Dr Kirk Langstrom had revealed that Deathstroke planned to create superhuman, flight-capable assassins, for which he had kept him captive until he perfected his formula. He had made that formula under pressure and Deathstroke had already injected some of his men with the serum, thus resulting in the horrendous ManBats that Damian and Bruce had encountered with earlier.

His family had been held hostage as well and Damian was certain that Deathstroke must have used his grandfather's base in the Himalayas. So Bruce took Langstrom to the Bat Cave and asked him to work on the antidote while he took his son along with him to free the doctor's family.

Bruce had used his connections to arrange for a fully equipped lab in the Bat Cave so that he could work on the formula as quick as possible. Nightwing was there to help him and Jason had smuggled in the required chemicals and other stuff using his own sources while Tim was tasked to monitor the oil rig and look out for any other activity related to Deathstroke or the League of Assassins.

In the meanwhile, the father and son were speeding towards the location of Ras Al Ghul's base in Bruce's helicopter, directed by Damian.

"I hope you are right about this," Bruce spoke up.

"I know these mountains well," Damian replied, eyeing the peaks closely, "I have been climbing them since I was four. It was part of my training."

He kept silent for a while knowing full well that the boy had undergone far rougher training as compared to climbing huge peaks. However, he let Damian resume the conversation.

"First time I climbed, I fell and broke my wrist. But I made it to the top anyway. It was expected; I was Ras Al Ghul's grandson."

A muscle twitched in Bruce's cheek, disguised by the cowl he wore. He could easily sense that the boy had been through a lot and just for the fact that he was Ras Al Ghul's grandson. He knew Damian idealized the man a lot despite the fact that he was responsible for several murders and other vice deeds.

"I was being groomed to lead humanity. Just like my grandfather. They were going to create a whole new world."

Bruce glanced at him briefly, "by killing?"

"If that's what it took," his reply was firm, indicating that it had been fed into his brain from a very young age.

"How do you hope to lead humanity when you have never been a part of it?"

Damian considered his words before speaking up, "what about you? From what I heard, your childhood wasn't a lot of fun either."

"I had my traumas, but I also had people around me to help; Alfred, Dick, others. I had friends," he paused and turned his focus back to the view in front of him, "as far as I can tell, all you've had were trainers. There's a difference, Damian."

A low grunt escaped Damian as he turned away, looking out the window. He knew Bruce was right; he never had any friends and all his time had been spent with his mother, grandfather and trainers. Sayuri had been an exception, because she wasn't actually a trainer but a captive who fought against him while his task was to learn her strategies.

And though he had respected her a lot as a warrior, he still hadn't considered her as a friend.

But then his gaze got caught by the peaks looming in front of him, shaking him out of his thoughts, "there's the stronghold, beyond those peaks."

Bruce steered the helicopter in that direction, and soon enough the base came into view, it's minarets sprouting from behind the snowy peaks. Damian told him to land a bit away from the stronghold on a hidden landing pad. He also knew a secret passage that opened into the stronghold and the two entered the building through it.

They cautiously crept inside but there was silence everywhere. Batman checked the corridors and found a room where it seemed as if someone had been tortured brutally. He had a guess that Deathstroke had probably captured Talia as well but before Damian could see it, he shut the door.

He knew well that if the boy came to know of it, he could spiral out of control. And right now, the last thing he needed was Damian to get caught in a temper tantrum. He was difficult to handle already and that knowledge of his mother being tortured could drive him even more on edge.

"Why are we wasting time searching here when it's obvious they've abandoned it?" Damian remarked after a short while of scouring through the empty rooms.

They were passing through a dark corridor when Batman paused, listening closely as he heard some voices, "wait, listen."

Damian too concentrated and sure enough, the voices were coming from behind the brick wall erected on their right.

"False wall," Bruce remarked as he pushed a brick and the cladding slid over, revealing a metal boor behind it.

He used a minor bomb to bombard the door and soon after the dust cleared, he stepped in to find a woman and her daughter cowering away in a corner of the room.

"Please, don't hurt us," the woman who was indeed Dr Langstrom's wife Francine, spoke up, "please..."

"We're not here to hurt you."

As the smoke cleard, she recognized that he was Batman and breathed in relief, "oh Batman, thank heavens. Where's Kirk?"

"Safe," he answered vaguely.

"We've been so worried," the two stood up, coming towards towards the door.

"You're safe now."

The girl, Rebecca, rushed forward to hug Damian, "Robin you saved us."

He felt a little uncomfortable as he remarked, "this is totally unnecessary."

However, Rebecca had used that hug to disguise the act of placing a small device in Damian's hand and she whispered in a low voice so that Batman wouldn't hear her, "Deathstroke said he would spare us if I gave this to you. Don't tell Batman, please."

Her eyes wide in fear as she retreated back to her mother. Damian had hid the device in his cape, knowing that it was probably another of Deathstroke's tricks.

Bruce led them all out, "there's a landing pad on the other side of the stronghold. I'll call Interpole to send a helicopter.It shouldn't take long."

But as he was escorting Francine and Rebecca out, Damian paused in a corner, hiding behind a wall as he clicked open the device. It played a video message from Deathstroke, just like he had expected.

"I have your mother, Damian. This is her location," the coordinates flashed up on the screen, "perhaps you've been there. this is between you and me. Leave the sperm donor out of it."

The screen flashed again, showing Talia handcuffed to the ceiling. Damian's jaw clenched in rage upon seeing his mother tortured so brutally.

"I'll give you 48 hours before I end her suffering. Be worthy of your heritage, boy. Make your mother proud."

Shortly after the scene went blank and in his rage, Damian crushed the device to smithereens. Deathstroke was playing a deadly game, luring him out to fight him by himself. But Damian knew he had to accept the challenge for he simply had to protect his mother at all costs.

So back when he joined Batman and the others, he had decided what to do next. He had made up his mind to slip out as soon as he possibly could, without letting anyone know.

***