( oo9. old friends )
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GOTHAM CITY, NEW YORK
WAYNE MANOR
12:23 AM

IT WAS PAST MIDNIGHT BY TIME DAMIAN had finished patrolling and returned back to the Manor. He quietly pulled the ledge that opened his window and swiftly entered the room, the click of the window closing behind him. He would've been home about fifteen minutes early if he had not spent that amount of time small talking with Storm.

Tonight was an unusual night for him and it was the closest he had ever been to being social with someone other than his family and the Titans. The sound of car horns and traffic followed outside his window as he took of his gear. The boy never knew what went on in Storm's personal life, and the fact that she was comfortable sharing that to a complete stranger was beyond him. But he knew what she meant when she told Robin that today wasn't her day.

He had caught her arguing with a boy earlier that day. Damian didn't want to eavesdrop on their conversation but based on Storm's reaction, she clearly had history with him. He wasn't really going to involve himself with Storm's problems simply because it was none of his concern. He had other things to worry about.

Damian decided it was best for him to shower because of the sweat that built up from jumping from building to building the whole night. He quickly got a change of clothes, entered his bathroom and turned on the shower.

Steam began to surround the area as the water hot warmer. As he got in he was immediately reminded of the current situation at hand. His grandfather had something to do with the loose murderer that showed no mercy the victim they brutally killed that night.

His family secrets made him yearn for more answers, but that opportunity was obviously dead now. All the people who could've given him answers were dead. The only thing that made sense to him was that the slaughterer was an assassin, and Ra's had to know him somehow, including Damian's mother. But he felt like it was more to it. Especially how they just left the body there as if they wanted the police to find it.

But why the hell would they kill the man at all? It still made no sense whatsoever. Growing up, he was told that he should always kill with a purpose or a valid motive. That's what the teenage boy's grandfather had taught him, and he could remember the voice of Ra's feeding him all of that nonstop knowledge about the League of Assassins' morals and ways.

"You shall always kill with a purpose, Grandson. Without so much as justification, you'll drag yourself down the wrong direction as an assassin, which is intolerable for your future, Damian."

The words stuck to his mind like glue. It wouldn't go away at all. Another one of his grandfather's sayings crept into his mind like a bug also.

"Show no mercy towards your enemies."

"Remember who you were born to be."
     

A fucking murderer. A personal weapon that they thought they could control like a mindless machine. In reality, Damian's grandfather wanted to turn him into a pawn that he could put to use in his selfish plans. He had set him up to be a ruthless killer. Damian knew he was far gone from the killing stage because of his father, but his past still lingered onto his mind; a fucking pain in the ass if you asked him.

Sometimes he had intense urges to behead criminals that would get under his skin when it came to the horrible things they would do to the innocent souls that deserved to be happy. But he knew how to control it now, just like Bruce had taught him six years ago.

       
Justice, not vengeance.

       
At first, the boy thought the words were like a poison, trying to wash away what he thought was his destiny. He hated it sometimes, but he understood it now. Damian wasn't meant to be the ultimate assassin Ra's wanted him to become. He was meant to help his city, alongside with his brothers and father, who brought him towards the right path as a hero ── not a weapon.

His life was so much better than before. It definitely wasn't perfect, but it gave him so much relief. He didn't feel as trapped anymore with his new family. But his old one still had secrets that led up to whatever was going on now, and it wasn't making things any better for himself, or Gotham.

Fuck being an Al Ghul, Damian's thought to himself. He was done dealing with his old life with the league. He didn't want them crawling back into his life again either. It had already fucked his life over several times, including now. An assassin who had been involved with the league was out there, killing off random people like it was nothing and then leaving them out in the open for people to find.

They were never taught to do anything that stupid. What purpose did they have? What was their motive? Damian figured that it would be best to talk this over with his father.

Damian turned the shower off and quickly tugged on  a white shirt and a pair of black sweatpants. He doubted his father was asleep. Not like he ever got any at all. Bruce always kept himself up late, either from fighting street criminals or spending the night, dealing with Arkham Asylum break-outs. Either way, it kept him busy. No matter how many times Alfred would attempt to encourage the man to get some rest, he always refused, piling it onto Alfred's worries.

Damian never knew why Bruce had an obsession with not sleeping. He purposely kept himself up for whatever reason he had and everyone knew it. The most amount of sleep Bruce ever had was two hours, and that was out of the whole week.

Once Damian reached the delicate library that was only downstairs and down the hall, he pulled the correct book downstairs, causing the bookshelf to rotate halfway, giving him enough space to go inside. He walked down the lengthy staircase until he was met with four familiar faces, including his father.

He could obviously tell that they were working on something about the case because a picture of the League of Assassins' pin was displayed on the batcomputer. It didn't take long for Damian's brothers and father to realize he was present behind them. Jason then gave Bruce a look that Damian recognized so well. It was his "Oh shit." look. That's when he automatically knew they were hiding something from him.

Although Bruce kept a straight face, Damian knew that his father was in on something, too and that he knew that Damian wasn't buying it. It wasn't hard to read them. He's been reading people ever since he's came out of the womb. It eventually became natural to him.

"What's going on?" Damian asked his father, his eyes narrowing. He then turned his gaze towards Dick, Tim, and Jason. Tim and Dick looked very concerned about whatever was going to happen next.

Bruce took a light breath, knowing what he was going to say would most definitely piss Damian off. "Look, Damian—"

"Bruce wants to kick you out of the case." Jason blurted out, resulting in Dick smacking his hand to his forehead and Tim calling him a dumbass. Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, clearing not appreciating Jason saying that out of the blue.

Bruce narrowed his eyes. "We assumed you were still out on patrol."

"So that gives you a reason to use that as an advantage to sneak and continue this investigation behind my back? What aren't you telling me?" Damian asked in an angered tone.

"Listen, you don't need to worry about the murderer or the League of Assassins. We'll take care of it." Bruce briefly stated, leaving Damian even more confused.

Damian furrowed eyebrows, getting angrier by the moment. "You didn't answer my question. Why the hell are you kicking me off of a case that just started?"

"This isn't up for discussion, Damian. Don't get yourself involved." Bruce had the last word, leaving Damian with both of his fists curled up, frustrated with the sudden decision to exclude him from something so important.

That wasn't the first time Bruce had done that and it made Damian's blood boil every time it happened. He never knew why he seemed to be Bruce's least favorite child when every single one of them had some type of fucked up childhood. But what was so bad about him that made his own father want to exclude from almost anything. It just wasn't fair.

He knew that he would question Bruce's decisions and have the last say most of the time, but it wasn't that harmful and he would do whatever he was told to do anyways. Sometimes his brothers would do the same thing without getting some type of shitty lecture in return so what the hell made him so different than them.

Before he stormed away from his father's face, he continued. "I hope you know this is why I prefer to work alone." He stated, leaving everyone, except for Bruce, in shock. "Don't bother trying to wake me up for school tomorrow. I'm not going."

Within seconds, he was out of their sight. Damian didn't know why he was acting like this was something new. His father never trusted him for shit, no matter how small the matter was. Bruce would always come up with the same shitty excuses such as "You're not ready", or "Just stay here". Most of the time he got his ass handed to him and Damian was the one who had to get him together, but Bruce never seemed to appreciate it.

Damian finally reached him room and he immediately laid down against the soft surface of the bed, obviously tired of the amount of times he would have to argue with Bruce because of his bullshit. It was exhausting, but his father just didn't seem to recognize how infuriating he was.

He never seemed to get it.

          THE BATMOBILE ROARED ACROSS THE SAME ROAD that Damian and Dick have been on for over two hours already. The whole time, Damian had been ignoring his brother... and he was acting quite bitchy with Bruce, Tim, and Jason that morning before they left, too. Now Damian just laid back in the passenger's seat, the side of his head sitting on top of his right hand.

Trying to break up the silence, Dick gave Damian a slight punch on the shoulder while his other hand was on the steering wheel. "Hey," he tried to get his attention.

Damian, who was still extremely pissed off, only shrugged his hand of if his shoulder and rolled his eyes. "Don't fucking touch me, or else I'll break every single one of your fingers in forty-nine different ways."

Damian wasn't in the mood to make conversation with Dick, especially after what happened last night in the Batcave. To be honest, he really wanted to punch something, which was exactly what he was going to do once he got to the tower, where all of his other teammates were.

Dick gave Damian a heavy sigh in return. "Look, I don't know why Bruce kicked you off of the investigation, but don't worry about it. That's just how he is."

Damian let out a sarcastic snicker at his brother's pathetic excuse. "He's an asshole. He wouldn't have  known the murderer was an assassin if it weren't for me, yet he basically tells me to fuck off without even giving me a reason why. So yeah, that's just how he is."

"When I was around your age, he did the same thing. He didn't think I was ready for stuff like that, and it honestly pissed me off... but I've gotten used to it. And you need to get used to it, too. Giving him a hard time isn't gonna make the situation any better, Damian."

Damian scowled. "Well he needs to stop pissing me off for no fucking reason. He could've at least gave me a simple explanation, but my father always have to make things more difficult than it needs to be."

"I get it, but calm yourself down." Dick had never heard Damian swear that much before and it was honestly scary. Usually when Damian was pissed, he became extremely silent while giving someone some type of death stare. But this time, he was actually expressing a high level of anger to the point where Dick thought that Bruce just straight up broke the teenage boy.

"You're in no position to tell me to calm down, Grayson. Neither one of you were planning on telling me, were you? I just so happened to walk in at the wrong time, right?" Damian turned his gaze back to the window, still pissed at Dick.

Dick kept a stern face and sighed. "I know how you get when you don't agree with something, Damian. Especially when it comes out of Bruce's mouth, so don't make it seem like you would've understood Bruce's intentions."

"All of these years and you still don't understand anything."

They had finally made it to the tower within ten more minutes after their little conversation. Damian quickly got out of the Batmobile as soon as the doors opened and walked himself to the entrance, obviously still in a bad mood. As soon as he walked in, he didn't see much of a change. Everything was pretty much the same since the last time he's been there.

Dick pretty much followed him down the hall, in which he was ignored the whole time, until Damian made it into the training room. As soon as the door opened, he was met with four familiar faces. Although Damian was pissed, he was thrilled so see his friends again. Kori was in the arena, training while everyone else watched her. Almost immediately, they all turned around to see who was there and their faces lit up at the sight of their teammate.

"Dude!" The green skinned boy excitedly yelled out. "Where the hell have you been, man? It's been almost two months." Garfield came up to him, getting ready to hug his friend. Everyone else greeted him afterwards.

"The same school, with the same people... and the same teachers." Damian answered Garfield's question, leaning against the wall behind him as Kori began walking towards them.

"Find a hot chick, yet?" Garfield slyly questioned as Jaime smacked him upside his head and called him an idiot for his immaturity as Garfield laughed in response.

Raven only rolled her eyes. "Garfield, quit being a weirdo. You know how Damian hates simple social interaction with other people." She sarcastically remarked, causing Damian to smack his lips in return as if what she was saying was absolutely ridiculous.

"That's not true." He responded with a blank face.

"Dude, do you not remember how you were the day you joined the Titans?" Jamie reminded Damian, eyes wide. "The bug wanted to murder your ass for irritating it, specifically because you just hated my presence." He continued.

Damian rolled his eyes at the memory. "Why do you feel the need to bring up stupid shit like that?" He responded. He remembered how embarrassing it was to underestimate Jamie's scarab, considering how it had a mind of its own most vic the time. It wasn't as bad now, but it would act up every now and then.

"Well... I'm just saying you were kind of a bitch when we first met." Jaime smirked and put his hands up in defense.

"He's not lying." Raven agreed while her arms crossed as she remembered what happened the day Damian came, causing Damian's eyes to snap at her with a look of betrayal upon his features.

"Remember when you almost killed me with your sword, dude?" Gar added while nodding.

"Alright you guys, it's time to stop picking on Damian. You know how sensitive he is." Kori said with a small laugh as she gave Dick a hug.

I am not sensitive, space princess, he thought to himself. Damian huffed and crossed his arms because there way no way in hell he was sensitive. The boy knew he had anger issues, but sensitive? Hell the fuck no. However, the fact that he still wasn't in the mood made it slightly obvious. He didn't even know why Dick was still around him, considering he didn't forget about what the idiot did.

Garfield began to make his way to the door along with Jamie. "Yo, Damian," he got the darker haired boy's attention. "We're about to go grab some pizza. You coming?"

"In a minute. I need to go drop my stuff off." Damian replied as Kori and Dick also left the room, leaving Damian and Raven by themselves. She noticed how Damian gave Dick a side eye before exiting the room.

Damian realized she was analyzing him, which was always common between the two. "What?" He questioned Raven.

"Something's bothering you. You basically gave Dick a death glare, which means you're pissed at him. What happened?" Raven questioned the fifteen year old, trying to get him to talk about whatever his older brother did to piss him off.

Knowing that he couldn't exactly lie to Raven, he sat down on the bench that laid across the wall. "It's really my father. He doesn't trust me." He looked down as Raven took a seat next to him.

"Well, what did you do to make him feel that way?"

Damian only shrugged. "That's the thing. I didn't do anything. There's an assassin out there in Gotham, killing off people for who-knows-what and so far, we only figured out that they're connected to the League of Assassins. The worst part is that the only person who could've known the assassin was— "

"—Your grandfather." Raven frowned. She knew how much the league affected him. She also knew he still had nightmares regarding his past experiences with them. Damian had trauma that no other human being could ever imagine. His mother's side was officially gone now and there was nothing he could've done to change that.

"My father kicked me off the case, refused to tell me why, and he forced my brothers to continue the investigation behind my back. He wouldn't have gotten that one small piece of information if it weren't for me, yet he's excluding me. Again." Damian began to rant to his friend.

Putting her hand on his shoulder, Raven spoke. "I can't exactly give you father advice since I can't seem to get through to mine."

"How are you holding up with that?" Damian asked the half demon girl. Lately Trigon's whispering been getting more sensitive to Raven and she wasn't as focused as she used to be. The Titans noticed how she seemed to be talking to herself every now and then.

"The usual. It's hard, but my dad's not getting out anytime soon." She reassured Damian as she shrugged her shoulders. "I'm going to encourage you to not do anything stupid just because you don't agree with yours. He might even be doing it for your own good."

Damian slightly rolled his eyes. "I doubt it."

"You doubt everything." Raven slightly laughed before finally leaving the room, leaving Damian by himself.

What did she mean he was doing it for his own good? The only good his father had done was making him the new Robin in general. His father still didn't trust him enough to help with certain missions, and the worst part was that he never got a reason why. He knew his friend had literally told him to not do anything stupid, but he felt like what he needed to do wasn't stupid at all.

'Don't get involved' my ass.

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published... !
02/26/2021

author's note... !
sorry for not updating sooner
yall 😭😭😭😭 this chapter is
long as hell and y'all know how
school is.

btw im most definitely not about
to include any ✨entanglements✨
between storm, damian and raven
especially because neither one
of them seem like the jealous
type. ☠️☠️☠️☠️

but anyways i hope yall enjoyed
the chapter! make sure to vote and
stuff and excuse any spelling or
word mistakes cuz for some reason
i literally don't edit my shit. 😭😭😭