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Assistant: Title: Nothing Could Ever Stop Me (From Saving You)
        Author: juhaal juhaal 
        Chapter: 1/3 
        Summary: "At that moment he understood Jason’s talk about Damian’s overprotectiveness being such a predictable factor for villains. " -Five times Damian saved his younger siblings - and one time his family saved him.
        Contents: Chapter 1
    

    


  

  
  
    
    
  She had not been enough. 
 
  She had seen it happening like it was all in slow motion. The sword going through her brother’s chest, the numerous arrows stuck all over his body, the disbelief and sense of betrayal all over his features; the memory haunted her all the time, relentless, not giving her mind any peace during the day or night. The guilt over not 
  
    saving
  
   Damian was the worst. She was the best in combat skills between them, it didn’t matter that she was only eleven - she should have saved him.
 
  Cass stared at the ceiling of her bedroom, lying on her bed silently, always silently, feeling her heart too heavy and strong when she felt herself so weak. 
 
  She should have been better. 
  
    Stronger
  
  .  
 
  She sat on her bed, despair becoming grieving determination, and soon she was putting clothes inside a handbag together with her documents and the cash she had been saving everytime Bruce gave her money. Looking around for what she thought would be the last time she saw her own room for a bit of a time, she crept silently with light feet through her door, passing the dark corridor of the almost empty manor with her mind set on finding the person that could make her better - 
  
    stronger
  
  . 
 
  If she happened to confirm that that person was also her mother, like the few clues she had gathered insinuated, it would only be a bonus. It was not like she 
  
    wanted
  
   to confirm it. Never.
 
  However, when she passed 
  
    his
  
   door, she found it was ajar. 
 
  Damian’s room became sacred ground after his death, for no one to enter. Yet, it seemed that someone 
  
    had
  
   entered it. Could have been Alfred? Bruce? 
 
  She felt torn. She wanted to feel his presence one last time before leaving for God knows how long - but she knew that if she entered that room, Cass could very well never leave Gotham in the first place. Tiny noises coming from inside his bedroom made the decision for her, and quietly Cass stepped into her brother’s room with her heart pounding frantically inside her ribcage and it’s rhythm reverberating inside her head. 
 
  The first thing she noted was how it was just like Damian had left it. Her brother wasn’t messy by nature, and yet the tiny signs of disorderly showed how his mind had been far away from here the days previous to his murder. The unmade bed, the few clothes thrown over his chair and his drawing materials all over his desk beside his open sketch book - it was like he was never focused enough to leave it all tidy how he liked. 
 
  The second thing she noted was the perpetrator of the noises she had heard: Alfred the Cat, jumping from furniture to furniture until stopping at Damian’s chair. The cat started to mewl at her, pawing at Damian’s hoodie and sniffing it, almost as if he wanted her to put it over the cushion of the chair so he could sit over it and be nearer his friend’s scent. 
 
  With her brown eyes filling with tears and her heart breaking a little bit more after hearing Alfred’s pitiful meowing, Cass walked to Damian’s desk, picked Alfred up, sat herself on the chair and put Damian’s hoodie over her lap before putting Alfred there too. The cat purred as soon as he was put over the hoodie, circling Cass’s lap finding the best position to lay on it. She petted him softly, looking down at the animal and feeling the hole inside her opening even more. 
 
  Distractedly she looked at Damian’s sketch book, gasping quietly with the last drawing he had been doing before it all went sideways. 
 
  It was of their little family. Alfred, Bruce, Damian and herself, with Alfred clearly holding back a smile (with laughing old eyes), Bruce smirking sideways while messing Damian’s spiky hair and herself in a ballerina pose. 
 
  It wasn’t finished, yet in dark lines of charcoal it was 
  
    perfect
  
  .
 
  She couldn’t hold back the tears any longer, because she would never again have her big brother by her side. She would never again pester him on doing whatever she wanted just to spend time with him. Cass would never see his exasperated fondness directed at her by his always too expressive blue eyes. 
 
  She continued to flip through the pages, crying silently at every new drawing, even the ones of Alfred the Cat, or the landscapes around the manor, especially the ones of 
  
    her
  
   making perfect ballet poses, jumping in the air or in the middle of a spin. It was just too telling. 
 
  Damian had tried so hard to show himself impenetrable… 
 
  It suddenly was just 
  
    too much. 
  
  She stood while picking up Alfred hastily, intending to finally leave. The cat clearly didn’t like it a little bit, jumping from her hands to the desk over the sketch book, and on his haste to run away accidentally sending it all to the floor in a mess of pencils and erasers and every other item her brother used to create his drawings. 
 
  “Silly cat…” Cass mumbled, sniffing and crouching to take the mess from the ground to the desk once again. She couldn’t leave it all scattered that way. Damian had always put too much love into his things, especially everything related to his drawing hobby.
 
  For an act of destiny, she flipped through the last pages of the sketch book, the ones she expected to be bare. Except, one of them was filled almost completely with a drawing of herself together with 
  
    Steph and Tim. 
  
  All three were laughing, huddled together on the denn’s floor like they had just fallen from playing twister. All the details were stunning, just too perfect for words. She gasped, staring unblinkingly at the perfection in front of her, a rendition she would never have expected from Damian - he didn’t even 
  
    like
  
   her friends! And yet, their eyes were exuberant, their 
  
    body language 
  
  was full of love and acceptance for each other and their laughs could almost be 
  
    heard
  
  . Their voices, tones and inclinations, just looking at them at that single page evoked such a synesthesia that Cass felt blown away with the absolute 
  
    love
  
   Damian had poured into this one - she could hear it all, their playfulness, their fun. She could almost believe it to be a home made movie, and not a static drawing.  
 
  It felt like family, too. Just like the one with Alfred and Bruce and Damian. 
 
  The hole inside her heart was filled to the brim with absolute and unquestioning 
  
    love
  
  . She had been ignoring her friends after Damian’s death, because she couldn’t deal with the thought of losing anyone else she cared for - so if they were apart, she would not care any longer, right? But she knew it didn’t work that way. 
 
  They were family. 
 
  
    Damian
  
   remembered her of that, even not being present anymore.
 
  And if she couldn’t save and protect her big brother, she would do it for these two. Who cared about a mother that she never met, when she already had a growing family that loved her just so d@mn much? 
 
  She asked quietly for his forgiveness as she ripped the drawing from the sketch book and took it to her room.
 
  And everytime her eyes ended up looking at it she felt Damian inside her heart with strength enough to make her breathless for a few moments.
 - 
  Tim knew Damian must hate him. 
 
  (That could happen when: 1) you had died, then later discovered to been brought back to life and left lost on your own for a few months, and by an act of destiny remembered who you were after discovering your Father took guardianship over your little sister’s blonde friend and as Batman took your sister’s other little friend as Batboy, 
  
    your
  
   mantle; and 2) when apparently everyone had effectively moved on from your death within a year. 
 
  So yep, Tim could totally see how Damian must hate him.
 
  Even if the circumstances of Tim becoming Batboy probably weren’t the ones Damian thought, but, who cares right?)
 
  Yet, he couldn't stop admiring the older boy. Clearly flawed, with a temper to be reckoned with - but soft with the ones he cared for and loyal to a fault. He had seen it all before Damian died, when he followed Batman and Batboy through the nights of Gotham and after he discovered their civilian identities, being capable of seeing them as a family almost on a daily basis. 
 
  So when he discovered - via snooping a little bit on Bruce's online traces, oops - that Damian was 
  
    alive
  
  , a year after he had died, Tim knew that even if the older boy hated his guts he had to go talk to him. He could not let Damian keep away from his family because of him - it was actually his first argument when he reasoned with himself; however, Tim knew that the real reason was that he was clearly a masochistic fan boy to the original Batboy (who had hated being attached to that name but was helpless to change it after the criminals and the media stuck calling him that). So, yep, Tim 
  
    may
  
   have been giddy with the chance to finally talk to the other boy, now known to be alive, as someone that was 
  
    in 
  
  on the secret. 
 
  Therefore it was only a matter of a few days for him to locate Damian on Metropolis, break in his motel room and wait for him to show up. 
 
  It went as bad as you can imagine, but at least Tim left the place alive and without serious injuries (Totally a win in his opinion!).
 
  Tim thought that was that. He knew Damian must hate him too much to accept it all, and even if Bruce was hurting from the distance and Cass was almost going crazy wanting to hunt down her big brother and force him back home, Tim was certain things would keep that way for a long time still. 
 
  Almost six months later, he was kidnapped by the Joker. 
 
  Apparently, things could change really quickly if you pushed the right buttons. 
 
  “Oh, little bat! We are going to have 
  
    so much fun
  
  !” The Joker laughed hysterically, staring at Tim with crazed eyes.
 
  “I think we actually have different opinions about what that entails.” Tim had quipped, trying to keep his voice steady and strong. “Are you sure going to the movies wouldn’t be a better idea?” He tried pulling his bindings, searching for any opening to get himself out of that situation.
 
  “Oh don’t fret, little bat, the show I have planned will be entertainment 
  
    enough
  
  .” The clown’s voice became a whisper at the last word, and before he could stop it from happening, a needle connected to a syringe full of a liquid Tim a few minutes later realized was Fear Toxin pricked inside his forearm-
 
  “Scarecrow was nice enough to send you a little gift. Lets appreciate it, shall we?” 
 
  - and he was lost. 
 
  There was pain, despair, 
  
    fear so much fear
  
  , and it all felt like an eternity. Moments of lucidity 
  
    pain pain shock pain Junior pain too much pain
  
   were tightly intertwined with moments of pure unaltered 
  
    terror 
  
  induced by the toxin, and Tim didn’t know what was real and what was not anymore. 
 
  He wasn’t conscious enough, but Tim was almost sure he babbled and begged Batman to save him - only to have the psychotic clown laugh at his face. 
 
  It went on, and on, and on, 
  
    and on
  
  -
 
  “What will I do, now? I 
  
    did
  
   have a few days to play for a bit, and I am getting tired of this. Besides, you turned out to be a waste of my time, you know that? Not a single worthy information about the Big Bat. Why would I want to know how he takes his coffee, anyway? So disap
  
    pointing
  
  . ” The Joker wondered out loud, circling Tim’s crumpled, hurt and tired form over the table, the boy still wearing his torned up uniform and domino mask. At least his identity was still intact - not that would make a great difference. “Well, let’s take this to the next level. Batsy apparently is not going to find you, so I get to do what I really want. Between the two of us, he sure is losing his touch, isn’t he? Such a 
  
    shame.
  
  ” He hissed near Tim’s head, giggling. 
 
  Tim’s head lolled to the side, trying with the rest of control he still had to distance himself from the psychopath. 
 
  “I have an amazing idea for your new identity, dear.” The Joker giggled, walking to the little metal table near the one Tim was deposited. “Let’s put a smile on that pretty face!” The clown yelled with glee while Tim looked at him in time to see a scalpel on the rogue’s hand. 
 
  Oh, God. He was going to die, and it wasn’t going to be pleasant. He was sure of it.
 
  “That could be interesting, but let's leave the imbecile with his face the way it is.” The voice, giving away very intense 
  
    furious 
  
  vibes, reverberated all around the empty walls of the wherehouse. The Joker stopped, straightening his back in interest and curiosity. That wasn’t Batman’s voice.  
 
  “Well, well, well. And who are you?” He drawled, looking up and not seeing a single thing beyond the light illuminating his ‘operation table’ in the center of the place.
 
  “
  
    Your worst nightmare
  
  .” 
 
  Tim would never forget that day. It would always be ingrained on his mind, between his most important memories, right beside his first patrol night with the feeling of
  
     flying 
  
  while grappling and parkouring over the rooftops. 
 
  He would 
  
    never
  
   forget how Damian, as Shadow, with his black and grey kind of 
  
    ninja style 
  
  uniform complete with a black hood and a face mask covering the low half of his face, appeared out of nowhere 
  
    behind
  
   the psychotic clown, disarmed him in one clean sweep and hit his face with his elbow with enough force to 
  
    break
  
   the Joker’s nose. 
 
  For a second, Tim could swear Damian’s eyes were glowing 
  
    green
  
  . 
 
  Which was not possible. Right?
 
  Shadow wasn’t giving the Joker much room. Still disoriented and not recognizing the new player, he was an easy target to Damian’s fists and feet, receiving the beating he so much deserved. Shadow was precise, brutal and clean on his movements, and it was almost like a 
  
    dance
  
  , one of violence too perfect even for Batman’s standards. Damian throwed the Joker away with his own hands, and the man fell over a few boxes scattered around them, coughing up blood and grinning with a few newly missing teeth and his now very heavily bleeding crooked nose. 
 
  Then, when the older boy took the first step at the clown’s direction, ready to keep going on the 
  
    sweet retribution 
  
  he was raining upon the trash in front of him, the Joker started laughing uncontrollably, stretching one of his hands to the air with a detonator in his grasp and stopping Damian right where he was. 
 
  “That was actually really fun!” The clown exclaimed, panting. “But it only grows more interesting if you hear me out.” He continued, getting up slowly and clearly with much difficulty, still in a fit of giggles. “If you come after me, I will blow this place to pieces and the little bat dies.” 
 
  Damian didn’t seem very impressed, if his posture without a single twitch was any indication. 
 
  “How original.” He commented, the sarcastic tone of his voice confirming Tim’s impression - Yep, totally unimpressed. “And if I choose to stay and save the imbecile behind me, you will still blow this place up with a time frame to entertainment purposes.” He tipped his head sideways, staring ahead and not giving Tim any glance. 
 
  The Joker scowled, huffing with irritation. “You're 
  
    no fun
  
  ! Worse than the Bat!” He complained. 
 
  “Go ahead.” Damian prompted, staring down the clown while crossing his arms. The crazed eyes of the rogue narrowed, and his thumb pushed the red button. 
 
  “Well, kill my joy, will you? Why so 
  
    serious
  
  ? Next time, let’s put a smile on 
  
    your face
  
  !” The Joker hissed, and soon he disappeared into the darkness. A tiny beep had started as soon as the man pushed the button, and when Damian looked at Tim’s location, he saw the timer under the table with red numbers counting down - with less than a minute left. 
 
  Tim couldn’t believe what he was seeing and hearing. He couldn’t even grasp the concept that 
  
    Damian
  
   had come. 
 
  “This is exactly why you should not continue this shameful charade.” The older man stated acidly, efficiently taking off all the bindings holding Tim to the table. “You are not made for this, your training is lacking and you are clearly unprepared for the most nasty aspects of this life.” Damian continued, while throwing Tim over his shoulder like he weighed nothing, shooting his grappling gun to the roof of the wherehouse and escalating the hole present there with Tim secured with one arm.  
 
  The younger boy was just too exhausted to comprehend what the other was saying, and with his head upside down and his face pressed against Damian’s back, he didn’t even have the energy to answer. 
 
  Just as Damian shooted his grappling gun one more time and they swung away from that place, there was the heat accompanied by the deafening 
  
    boom
  
  , and together with the destruction of the wherehouse there was a column of fire to the sky, briefly. 
 
  
    Damian had saved him
  
  . 
 
  “Thanks…” He murmured, his eyes closing on their own accord. 
 
  “
  
    Tt.
  
  ” 
 
  It was the last thing he remembered of that night, and it became one of his most annoyingly favorite sounds ever.
 -  
  She was scared. 
 
  Stephanie couldn’t believe nor accept it, but she knew deep inside how scared she truly was. She 
  
    did
  
   try to pretend she was not, but with the family she now was part of, it was incredibly hard to maintain any facade. Cass could read her as easily as breathing and Tim wasn’t much different, even if between the two only one was officially a sibling (For now. Bruce wouldn’t resist, she could totally see it happening in a near future. The man was already her Guardian, if Tim’s parents were not attentive enough soon the boy would absolutely become the man’s ward too). 
 
  She considered asking Cass. 
 
  Steph thought back to a few things that had happened in the last four years. Cass and her had been friends for a couple of years before Damian's death (from 
  
    school
  
   of all places, because of 
  
    Ballet
  
  . Being a good acrobat, very determined and a bit impulsive had landed her a scholarship to Gotham Academy, yay), Steph had figured out her friend’s vigilante life almost six months after his passing, and she had ended up asking for Cass’s help to stop her father’s plans after his release from Blackgate and his return to the crime life - she was absolutely 
  
    done
  
   with the man promising to stop 
  
    and never stopping. 
  
 
  However, after a few months it all spiralled out of control because of their inexperience. 
 
  Cass had been the one to stop her father before his web ended up killing Steph - like it did her mother, a horrible 
  
    collateral damage 
  
  as he justified himself. Cass was there, fought monsters and won as the incredible Black Bat, saving Steph from death and from a life of loneliness and guilt (the failure of not saving her mother still brought tears of self-loathing to Steph’s eyes when she was alone, laying on her bed waiting sleep to claim her and hoping it would come without nightmares). Batman put Cluemaster on Arkham, and Bruce Wayne took her in - already knowing her and treating her like a daughter, even if as a disobedient one.
 
  Cass had already done too much, she just couldn’t ask her about this. When the other girl volunteered without the need for her to voice it, Steph denied the company. 
 
  Tim tried to volunteer, too. He was such a stubborn and intelligent best friend, she almost caved - what would be so bad in having someone beside her on that particular frightening task?  
 
  But the boy wasn’t fully recovered even after a few months of his encounter with the Joker, he was having relapses, and the stress of this whole situation and the 
  
    place
  
   she was going to could make his recovery even more difficult. She wouldn't let him do it.
 
  And she was determined to go. Stephanie could not be afraid of 
  
    him
  
   any longer, she couldn’t let Arthur Brown have any power over her anymore. 
 
  So she denied Tim’s company too, and when she finally gathered the courage she needed, she left the manor through the front door determined to call a taxi that could take her to Arkham Asylum - and was greatly surprised to find the one person Stephanie hadn’t thought would actually offer to go with her.
 
  Damian. 
 
  (She didn’t know if she was going to kill Cass or hug her to death for warning big bad 
  
    bro 
  
  about her plans)
 
  Almost two years after his death, he had been an incredible and very unwilling big brother to her and Tim after the younger boy’s nightmarish experience with the Joker, making them feel secure and comforted even if the only feelings Damian had for them were exasperation and frustration. So she was definitely not expecting him to actually warm himself to her, enough to 
  
    demand
  
   (if it wasn’t for the whole situation and for her nerves, she would totally sass him for his tone) to go with her.
 
  “Don’t lower your intelligence any further, Brown. You are a minor, you still need an adult’s supervision for this. I will not hear any complaints.” Were his words, embedded in irritation but without real heat, before threatening her to hop up on his civilian bike or he would carry her sorry person over his shoulder (Apparently, it was a thing).
 
  Sometimes she asked herself how Damian’s 
  
    aggressively 
  
  caring (being ‘aggressively’ really a key word here) could make her feel so secure. 
 
  “Ok, ok! I’m coming!” Steph exclaimed as soon as she saw Damian starting to step at her direction. He huffed impatiently and it only made her giggle. 
 
  Damian was silent after that, a comfortable silence, born from someone that only judged those for their cowardice, and Stephanie was no coward. She was 
  
    terrified
  
  , but she was definitely no coward. 
 
  The whole way was a blur. Her hands were trembling as she walked to the visitors block and her legs felt like jelly - in a moment she was going through every safety measure together with Damian, and in the other she was sitting on one side of the glass that separated visitors from prisoners, staring numbly at the face of the man that she never truly knew, considering he spent most of her life in Blackgate. 
 
  She could see his mouth moving around words, but she couldn’t hear a single thing. Suddenly her fear and anxiety became numbness, and while her father seemed content in monologuing, she became capable of noticing other things too. 
 
  Like how Damian’s reflection on the glass emitted protectiveness and anger, something she was sure he wasn’t expecting her to see. 
 
  How he looked exactly like the Big Brother she knew him to be, even from when she only knew him from being 
  
    Cass’s
  
   big brother (the one that clearly thought of Steph and Tim as the two extremely aggravating kids that wouldn't leave his little sister alone).
 
  The haughtiness, the nose up in the air - he was so tall now, his presence so strong, and the glare he had always sent to those he thought were beneath him was directed strongly at her father, translating his scorn for the man at the other side of the glass so clearly that somehow Stephanie’s numbness started to turn into confidence. Her mother was dead (almost a year and a half without her, and the pain was not any less than the day it had happened), but Steph wasn’t alone. She would never again be alone. And staring back once again at her father showed to her how Arthur was pretty aware of that: at his tiny glance at Damian’s direction, at his barely noticeable stiffening and nervous energy with her continued silence, she glimpsed something she had already known but had not accepted as a fact yet: he was a weak, 
  
    weak
  
   man. 
 
  She grinned, feeling extremely satisfied with how that action was enough for her father to lose his composure. Huh, taking the power for herself could be easier than she had thought.
 
  Sounds returned to make sense inside her head, then.
 
  “I hope you’ll rot in here. Always a pain in my ass to see you, so if you ever think about calling me, please 
  
    don’t
  
  .” Stephanie said, talking for the first time since sitting on that plastic and uncomfortable grey chair, feeling extremely proud of herself for how steady she had sounded. Her father sputtered, clearly wanting to say something back, but she just continued with an enthusiastic- “Bye!” turning and leaving the place soon after, ignoring completely his shouted words.   
 
  “Tt” Damian huffed around a smirk, following her out. 
 
  Leaving her father behind, after all the grief and suffering he had caused, turned out to be more liberating than she had ever imagined.
 
  Stephanie passed her arm around Damian’s as soon as they were out of the building and walking at the exit direction where his bike was parked, ignoring his pinched look and subsequent glare of ‘do we really need to?’ like a pro (She was becoming a master on reading Damianness). 
 
  He had done so much with so little, and she knew just the best way of showing her gratitude-
 
  “So, you and Jon, hm?” She grinned, enjoying very much the tiny tick of one of his eyebrows. “I still remember how you two were almost tearing each other’s clothes off-”
 
  “Brown! Why must you be so vulgar?!” He interrupted, very much flustered and indignant.
 
  -teasing him a hell of a lot.
 
  Stephanie laughed, feeling finally free. 
 - 
  There was a tiny Arkham breakout, with like only two big escapes. 
 
  And of course the two in question created a trap. 
 
  Jason should have expected that, it was kind of obvious now that he thought back on it. 
 
  Gotham’s villains were a flashy kind of a competitive lot, after all. There were those focused on crime Lording the hell out of the city, like the Penguin and Black Mask, and there were those focused on creating chaos all around just for the pleasure of challenging Batman every now and then; but the one thing they had in common was to be a real 
  
    pain in the ass
  
  . Their 
  
    need
  
   for showing each other and Batman up sometimes only served to give the Bat family a lot of headaches and a few premature gray hairs. And considering the Joker was 
  
    hospitalized
  
   a few weeks ago, and words on street all talked about how the 
  
    Shadow
  
   was the one to put him there after the crazy clown went after another Bat kid… again - of course the sh@tty villains of this crazy city would want to show how much better than the clown they are: by getting their ugly hands on Damian’s vigilante persona and actually not going to hospital. 
 
  So, luring the Shadow out by doing the exact same thing the Joker did? Totally obvious, he really should have expected it.
 
  Jason was absolutely done with that. Seriously. Considering he had been the one initially trapped by the Joker and saved by Cass and Steph from a painful death - the one Damian felt like beating the sh@t out of the crazy clown for (especially taking into consideration that the psycho had already tried something similar to Tim, so, yeah), and the one chosen by the Riddler and the Scarecrow for this pathetic kidnapping now 
  
    too
  
  … Jason was simply and completely 
  
    done
  
  .
 
  “I fell for the Joker’s trap 
  
    once
  
   and now I’m bait-for-older-bat-siblings material? Really?” He murmured, snarling at the chain holding him in place. “Oracle was really smart, choosing the brainy way of doing things and staying away from these imbeciles… Oh My God, I’m talking just like 
  
    that
  
   @ssh@l@.” Jason groaned, banguing his head against the hard wood of the wall behind himself. 
 
  The worst part? 
 
  The whole 
  
    drama
  
  .
 
  The Riddler was creating a big ass distraction, with a lot of innocent civilians lives on the line as a way of convincing Batman & Co. to pay attention to him, only; and the Scarecrow kidnapped Batboy expecting the Shadow’s clear protectiveness to act on it (which, unfortunately, was a correct assumption. Jason should really have a talk with his older brother about predictability. Really). After having him where Crane wanted him to, the rogue put two bombs on this place, from what Jason had gathered from the usual monologue he was given while being hit with a light sleeping dart, being tied and carried to this empty abandoned building and chained to the wall like a dog - a very out of it dog, but like a dog nonetheless. One bomb to release an incredibly large amount of fear toxin and another to blow the place to pieces less than five minutes after the first one. 
 
  ...
 
  Too much drama, for God’s sake. And really unoriginal, if you asked for his opinion.
 
  After the whole soap opera was created, the man 
  
    left
  
  . Yep, he 
  
    left
  
  . The Scarecrow wasn’t even 
  
    present
  
  , monitoring and controlling everything from a safe distance clearly having at least the common sense of not being in Shadow's punching radius after what he had pulled. 
 
  (It seemed the rogues were now a bit more afraid of the guy, who could have imagined? 
  
    Huh
  
  )
 
  However, of course the idiot villain left a few unfortunate goons behind, to try to make things more difficult for Damian when everyone knew, even the thug’s moms, that Shadow was just too good at what he did to not have this sh@t under control as soon as he got the news. He was just that badass (but Jason would not say that to his face, 
  
    ever
  
  . Damian’s ego was already big enough, thank you very much).
 
  And if besides all the above, if, 
  
    hypothetically,
  
   the goons had actually taken his comms and every single thing from his utility belt, well, Jason could say with a clear conscience that he was in deep sh@t. 
 
  (At least the rest of his uniform was intact. Bless small victories!)
 
  He couldn’t say who would be more p@ss@d with the whole situation: Bruce or Damian. At least he knew that using his very charming personality could tame Bruce a little bit - his Dad was such a big softie inside, that Jason was extremely embarrassed when anyone brought up his fear from Batman from four years back. Just. So. 
  
    Embarrassing
  
  !
 
  Yet, Damian was not so easily moved. D@mn him. He could not resist Cass and D@ck’s puppies eyes, but 
  
    Jason’s
  
   he would not only 
  
    snort 
  
  at, he would 
  
    flick
  
   his nose too. So outrageous!
 
  “He’s here!” A yell came from the end of the corridor out of the room Jason was into, waking him from his musings while a tiny explosion was heard and a green gas started to spread all around. 
 
  “Well, look who arrived at the party!” Scarecrow’s voice could be heard from the various speakers scattered through the place. “You only have five minutes, little bat!” The man laughed.
 
  Well. D@mn. 
 
  While hearing grunts, thuds of falling bodies and yells of pain between the shots that were going everywhere, Jason found it simply impossible to not breath in any of the fear toxin. His breather was one of those things taken, and his hands were 
  
    chained
  
   to a hecking wall. So, yeah, he was kind of forced to breath the d@mn thing - he could 
  
    taste
  
   it by the back of his throat, and man was it 
  
    disgusting
  
  .
 
  It took no time at all for Damian to reach him while leaving the unconscious thugs behind. 
 
  He was already noticing tiny effects starting, like seeing a monster where Damian was before, when his brother reached him with a “You hopeless 
  
    imbecile!
  
  ” with a horrible growled voice. Jason would forever proclaim he did 
  
    not
  
   flinch at that moment, because he 
  
    obviously
  
   knew it was not a terrifying monster in front of him, just his brother. Yep. 
 
  “I can not believe this.” The thing growled at him. “Where did my training go? I thought I had taught you better.” It kept growling. 
 
  Jason did not 
  
    whimper
  
  . Nope. Never. 
 
  The monster froze. Then he growled a few bad words in 
  
    Arabic
  
   - which by the way, 
  
    rude
  
   - and took out a clear siringue from his own utility belt, taking Jason’s arm with one big clawed hand and injecting the liquid inside the younger boy’s forearm. The monster was slowly becoming Damian again. 
 
  At least he had been lucid enough to not fight back the supposed beast. Damian should thank him later for not making it all even more difficult, seriously.
 
  The next thing he knew, Damian’s 
  
    breather
  
   was being put over his own mouth and nose, preventing him from re-intoxicating himself and leaving the other completely unprepared for the gas.   
 
  “But… Wha… You?” He found himself still a bit disoriented, feeling jittery and extremely weak all of a sudden. Oh man.  
 
  “Shut up.” Damian answered, returning his usual mask to its previous position over his face, and aggressively letting him free from the chains. The hallucinations were gone, but apparently the little jumps of being easily scared were still a thing, considering how Jason jumped from the noise of the chains falling to the ground. “Can you walk?” Damian’s voice was strained, and then Jason’s soul almost jumped out of his body, because the next moment, without waiting for an answer, Damian turned his back hastily while being crouched and practically shouted at him “Get on my back!” with a growl of urgency and nervousness not common of him at all. 
 
  There is no need to say that Jason obeyed hurriedly and without question. 
 
  With his legs embracing his brother’s waist and his trembling arms around the older’s neck, Damian concluded Jason was secure enough for them to leave, and as soon as their body left the window starting the jump for the nearest building - the second bomb went off, it’s explosion shoving them with more brutality than both were expecting against the neighbor rooftop (he sure hoped the goons survived, because 
  
    oh boy
  
  ). 
 
  Their landing was anything but gentle, both rolling over and over and over until finally stopping almost at the end of the roof they were on, with Damian immediately throwing himself protectively over Jason’s body. For a moment there was no sound, just an insistent never ending ringing noise inside his eardrums, making every tiny movement seem like it was happening in slow motion.
 
  It took a few moments to gather his bearings once more, but eventually he did it.
 
  “Five out of ten for the rescue execution…” Jason mumbled when rocks stopped falling all around them and when his head didn't feel like being buried under cotton. Being totally ignored, he felt Damian rolling off of him and sitting at his side. 
 
  When his older brother didn’t answer his sass back, Jason felt like his heart wanted to jump out of his mouth. Damian 
  
    never
  
   stayed silent after one of his cheeky remarks. 
 
  “Shadow?” He called quietly, looking at his brother and finally noticing how his green eyes were 
  
    wide wide wide
  
  , and how 
  
    stiff 
  
  his whole posture was - more than normal, and with a lack of awareness he was not used to see on someone that was so 
  
    present
  
   at all times. “Dames?” Jason called even more quietly, remembering slowly how the other boy had given him his own fear toxin 
  
    antidote
  
   and his own 
  
    breather 
  
  too. 
 
  Dear God.
 
  Damian was under the toxin’s influence. 
 
  
    Sh@t
  
  .
 
  “Damian?” He called again, slowly reaching his hand to the other’s shoulder. As soon as his fingers touched the older boy, Damian startled and turned to him, staring at him with now 
  
    glowing green eyes
  
  . 
 
  Jason gasped, seeing it for the first time. He remembered the times Tim had talked about the night Damian had saved him, how he had seen something like this when he was rescued from the Joker, but how at the time he had thought it had been just a light trick. And now, right now, Jason learned that it had actually happened, and that maybe they didn’t really know every important thing about their big brother. 
 
  “I dunno what ya seeing, but its not real.” Suddenly he was so afraid 
  
    for 
  
  Damian, that Jason fell back on his old speech. “Focus on ma voice. Everything's fine.” He continued, anxiously. 
 
  Damian blinked once, twice, and then the glowing was gone. 
 
  “No names on the field.” He hoarsely chastised Jason, stiffly getting up. His eyes wandered all around them, straying for a few seconds longer on his own hands before barely focusing back at his younger brother. With almost unnoticeable trembling fingers, Damian tapped his comm to life- “Shadow to O. Batboy is fine. It is a wrap for us.” and announced, with now vacant eyes and a straight and rigid-as-a-rock back. 
 
  Jason couldn’t hear what Tim answered, being without his own comm, and he almost didn’t hear any of the other things Damian said back. After, he would get to know how Cass and Steph were the ones to bring Scarecrow to the police, and how D@ck saved all the civilians while Bruce arrested the Riddler. But now, at this moment, he could only absently get up and follow Damian’s orders, focused entirely on making sure his brother was ok enough to arrive home safely - focused on watching Damian’s back with everything he still got, when, after all, his older brother seemed too unable to do so himself. 
 
  And wasn't that a horrifying thought.
 
  He made sure Alfred gave the older boy the antidote just as they arrived back at the Batcave.
 
  And if he kept observing Damian the following days, he felt entirely justified.
 
  Damian had saved him far more times than he could really count.  
 - 
  There had been another Arkham breakout, and D@ck was starting to think that maybe they should fortify the place better (Who knows, maybe that way the prisoners would stay 
  
    in
  
   prison. Imagine that. 
  
    Scandalous
  
  !).
 
  He could admit that things were not going so well. They were all working on this, even Tim whom usually preferred to operate from the Clock Tower as Oracle was actively fighting as Red Bat (and trying really hard together with Jason to disarm the bombs not yet detonated - and well, thinking about it, D@ck was actually not sure if those two working together was a good idea at all. He could totally see Batboy trying to convince Red Bat to let a few ‘inoffensive’ explosions go 
  
    boom
  
  ). Batman was working to apprehend the Joker, while Cass as Black Bat together with Steph as Batgirl were responsible for Killer Croc. 
 
  D@ck, as Robin, was trying to save as many people as possible from the horrible mess a few of the rogues had created, specifically the Joker and the Scarecrow (they had formed such a disturbing team, that D@ck shuddered every time he thought about the horrifying collaboration). And Damian, as Shadow, ended up responsible for Scarecrow even after much protest from absolutely everyone in the family, especially after what happened a few months back. The man was just too stubborn for his own good, and it did not matter how distracted he had been since then or even how introspective (way more than he already was, sometimes) he had been acting, Damian wouldn’t hear their worries at all (which was actually pretty normal and frustrating, ugh). 
 
  “Shadow, report.” Batman grunted through the comms, the mad giggling as background making D@ck flinch a little bit. Bruce was still dealing with the Joker, apparently. 
 
  He straightened himself after helping a little child out of the wreckage, dividing his attention between the comms and the few civilians he still needed to help. He looked over the destruction of the collapsed building in front of him, one of the places they hadn’t stopped the detonation in time, and felt like crying a little bit. 
 
  It took a few moments for them to hear from Damian, but when it came, it created mixed feelings. “Scarecrow has been dealt with.” He answered, absently, clearly distracted by whatever he was seeing, and then- “A bomb exploded before it should near my location, I am going to see if there are any survivors.” His voice cracked at the end, sending warning bells to everyone, D@ck was sure of it. 
 
  “Keep me posted.” Batman huffed quietly, a hidden tone of concern under the gruffness. He rolled his own eyes, asking himself why their dad was so emotionally constipated. It wasn’t so hard to say something like ‘please be careful, do you need help? Never mind, I’m on my way’ or something like that. 
 
  Actually. Well. 
 
  D@ck helped the last survivor on the site he was at, and grinning determinately to himself, switched the side button of his domino mask to see the digital map on it’s lenses and access the family’s location. Triumphantly he found the one he was after, already preparing to go to him, doing himself what he thought someone should.
 
  “Red Bat and Batboy, report.” He heard Batman asking next, while he used his grappling gun to the next tall building on his way and ignored completely his brother’s answers. At the distance he could see the place Damian had apparently entered, bursting with flames enough to lighten up the sky right above it, and he corrected his arch to its direction. 
 
  D@ck was so focused on his destination, something he would rant to himself a lot later, that he did not see at all the ninjas hidden in the shadows of the next rooftop - that is, until they had already cut his line, making his landing a lot less graceful than he was used to. He grunted, rolling over while trying to reach his balance once more, feeling his heart galloping inside his chest with the burst of adrenaline. When he was up again, standing defensively and pretty much ready to fight, he noticed at last how he had been surrounded. 
 
  Just 
  
    asterous
  
  ! 
 “Well, things took a turn for the dramatic in a way I was not expecting to.” D@ck quipped, grinning. “Were you guys even invited?” 
  “Oh, little bird, you have 
  
    no
  
   idea.”
 
  D@ck felt goosebumps crawl over his body as soon as the woman’s voice reached his ears. A beautiful lady appeared, taking soundless steps, smoothly approaching him like a hunter watching its prey, sporting a feral glint on her 
  
    green
  
   eyes - eyes so familiar, just as her lithe body and her air of superiority, that the knowledge of 
  
    who
  
   she could be just popped inside his mind without any prompting.
 
  The ninjas only made it more obvious, now that he knew what to look for.
 
  “We 
  
    created
  
   the party.” She smirked, stopping just a couple feet away from him. “You must be the circus trash Beloved couldn’t leave alone, the last charity case Damian took under his wing.” She continued, keeping one hand over her hip while the other played absently with a dagger. The condescendance dripped from her words, matching the way she looked at him like he was just an annoying insect.  
 
  He ignored the barb, letting the offense fly over his head. The grin he had been sporting left his face, substituted by a focused glare. The others had rarely spoken about the League of Shadows in front of him, the few times they did it were when Damian was absent - travelling in one of his alone times. D@ck knew little about his oldest brother’s past, but what he knew was enough to understand how Talia shouldn’t have the chance of facing Damian ever again. 
 
  At the same time, D@ck couldn’t deal with this situation alone. Of that, he was certain.
 
  So he touched his comm while staring at Damian’s mother intently, expecting her to stop his action. 
 
  However, when she just arched her eyebrow with that infuriating tiny smirk still present, and when the only thing he could hear was static - he felt his heart pounding even faster inside his chest, suddenly understanding that her confidence and tranquility went beyond her confidence over her own abilities. 
 
  She had jammed his only way of communication. 
 
  Oh man, he was in so much trouble. 
 
  “No need to worry, my dear.” She whispered, taking the last steps to reach him. He forced himself to stay put, waiting for the right moment to act. “By now, my son should have already seen my little message.” The back of her blade caressed his cheek, descending until the tip touched his neck - positioned in a way to raise his chin while he tried to avoid being cut open, forcing the blank of his white lenses of the domino's mask to stare at her satisfied gloating face.  
 
  At that moment he understood Jason’s talk about Damian’s overprotectiveness being such a predictable factor for villains. 
 
  D@mn.
 
  “Step away from him, Mother.” 
 
  D@ck startled a bit, flinching when the blade nicked his skin. Talia just smiled, tipping her head sideways while looking at her only child right at the edge of the rooftop they were all on. 
 
  “Damian, my Alexander.” She began, “Have you forgiven you mother, my son?” And continued, still keeping the tip of the dagger near D@ck’s neck. He couldn’t see Damian from the position he was in, but D@ck hoped against hope that his older brother had alerted the rest of the family to what was happening. 
 
  “No.” Damian’s voice ringed with finality. “And I never will.” 
 
  Talia’s face contorted with a tiny variety of emotions, from hurt and sadness to anger, and for a tiny instant, the blade pierced his skin one more time. “Such a shame. This could all be easier if you had.” 
 
  And then there was chaos. The ninjas jumped at Damian’s direction, and the sounds of fighting dominated the air.  
 
  However, the tiny distraction it all created was the perfect opportunity to distance himself from the woman that called herself Damian’s mother. With a gloved hand, D@ck redirected the dagger’s tip away from himself, while jumping to the opposite direction and creating a much needed space between them - enough to allow him to fight too, which he did immediately. Talia was strong and agile, her movements very similar to Damian’s, but at the same time more deadlier: like she was actually not holding back, and killing him wasn’t out of the question. 
 
  Deep down, D@ck knew his brother’s fighting style was a creation of a great variety of teachers - from the ones of his childhood with the League of Shadows, to their Dad and the others he trained under during the year he was thought to be dead. His controlled aggression at every hit, with his movements made to be precise with force enough to only incapacitate, made him the great warrior he was. But seeing how Dami’s Mother fought, D@ck felt saddened: because even with the other teachings he had had, Damian still fought similarly to the one that had betrayed him so deeply. 
 
  And unfortunately, D@ck still was inferior to Damian when they trained together.  
 
  “Stop, or I'll kill him. You know I will.” Talia voiced coldly, holding D@ck against her chest with the dagger now fully turned to his neck. Guilt and self-loathing consumed him whole as soon as he stared ahead, to the image of Damian stopping his fight immediately. The majority of the ninjas were down, at least, and between the negative emotions D@ck couldn’t help himself from feeling very proud too. 
 
  “What do you want, Mother.” Damian hissed, his green eyes narrowing dangerously. “I can already imagine what you are going to say, but I would like to hear it from your mouth.” He continued, raising his own chin and glaring at her the same way she had glared at D@ck: like she was absolutely nothing. 
 
  “We have let you wander around enough, my child. It’s time for you to come back.” She answered, tightening the arm around D@ck’s shoulders. “And if you don’t, maybe we will take this little Robin with us instead.” 
 
  Damian lowered his face mask while taking a step ahead, his expression absolutely 
  
    thunderous
  
  , scowling furiously- “You will do no such a thing!” while he yelled, his eyes 
  
    blazing
  
   green. The few ninjas still up readied their instances. 
 
  D@ck’s heart jumped, his now dry mouth open in surprise. He had heard Jason talking about glowing emerald eyes with Tim, but he never thought he would witness it. 
 
  “So you know what you have to do.” Talia commented victoriously. 
 
  “No…” D@ck mumbled, seeing his oldest brother's expression turning on something terrifyingly resigned. “Dami, no!” 
 
  “Find the others.” Damian stared at him, directly. Serious. Clearly, there was no debating his decision. “Let him go, and you have me.” He turned his blazing eyes to his mother, making his body language as unthreatening as possible. 
 
  “Very well. But first, let me guarantee it, shall we?” As soon as she ended up asking, there were handcuffs - 
  
    strange
  
   handcuffs - being put on Shadow's wrists and shins, with chains connected to them in a way that the ninjas were holding Damian’s arms and legs open, controlling his every movement from that moment forward. 
 
  At last, a metal collar, apparently from the same material the handcuffs were made of, was put around Damian’s neck. 
 
  Unshed tears filled D@ck’s eyes, hidden behind the lenses of the domino mask. It was like watching his oldest brother, the strongest of them all, the most proud and loving one - even with the hard carcass and the many walls Damian used to protect himself - being treated like an 
  
    animal
  
  .     
 
  “
  
    Find the others
  
  .” Damian repeated, avoiding his unflinching horrified eyes. 
 
  When Talia released him, D@ck ran.
 
  He needed his family. He couldn’t win nor save Damian alone. 
 
  A hundred feet away from the group, Robin heard his comm come to life, 
  
    Bruce’s
  
   voice anxiously yelling from the other side “-an! Damian, answer me!” 
 
  “... Help!” He gasped, sobbing, interrupting his dad frantically and simply not stopping- “She has him. Oh my God, she has him! Please, Dad!” 
 
  Too many voices asked him what had happened. All his siblings, immediately on alert with his urgency, asking him for details, telling him they were on their way.
 
  (The last time they had heard D@ck crying that way was the night his parents had died, back when they weren't even siblings) 
 
  He looked one last time to where he left his most precious brother, and his heart broke into a million pieces with the now 
  
    empty 
  
  rooftop. 
 
  Damian was gone. 
And it was his fault.'
User: Summarize the chapter based on the content provided, ensuring to follow the set format and emphasize key aspects within the specified length.
User: Summarize the chapter based on the content provided, ensuring to follow the set format and emphasize key aspects within the specified length.
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