Damian Wayne had seconds to react. To move, to jump, to lay down flat... to survive. Seconds is close to a minute to a well trained assassin.

When the semi-truck hit him, Bruce was just coming out of the hospital hot on his son's tracks.

The bumper crashed against Damian's thoracic region. Ribs shattered, his left humorous beyond repair. Clavicle shifted and broken. But that's not what killed him.

When Damian's body gave out and his agile legs were sucked under the halting truck, the bumper collided with his skull. His left parietal bone shattered on impact. The squamous and lambdoidal sutures were split. Cervical vertebrae were wretched from their tendons and fibrocartilage.

Damian Wayne's spinal cord snapped.

By the time the truck actually got stopped, he'd been brain dead for 4 seconds in a way that was similar to decapitation. Without the blood of course. And by the time Bruce Wayne pulled his mangled body out from under the truck, it was 8 seconds.

There was no saving the boy wonder.

Still, Bruce held his boy like he was made of glass- like he'd done the first time his boy had died.

"Help! Please! Help him!" The pained cry echoed into the hospital as he ran inside. Crimson ran down his fingers from where a rib had punctured Damian's skin.

A check of a pulse. The shake of a head. And the grim caped crusader stormed from the hospital to walk. He'd walk until he was in downtown Gotham, drenched to the bone. There he'd find a bank robbery, and inside, showed no mercy- even without the cape and cowl.

It wasn't until the next day when the Daily Planet newspaper read:
'Bruce Wayne's son dead!
Billionaire playboy beats robbers to nearly death after his son is killed in a tragic accident behind hospital.
After Damian Wayne's death behind Metropolis's St. Bernard's children's hospital, it seems the billionaire has lost it. Investors say Damian was visiting a friend (who wishes to remain anonymous) at the hospital when he ran from the building suddenly. While 2 inches of rain drenched the city yesterday night, the boy ran out into the road. An oncoming semi truck did not see Damian in time, and proceeded to hit him. The 14 year old suffered countless injuries including head trauma, and died at the scene. The driver of the vehicle sustained minor injuries and was released the following morning. No charges will be pressed and experts truly believe this was an accident, but have not thrown suicide out of the question...'

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Sorry it's so short!