~The Betrayal~

Leaving had been easy. After Daire's disappearance, Tim, Jason, and Dick left the manor, all making up pretty excuses as to their early departure. Damian had went up to his room, Bruce to the cave. Even Alfred had wondered off to be alone.

Without any supervision, with a heavy and hurting heart, Damian threw on his Robin outfit and climbed out the window. The defense systems were still shut off, making it too easy.

Tears pricked at Damian's eyes under the mask. Daire wouldn't have left without telling him. But then she had. She hadn't even left a note. He wouldn't have believed it if Bruce hadn't shown him the footage. Damian, himself, had scanned through it, finding it unaltered. He had stomped away, wordlessly.

He still couldn't believe it. Daire would never leave him like that- like this. Even when she left the League of Assassins, she snuck in to wish him farewell. She dotted on him with hugs and kisses until she had to leave.

He felt hollow. He wasn't good enough. He wasn't entirely sure what he did wrong, but he knew he'd prove himself. He'd prove his worth. Damian Al Ghul Wayne was trained from birth to be the best, and that's what the boy was.

But it still hurt. He felt empty. There wasn't a warmth to fill his aching chest. He was alone. Completely and utterly alone.

He landing softly in the loft Talon called home.

Maybe not completely alone.

Talon wouldn't leave him. Talon saw something in him even Bruce- the Batman- didn't. Talon needed him, even if Daire didn't.

He wandered a few steps in before stopping. Hood over his pained features, he stilled, letting the shadows swallow and bend around him. He waited, standing silently until Talon returned.

"Hello, Robin."

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

"Your grandfather would be proud. I'm proud."

Tender but firm hands gave a gentle squeeze to young shoulders. Daire schooled her features at the coaxed words, remaining neutral.

Returning to the League of Assassins wasn't something Daire particularly wanted. But it was necessary.

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

"So I put four bullets in Big Frankie's head," the gang leader bragged as a server handed him his food. The server put in extra effort to not look at the man hanging by his arms from the ceiling. It was always best to not look. "He never saw it coming. I was twenty- three years old, and with those four shots, I took control of all the crime families in the east end. By the time I was thirty, I'd taken half the city.

"Heh. You got stones, Mr. Draco, that's for sure," his thug complimented.

"Stones alone ain't enough, Gene. You gotta have brains too. And let me tell you- Big Frankie? He had brains. All over the room." The room busted out laughing at the morbid joke. So caught up in laughing, Mr. Draco chocked on his chicken leg.

He stumbled back, right into Talon. Talon wrapped his arms around the crime boss, performing the Heimlich maneuver.

Draco turned in appreciation. "Holy Jesus. I might've croaked on the spot if not for-" Talon stepped into the light, stopping him in his tracks. "Who the hell are you?"

"I'm the evening's entertainment." He pulled out two blades. "Can I get a volunteer from the audience?"

No one was willing to comply. They all pulled out guns, shooting mercilessly at Talon, who rolled back into the shadows.

Robin came from the ceiling, taking a few down. Together, the deadly duo took out Draco's men.

"I can pay you," Draco tried to compromise. "More money than you've ever seen."

Robin kicked him as he tried to crawl away. "I don't give a damn about money. What I care about is payback. For the lives your drugs have ruined." He put all his anger into his kicks, kicking as often and as powerfully as he could. "For the widows and orphans left in your bloody wake."

"You wanna help widows and orphans, punk, go join the Salvation Army."

Robin jumped, landing on his knees in the middle of Draco's chest.

"Finish him," Talon ordered, putting a knife in the boy's hand.

He brought the knife up to Draco's neck then hesitated, unsure. He pulled back. "We found enough evidence to put him away for the rest of his life."

"Finish him," Talon insisted.

"He's already finished," Robin protested, putting distance between himself and Draco.

"Hey. Ain't you the Batman's brat?" Draco asked. In retaliation, Robin made him kiss his boot.

"Not anymore."

As he left the room, he flicked the knife in his hand, cutting the rope from the man hung on the ceiling. The man crashed down, his wrists and arms aching from the sudden blood flow. His gag kept his grunts quiet, and he watched the hooded figure make his exit.

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

Talia didn't ask twice; Daire didn't want any doubt. She knew what she was getting herself into. She expected this test of alliance.

Her sword slid out of its sheath with the familiar grate. One hand rested on the sheath at her waist, she used her hips to put momentum into the swing.

Daire didn't flinch as the man's blood sputtered across her face. The man's eyes widened in shock. A kid. He spent his last moments staring into the blank eyes of a child who had obviously seen too much.

A mix of strangled gasping and gurgling emitted from him as his hands went to his neck, then the ground. His strength quickly faded, his life draining with the growing puddle of blood.

Blood. So much blood.

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

Talon waited several minutes on the roof. He felt more than heard Robin's presence when it finally arrived.

"I know you're there. If you've got something to say, say it."

Out of the shadows, Robin popped out. "I just wanted to tell you that I gathered up the evidence."

Talon made his way to Robin in a single bound, forcing himself into the boy's personal space. Robin stepped away, his back against the wall of the roof ventilation openings.

"Draco's got an army of lawyers that have kept him out of prison for years. But we could have erased him from the equation. Three nights we've been out here together. Three nights I've allowed the Batman to come between us. But no more. Now is the time to step across that line, become what you were born to be. Or I promise you, I will find someone else."

"It's just- I have to be sure."

Talon knew exactly what was holding the child back. "His voice is still in your head. 'Justice, not vengeance.' His voice is wrong. He's like a father to you, isn't he? You look up to him."

"Far from it," Damian immediately denied. "But, yes, I guess I do look up to him."

"I had a Batman in my life. He was a thief. A damn good one. And from a very young age, he made certain I was too. I was his shadow. His echo. I worshiped him. And more than anything, I wanted to please him."

"And did you?"

"No. No matter what I did, how hard I tried, I was never good enough. But what could I do? Not long after that, I was recruited by a secret society, the Court of Owls. They took me in, raised me, trained me. Gave me strength and purpose. What they did for me, I want to do for you."

A dark figure landed on chimney nearby.  "You've done quite enough," Batman called out.

Robin stood on guard. "How did you-?"

"Not too hard to track, considering the bloody trail you two have left."

"This is where you choose sides once and for all," Talon decided, running away.

Batman went to chase after him, but was stopped by a, "No," and his son.

"We've got to stop him. You don't understand. He's part of something bigger. He's using you, Robin, to get to me."

"Right. It's all about the great Batman," came the sarcastic, bitter reposte. "Well, for your information, he sees something in me that you don't."

"I don't have time for this," he huffed, pushing Robin aside. "Now, get out of my way before-"

The great, almighty Batman stopped in his tracks as Robin pulled out a bat-a-rang, blocking his path.

"Before what?" the boy challenged.

"Talon's right about one thing. The choice you make tonight will define you for the rest of your life."

Batman walked passed him, pulled out a grappling gun and started to follow Talon's trail. Effortlessly, Robin threw the bat-a-rang, and Batman fell back to the roof.

Robin initiated the fight, sending crippling blows his father's way. Batman didn't respond the way Robin hoped, simply dodging or blocking every attack Robin sent his way. None of his hits were hitting their marks, his father was too skilled a warrior.

So Robin changed up his attack. Swept Batman's feet from under him- or tried- the sent his back with a kick to the abdomen. Before the Dark Knight recovered, the Boy Wonder threw a smoke bomb in his face.

Okay, now Batman was getting annoyed. Really annoyed.

Robin leapt into the smoke, planning on keeping the upper hand, but Batman finally fought back. Robin flew back out of the smoke, where Batman gave the boy serious blows. One sent Robin forward, and Batman used the cape to yank the boy back and deliver another blow. Robin let out sounds of pain, but Batman continued his assault.

Robin finally got some hits in, and the real fight began.
The exchanged blows under Robin fell off the roof. He used a grappling hook to catch his fall. Batman leapt after him, handcuffing the boy to his own line. Robin dangled by his wrists in the air while the Dark Knight landed on the roof of the lower buildings.

Of course, it didn't take the boy to pick the handcuff locks and free himself.

The fight continued before he hit the ground, and they quickly fell through a skylight. During the descend, Batman held his son close, grunting as his body took the blunt of the falls. The tree (but didn't they fall through a skylight?) branches broke from their combined weight. And the dynamic duo hit a stone statue before meeting the ground.

Finally torn apart, Robin quickly picked up the fight. Batman didn't have time to recover before he got many punches to the face.

Robin let out a battle cry, holding a broken, sharpened branch over his head. His training, instincts, and brain told him to make the kill. It would be so easy, and all this internal conflict would end.

"If this is what you want, then do it. Do it."

He let out his final cry, digging the branch into the ground beside his father's head. Batman didn't even flinch.

A dead father wasn't part of what Robin wanted.

"Now, let's go home."

"My home isn't with you. It never was."

And he ran off.

He returned to Talon's "home" to find it vacant. On the mannequin Talon drove his sai through, he found a note.

"Glad you made the right choice. Be back soon. Wait for me. -T" it read.

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

Talia kept silent. Satisfied, she gave a curt nod to the daughter who didn't see it. Daire stood there, chest clutching. She swallowed, resisting the tears wanting to fill her eyes.

Blood. So much blood.

And another life.

What example was she setting for Damian?

How disappointed would Bruce be? Hell, he knew where she was. How disappointed is he?

She ruined any chance to be a part of the strange but wonderfully loving family. But she couldn't sit and let her mother get away with this.

She wouldn't mind being alone forever as long as her beloved brother stayed with his father. Her pain was worth his safety. Her life worth his.

Damian was worth killing for.