't staying here for any longer.

"We'll strike in two days," he decided. The others stared at him, then at each other.

"Are you sure boss?" Thread asked. Jason nodded.

"It's for the best. Daniel and I need to leave soon anyway, get to Gotham before the assassins come back. It'll be safer for us all if we move soon."

"We're coming with you." Jason smiled.

"I know," he said. His friends had determined looks on their faces.

_______________________________________

Three of them stood on the rooftop opposite of where Hobbs lived. Right next door, actually, and in the shadows. Thread was freaking out, unused to great heights like this.

"How are you so calm?" They hissed. Jason didn't answer. He simply checked something on his wrist computer and turned to Damian.

"You're up," he said. He pulled a flash drive that he'd stolen from Walmart out of his pocket. "You remember where the main computer with the security protocols is?"

"Of course I do," Damian said haughtily. He took the flash drive, pulled his hood over his head, and disappeared down the fire escape. Jason watched as he jumped from the fire escape on the building they were on and to the fire escape of the building Hobbs lived in. He climbed up, a black blob against the shadows, and slipped in through the vents. Jason crouched there, waiting for the signal.

"How long do you think he'll take?" Thread asked.

"As long at it takes," Jason murmured.

"You're too good at this."

"I've had to be."

"Yeah… You're not in a talking mood, are you?"

"It's time to focus, Thread."

"Okay."

The signal came after twenty minutes of Thread trying to pass the time by talking to Jason and Jason listening intently.

A whistle, then a chirp. A Starling call, one that Damian had chosen and spent weeks learning how to mimic. Honestly, he took to it far better than Jason had. It was a skill that not many had.

But the whistle paired with the chirp was 'OK'.

"Let's go," Jason said. He made his way down the fire escape a little and climbed onto the railing. He jumped across and landed on the railing of the other fire escape, his hand catching on the platform above him. He turned to Thread, who was nervous. Their eyes glanced between the two fire escapes. Jason held a hand out. Thread reached out and grabbed it. They pushed themselves off of the fire escape they were on. Jason pulled them towards himself.

Thread crawled onto the platform and took a deep breath.

"Are you okay?" Jason asked quietly. Thread took another breath and nodded.

"I'm okay. I don't think that fire escapes should be that close together in this part of the city." Jason shrugged.

"Makes it easier for us," he said. He stood from his crouch on the railing and reached up to the platform above him. He pulled himself up, sliding his feet into the gaps in the metal and standing up so that he was perched on the railing above. Thread climbed up the stairs.

"You know this would be easier, right?" They asked dryly. Jason pulled himself up again instead of bothering with replying. Thread sighed, but followed him up anyway.

Damian stood by a window that he'd opened. Jason climbed into it, Thread right behind him.

"Security's corrupted?" He asked.

"It is," Damian confirmed. Thread closed the window.

"Anyone here?" They asked.

"Not that I can see." Jason nodded. He padded through the apartment, checking before he moved around corners. Damian didn't say anything, didn't insist that his search of the place was perfect. Damian was all to aware of his skills when compared to Jason.

The first place they went was to Hobbs' bedroom. Necklaces, rings, bracelets, and even some expensive nail polish Jason recognized from some of his rich classmates. Someone would pay for it. They'd just lie and say that Allison had tried to like it but couldn't find it in her.

Then they went to the living room and grabbed what they could from there. Games, though she didn't have a lot of those, and whatever else they could get. The bags they'd brought with them were filled quickly. Jason grabbed a little rose quartz elephant that sat on a shelf.

"I'm gonna give this to someone," he said. Thread looked at the elephant in Jason's hand.

"I mean… you do get the final say on when and where we sell this stuff." Jason carefully tucked it into Damian's bag.

"That's enough." Jason looked up from what he was doing. Wonder Girl, Blue Beetle, Beast Boy, a kid that was a new Kid Flash from the looks of it, and Tim and Cass stood there, ready to fight them.

Cass was staring at him behind her cowl. Jason stared back.

Woosans could hide their body language from everyone but another Woosan. Technically speaking, there were only three Woosans alive. Jason, Cass, and Shiva.

Cass shifted her body weight.

Why? She asked. Jason shifted his body language.

I'm sorry.

Sorry doesn't change anything.

You should be apologizing too, you know. You left us both. You left me.

I'm sorry…

Sorry doesn't fucking cut it. Don't get on my ass about shit.

"Uh… Batgirl?" Tim asked. He poked Cass in the arm, but she was staring at him.

"What are we going to do with these three?" Cassie asked. She frowned at the three of them. "And why is one of them a kid?"

"We need cash, okay?" Jason said.

"That doesn't mean that you can steal from anyone, hermano."

"I'm not your brother," Jason hissed. He stood from his crouch, pulling Damian towards him. "It clear that none of you have had to try and survive however you can. You don't know what it's like to have no money, no home, while bitches like Hobbs fucking rape kids." His words earned a flinch from everyone except for Kid Flash. He didn't know the new kid's name, but his body language screamed at Jason.

He knew that life.

Why did he have to know that life?

"Stealing is survival. Crime is a way of survival. No money means no education, which means that those who raised themselves turn to crime to survive. No money means no healthcare, and those who don't die end up with kids they can't provide for, and it's a cycle. It's a cycle that none of you have had to know."

"You don't know that!" Cass protested.

"Don't I? I've gotten better, honed my skills. I killed Vertigo. I know a lot more than you do, Cassandra." Jason grabbed Damian and left. Cass' full name burned in his throat like bile, sour and terrible, something to get rid of.

He'd just called her Cassandra. That was like full naming her. Like the times when Jason was younger and Mama was starting to fall into drugs, when she was still full of life and Jason had done something wrong, so she would say his full name.

The younger heroes chased after him. Jason pushed Damian towards Thread with all of their things.

"Go. I'll distract them."

"Akhi," Damian began.

"No." He gave Damian the most serious look he could, and Damian finally went with Thread.

Kid Flash appeared in front of him. Cassie was behind him. Her footsteps were always louder than they needed to be.

Jason listened for the sound of Cassie's lasso. She aimed at him. Jason rolled out of the way of it as Kid Flash 2.0 tried to grab him. The speedster got caught up in the rope. Gar went to help them. Blue Beetle was fighting with himself.

Jason ran. Tim and Cass were right behind him. Tim aimed a swing at Jason. He took the bo staff and knocked his younger brother down. Seeing someone else in the reds and golds of Robin… it kind of hurt in a way that Jason hadn't been expecting. Like a part of him was telling him that he'd been replaced.

He knew why Tim was Robin, though. It was to stop Bruce from loosing himself in his grief over loosing Jason.

Jason took the bo staff and ran. Cass chased after him, shouting a command at whoever was there to get Robin somewhere safe. She ran full-speed at Jason and tackled him to the ground.

"Why?!" She shouted. Jason shoved at her.

"I don't have to explain myself to you!" He shouted back. He landed a punched on Cass' jaw. Her eyes narrowed at him.

"You killed Vertigo on purpose. I want an explanation, and you better give it to me!"

"He kept on tryin' to kill his niece! She deserves to have peace outside of her own country after the shit she's been through."

"You could have caused an international incident! Ra's could have killed you!" Cass sounded… scared.

"He didn't."

"He could have! I lost you once-"

"Oh, you lost me once? You're the one who left first."

"It was to protect you from Mother's life! To protect you from Cain!" Anger burned within Jason, red hot and uncontrollable. He shoved Cass off him and onto the rooftop. He stood up.

"You should have been there to protect me from the monster that lived at home," he spat. He leveled his twin with a glare. "I had to deal with the consequences of your actions. Mama's drug problem, her multiple overdoses until she died. Willis' constant abuse and the alcohol addiction he had. You were supposed to protect me. You failed." Cass stood up and got all up in his face.

"I did what I had to."

"Let's face the facts, Cassandra. If you had never left, then Mama would still be here, and I wouldn't be the way I am now." Cass stared at him.

"What happened to you?" Her voice was soft now, sad.

"You left, and I had to pick up the slack." Jason stalked away. He jumped down the side of the building, using the grapple to get down. He slipped through the shadows until he could see where he was, and then started to make his way back, hiding in the shadows.

Jason had thought of what he'd say when he saw Cass again. It was always hugging, then telling her to never leave him like that again. Then they'd slip into a routine that they would have had if they'd grown up together.

This… Jason wasn't surprised that they'd blown up at each other. There were too many years between them, so much time where they had learned to live without each other, even when they cried and wanted to curl up together and sleep until they felt better. They were different from when they were 3. Neither of them were naive kids, sure that they would never have to say goodbye until the day that they died.

3 year old Jason wouldn't understand. 9 year old Jason would, but he'd run to her and cling to her, hide away in her cape and ask her to sing Mama's lullaby. 14 year old Jason would weep, mourning the relationship he never got to have with her, thankful that they had at least gotten a few years together.

Now, 2 years after he'd disappeared and around 13 years since Cass had, he didn't know what to think.

A part of him was still that 9 year old that would really like to curl up in her cape and just exist with her, letting her block out the bad things in their lives. He would forever be the 14 year old mourning the relationship he'd never had with his sister.

Jason Todd was, simply put, a younger brother who felt bitter betrayal still, years after the fact. A younger brother who still wanted his sister, but wanted her to understand where he was coming from, how he'd been shaped by her absence.

Jason Todd had always been a younger brother who would always need his sister.

Just as he'd always been a Mama's Boy.

Jason made it back to the apartment. He ignored the others except to acknowledge that he was glad that Thread and Damian had gotten back safely and went to change out of his suit. He collapsed onto the bed he shared with Damian and closed his eyes, praying that he'd be saved by the sweet escape of sleep.

Damian joined him shortly after. He curled up into Jason, who curled around him. 13 years apart, and the times where she'd curled around him like this were some of his favorite memories.

He started to sing softly. An old lullaby his mama would sing to him, even when she was high.

Maybe fighting with Cass was the wrong thing to do. Maybe he had just made it impossible for him to have any sort of relationship with her, between his accusations that their mama's drug problem had been caused by Cass disappearing and his murder confession. Maybe it would make Cass think about it from his perspective. He didn't know.

Jason dropped off into the sweet reprieve of sleep.

_______________________________________

She stared at the ground on front of her. Her jaw twinged where Jason had punched it. It wasn't broken, but it was going to bruise.

A familiar cape appeared in her vision. An ice pack wrapped up in a cloth was lifted up to her jaw and pressed carefully against the bruised skin. She hissed.

"Sorry," Bruce apologized.

"It's okay," she replied. She leaned into the touch, the careful care that was born from a love that was real.

She wasn't even his biological daughter, and yet he cared for her like she was. He cared for Dick and Tim as though they were his own too.

He still cared for Jason as though he was Bruce's own.

Cass couldn't tell him that her twin had killed a man and hadn't even regretted it. His body language had screamed that he'd intended to do it, that he wouldn't go back and stop it if he could. How had her beloved twin ended up like this?

"What's wrong?" Bruce asked. Cass took the ice pack from his hand and held it to her jaw. His hand lowered.

"Nothing. I'm just… thinking." Bruce watched her. She hid all of her thoughts and conflicting emotions from his careful gaze before he could figure her out.

"One of the thieves knew your name," he said.

"He was the one who killed Vertigo. He probably knows all of our identities, since he was able to get away with it."

"He got away with it?" Cass nodded.

"He said that Ra's didn't punish him for the sabotage. He didn't say why or how, just that he didn't have to pay for his actions. He also said that he killed Vertigo to give Perdita some peace."

"She has confessed that she's feeling safer now that her uncle is dead," Bruce confirmed. Cass nodded. Vertigo had always been a piece of work, always demanding and hardly returning the favors he was given. Honestly, Ra's would have probably been glad to see him go, but the other assassins?

Cass had found out their identities. They'd been good trainees, sent on a mission to prove themselves and ended up dead because of their squad leader, who had been wearing the same mask and the same gauntlets she'd seen Jason wearing.

It wasn't an isolated incident, then.

"I have to go and check on something. Go home and get some sleep, okay? And let Alfred look at your jaw. I know that there isn't any damage, but I would like to be sure."

"Okay, Dad," she replied. Bruce stood up and pressed a kiss to the top of her head, then left. Cass sat there for a while longer.

Had the power that came with killing gotten to her brother's head? And was he really right about Mama dying of an overdose because she'd left? Had she really failed?

The pit in her stomach told her that she had, in fact, failed her little brother.

She wondered how different their lives would have been if Cain had never found out about her, if she'd never left to try and protect Jason. She could see it. Mama alive and well, smiling as Jason and Cass argued over something. Willis dead, all three of them free from his anger and alcoholism.

Jason's anger wasn't wrong.

Blue and black appeared in her vision. She looked up at her older brother. He studied her. His whole body sagged.

"He's really alive, isn't he?" He asked softly. Cass nodded, knowing that he was talking about Jason.

"He was so angry at me," she whispered. She closed her eyes. The angry words rattled in her brain, the anger pouring off of Jason and pushing her away. She wondered if they still looked eerily identical. "And he wasn't wrong for it."

"Cass-"

"No. I left him when he needed me there with him. I thought I was protecting him but… I think we've lost him to the power that comes with murder, Dick. All because I couldn't protect him."

"You were three," Dick stressed. He held her shoulders and forced her to look at him. "You were three, and you had no choice, no other options. Maybe staying with him would have been better, but you can't go back and change the past. If we could do that, then I would have stopped him from disappearing like that, would've stopped Wally from dying."

"I still feel so guilty for it," she said. Dick's eyes were filled with a sadness that Cass had known for as long as she'd known her older brother.

"We're both his older siblings. I should have tried harder to protect him too. I'll carry that guilt for the rest of my life, but I'll take it and use it to be better. It's the only way to move on." Dick wiped a tear from her face. "Let's go home, yeah? It's been a crazy night." Cass nodded. She stood up with Dick.

She barely noticed when he took the ice pack and put it away in the freezer for another person to use, or the zeta tube firing up and taking them home with Tim next to them. Even Alfred's careful examination of her jaw was barely registered.

Cass simply changed and went up to Jason's old room. The bedsheets were still washed weekly, the room dusted daily. The homework Jason had been working on was still open on his desk from where he'd left it, books still sorted how he liked them.

She climbed under the covers and curled up small.

Then she started to sing softly to herself. An old lullaby Mama had sung when they were younger. She sung until sleep claimed her for the night.

Chapter Text

There was nothing left in the apartment they'd shared. No evidence of their lives, every inch clean and ready for the next tenant.

Their bags were loaded into a car they'd managed to get with Thread and Allison acting as foster parents wanting a car to take their foster kids (Jason and Damian) out of the city to explore a bit before the new school year started.

"Why do I have to sit in this?" Damian pouted. Jason glanced over at him.

"You're a kid," he replied.

"I don't like it."

"Well, get used to it. Also, it'll give you a guaranteed seat in Dad's car and no one will fight you for it."

"That can happen?" Damian looked so confused.

"The front passenger seat's the best," Thread piped up. They were fiddling with the radio. Allison smacked their hand away.

"Leave it on one station," she told them. She was driving because she was the eldest and actually had a driver's license from before her life on the streets. She'd managed to keep it somehow.

"But-"

"I agree with Allison," Jason said. He opened his battered copy of To Kill A Mockingbird. Honestly, at this point he could probably recite most of it, but somehow the book hadn't gotten any more boring.

"You're boring."

"You're annoying," Allison shot back. Jason snorted. He curled up a little in the backseat to read.

"Breaking news; Brooke Hobbs was recently burgled in the middle of the night. Police have launched an investigation into what happened, but there is no security footage or any alerts from the alarms. The Justice League's young heroes noticed two adult male figures breaking into the apartment and went in to investigate. A statement from Robin says;

'The two responsible have vanished with the stolen goods. We did try to stop them, but were unable to. We apologize for our mistake, though we hope everyone knows that we did what we could to stop the robbery-"

"Good one, Baby Bird," Jason murmured. He turned back to his book. Thread switched to another radio station. No one told them to stop this time.

Allison drove for hours until they got to a sketchy town.

"Stay on the outskirts," Jason ordered. Allison obeyed him. "Thread, you're with me. Daniel, if anyone tries to hurt you or Allison, stab them in the kneecaps."

"I can stab them somewhere else," Damian said.

"Yes, I know you can, but stabbing them in the kneecaps disables them and then they'll have a shit time trying to fuck up anyone else 'cause their knees are all fucked up 'n shit."Jason got out and grabbed his bag from the trunk. He handed Thread the gun he still had from that creep and walked through the shady town until they got to a pawn shop. Jason ducked in, Thread right behind him, his hood pulled up to hide the white in his hair.

The pawn shop was filled with all kinds of things. Jason walked right up to the counter where a fat guy was smoking, reading the newspaper. Their heist was front page news.

"Oi," he said. The guy looked up at Jason. His name tag read Gary.

"What do ya want, kid?" The man asked.

"I'm here to sell some stuff," Jason replied.

"What stuff?" Jason reached into his bag and pulled out something that Hobbs had obtained illegally, before Jason had obtained it illegally. He dangled it in front of the guy's face.

"This is one thing I want to sell to you," he said. A watch that had once belonged to a socialite somewhere. It was extremely expensive, and had gone missing during a party that Hobbs had been invited to.

"I'll give you five hundred," Gary said. He straightened up.

"Give me a thousand and we have a deal."

"It's five hundred or nothing, kid."

"You don' know what this thing is worth, d'ya?" Jason looked at it, his Gotham accent prevalent. "A thousand, or nothin'."

"You don't know shit, kid." Jason sighed.

"Then I'll pawn it off to someone else in this town."

"Fine! A thousand for the watch," Gary agreed. Jason smirked. Gary handed over a thousand dollars, and Jason handed him the watch. He carefully counted the cash, then pocketed it.

"Pleasure doing business," he said. He turned and left. Thread followed him. Jason saw a gold bracelet. He slipped it into his pocket.

They got back to the car and drove off.

"You didn't pull the Gothamite card," Thread said.

"I'm not leaving a trail for them to find. Though I did steal this bracelet."

"JAMIE!" Thread and Allison shouted.

"Don't worry, that place is part of a series of pawn shops that everyone and their dog goes to. I don't steal from small businesses." One of the rules of the streets. Never steal from a small business, only large ones like Walmart or Target.

"You're insane," Allison whispered. Jason shrugged.

"Whatever. We've got cash, and I can sell the bracelet to someone who wants it later in a different city. Probably in Gotham, to be honest. No one cares where you got something from there, as long as it's safe to handle." Jason slipped the bracelet into his bag, at the bottom with the other stolen items that he still had.

They drove to a shitty hotel in the middle of nowhere. The vacancy sign flickered, and the lights were a familiar sickly yellow. Two cars sat out the front, stagnant until their owners decided to get back into them and drive away from this place.

Jason got out and went around to Damian's side of the car. He. hopped down to the ground and took Jason's hand when he offered it.

The front desk was in a shitty lobby with peeling paint and yellow florescent lights. There was a dying plant in one corner and a bunch of fliers for activities in the area, as well as a bunch of maps. A woman who looked like she'd rather be literally anywhere else sat at the desk.

"Hi, can we get two rooms next to each other for four people?" Allison asked.

"Sure," the woman replied blandly. She typed something into her computer. Then she grabbed some keys and handed them over. "Two rooms."

"Thank you," Allison said. She took the keys and turned to hand one to Jason. He took it. "Same sleeping arrangements that we had in the apartment?" She asked.

"Sounds good," Jason agreed.

"I don't care," Thread yawned. Damian leaned against Jason's leg, so he scooped him up and balanced him on his hip. Damian was basically asleep already.

The three of them walked to their rooms. Allison and Thread said goodnight to Jason outside. Jason repeated it back to them and opened the room he was staying in.

The lights were the same sickly yellow. The carpet was shaggy, and there was a very small kitchenette in the corner that had about a foot of lino. A door led to the bathroom, which Jason ignored for now.

He scoured the room from top to bottom, searching for things that he knew probably wouldn't be there. He was right to assume that.

But it eased him.

Jason woke Damian and got him into his pajamas. Damian passed out again as soon as his head hit the pillow. Jason huffed a laugh and changed his own clothes.

Then he climbed in next to Damian and curled around him, a knife under his pillow just in case.

_______________________________________

That was how the next few days went. They drove for a whole day, stopping in towns and cities where Jason would trade the stolen goods for large prices. He started to sell them to crime bosses who didn't care about how expensive something actually was, they just wanted something to shower their mothers or sisters or daughters or wives with. The bracelet was sold to a a new head of a crime family who had a teenage sister that he wanted to spoil a little bit.

Most of the money went to traveling to Gotham. Some of it was put aside to be put into an account that Jason would use for the kids.

It was going too smoothly.

Book logic always dictated that things being too smooth meant that something was going to happen.

And he was right.

Shit hit the fan over two hours away from Gotham.

Ra's people had found them again. They blew their back tire out. Allison screeched the car to a stop, and all four of them got out, wearing masks to hide their identities. Jason grabbed his weapons and Damian.

The assassins were firing at them. Jason got Damian onto his back, which protected him because Ra's would want Damian alive. Whether it was to torture him or to force him into training, Jason didn't know. He didn't want to find out.

Jason ran. Thread and Allison followed behind him. As soon as he was near bushes and trees, he jumped over the railing. He only waited for his friends. Then he started to run again. He ran through the bush, heading to the city, hoping… hoping… he had to hope…

He had to get Damian to Bruce.

It would take another few hours to get to the city on foot.

A weapon flew at him. Jason ducked. He grabbed it and threw it back. A body fell to the floor. The sun was going down. The sun. Dawn. He'd really like to see her again soon. Why had he pulled two perfectly normal civilians into this mess?

He lost track of time. All he knew was that he had to go to the city, where he could see lights shining. He had to go there. And he had to protect his brother. He cut down assassin after assassin and ran, closer, closer, closer-

Trees gave way to buildings. Sirens wailed, guns fired, and the sky was covered in smog. He could hear someone screaming in the distance.

The assassins followed them in. Jason knew the city well.

A whistle echoed through the city. Bruce checking in. Jason suppressed the urge to respond. He was dead. He couldn't go back. He couldn't- they wouldn't-

He had to focus.

The path Jason started to carve was a maze of alleyways and breaking into empty apartments and climbing out the other side. Allison and Thread followed him, unsure, freaked by the city of nightmares. Jason was the only sure of where to go.

She was welcoming him back, he felt. The city that had raised him, that he'd protected.

There was a loud whistle, then laughter. Jason paused and watched as Tim flew across the sky, followed by a purple clad girl who screamed with glee. His lips twitched. They were having fun. He was glad that they were having fun.

But how long would that last for?

He pushed that thought away.

Seeing Robin and… whoever the girl was… would deter the assassins long enough to get Damian to Bruce, or somewhere that he could collect Damian.

"I need you two to go somewhere," he said.

"Where?" Thread asked. Jason recited the address. "Tell the person there that Redwing sent you." thread and Allison nodded, then left to find the place that he'd told them to go to.

Now it was just the two of them, just as it had been when they were first running.

"Are we going to Baba?" Damian asked softly.

"More like bringing him to us," Jason replied. He set off, following the sounds Bruce made. Sounds that Jason knew all too well.

He ran through the city until he got to Crime Alley. He completely skipped the red light district for Damian's sake.

Being back in Crime Alley was like coming home after so long. In a way, it was. Jason wove through the streets. There were people that he'd known before Bruce took him in, rummaging through trash cans and selling drugs to cops. An arrow shot through the arm of a cop that bought Heroine from one of the kids Jason had known and had started to make his way towards a girl. She ran. The office screamed bloody murder.

Jason looked up at where the arrow had come from. A woman in dark blue with a golden sun and familiar orange-yellow hair stood on the top of a building. She saw him. A grin spread across her face, and she gave a salute before she vanished with a crack that fit in with the gunshots Jason could still hear.

She was insane.

Jason had to get Damian to safety.

He climbed into an abandoned apartment building. Old needles littered the ground in the hallway.

"Don't go out there," he warned Damian.

"I thought we were going to go to Baba?" Damian asked. Jason set the bag with Damian's things on the ground in the bedroom he ended up in. It was, somehow, clear of all needles. He stared at the place where the wall met the floor. Black mold was growing up the walls.

"I'm calling him here."

"Oh! Your call!" Damian's eyes lit up.

"Yeah," Jason agreed. He swallowed the lump in his throat. "My call." He took a deep breath… then another… and then…

He whistled, loud and clear in a tone that only he had ever used when he was in trouble. A simple call that was basically just him calling out Dad.

The city went silent at the sound of the dead Robin's call filling the streets again.

Jason listened. Bruce responded.

Where are you?

Jason whistled again. Then he turned to the window.

"Akhi?" Damian asked.

"I'm sorry," Jason whispered. Shame curled in his gut. He opened the window and climbed out.

"Please don't go," Damian pleaded. He ran towards Jason.

Jason jumped off of the ledge. He had enough space to. He arched through the air and grabbed his grapple. He fired it and it landed. Jason sung through the air.

Damian called for him.

Jason couldn't turn back.