( o10. two's the lucky number  )
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JUMP CITY BAY, SAN FRANCISCO
TITANS TOWER
1:45 AM

DID ANYONE FIND ANYTHING NEW? No. Were they still back at square one? Yes. At that point, they were getting nowhere with the investigation and it was frustrating for Dick. Bruce, Dick, Jason, and Tim had not one suspect... again. How could it be so damn difficult to capture just one assassin? Well maybe because they were just too good. Dick didn't know what kind of sick purpose they had, but all he knew was that they were insanely good at hiding the evidence behind their killings. They even had enough balls to pin it all on Shiva and the assassins somehow.

But that meant that it could've been anyone in Gotham. Who wouldn't think that? That was just the way Gotham saw things. There was always someone you couldn't trust in that city. For now he just had to watch his back, just in case something went wrong because the assassin could've been disguising themselves as a normal civilian during the daytime, which was really the hard part.

He would've asked Damian if he could at least remember any important assassins his mother or grandfather could've known, but the younger boy was obviously still extremely pissed off at him. Dick didn't blame him, though. He had every right to be mad, but there was nothing he could do about the situation. Bruce had given them strict orders to not involve Damian in the investigation in any way and he had no choice but to respect his decision.

He felt bad about having to hide such important things from his brother, especially since it was Bruce's doing. Damian and Bruce were... well... almost never on good terms. Bruce's confusing strictness and Damian's stubbornness didn't mix well at all, usually resulting in more pointless arguing between the two.

But he could see why Damian would be pissed with Bruce's decisions. Bruce always liked to keep to himself and he wouldn't hesitate to keep important information away from his own kids without reason. He always said it was for the best but it was really just all bullshit. There's been countless amount of times where Dick has tried to get Bruce to do better with Damian, but the man was just too stubborn to listen.

Back in his days as Robin, Bruce would keep certain things from him, but Dick would always find out whatever Bruce was hiding himself. It usually got him in trouble, which meant receiving a long lecture from Bruce or being banned from patrol for a few days. So he knew why Damian was so irritated with Bruce.

But at the same time, Damian's personality used to be so hard to deal with, considering the toxic environment he was raised in. Being raised by the most deadly assassins played a big part in the way Damian reacted towards certain things. Although he was getting better, there would still be times where Damian was openly stubborn when he disagreed with someone.

And he still had his personal struggles, too. Damian was good at hiding his feelings and it worried his brothers because there was no telling how bad his trauma was towards him.

The sound of a phone vibrating and ringing interrupted the man's thoughts. He saw that it was from Bruce, which meant that it had to be important. Dick immediately tapped the green 'answer' circle on his phone and put the phone to his ear.

"What happened?" Dick asked Bruce.

However, the only words that came out Bruce's mouth was, "Get over here, now. Crime Alley." He sternly ordered Dick to come immediately. Dick was pissed that he had to drive three hours back to Gotham at almost two o'clock in the morning, so he decided to just get the night over with. Since he was on his way to Gotham, he might as well stay to help Bruce with more of the investigation.

Dick quickly got up to exit the room. However the sight of Damian was present as he stood in front of the doorway with a very vexed expression that rested upon his features. Dick wasn't very fond of knowing that Damian was most likely going to question where he was going to go. He wasn't going to like his answer.

"Let me guess. Something happened in Gotham and you don't even plan to bring me with you. You're not even going to consider it?" The teenager asked his older brother, his eyes narrowing into slits.

"Why are you still up?" Dick asked, ignoring the younger ones question.

Dick sighed. "You heard Bruce, Damian. As much we want you to join us, you can't. Bruce gave you direct orders to not get involved," He explained to Damian. "Sorry,"

"I'm fifteen," Damian snarled and rolled his eyes, crossing his arms. "How does he still not trust me?" He questioned with a scoff.

He had been Robin for almost six years already, and Bruce was still treating him as he were still the ten year old boy Bruce had always thought was reckless and impossible. But Damian had changed now. His father damn well made sure of it, too. He assumed it was one of Bruce's petty moments, but it really felt like more than that.

"That's not true, Damian."

"Then why don't you tell him to stop treating me like I'm still a ten year old boy. He'll listen to you." Damian replied in a sarcastic manner.

A hopeless expression rested upon Dick's face as he shrugged at the younger boy. "I can't change Bruce's mind, even if I wanted to. You know how stubborn he is when it comes to stuff like this. Unfortunately there's nothing I can do to change his mind."

"Right," Damian replied with a scoff. He was still furious, and he had every right to be. His relationship with his father wasn't as intense as it was when he was ten, but it still had its ups and downs now. "Of course you wouldn't know what to do because he doesn't treat you like garbage." His tone lowered slightly.

Dick took a moment to breathe. It was almost two in the morning and he wouldn't be able to get some sleep until hours ahead of time. He had to drive all the way up to Gotham, which would take over two hours, deal with whatever was going on — there was no telling how long that was going to be, and then take another two hours to drive all the way back to the tower.

All he wanted was a break, but that was going to be impossible with the assassin around. It was one of those shitty parts about being a hero, sometimes you just had to deal with it and suck it up. There was crime almost twenty-four - seven in which Dick and his brothers had to take care of, hence affecting their mental health and civilian lives, that they didn't really have time for.

So although Dick understood what Damian was going through at the moment, he was in no mood to have that conversation with him.

"Listen, I'll try to talk to him. Just let me get this over with so I can take my ass to sleep," Dick explained to Damian, waving him off as he walked out the door. "I'll be back in a couple of hours." He said while still walking out. You could tell how exhausted he was, considering the light bags that were under his eyes.

Damian just stood there with his head down. He honestly didn't have a reason why he was angry at his brothers when Bruce was the one who told them to leave Damian out of the case for no reason whatsoever. Maybe it was wrong to take out his frustration on them, but he still had this betrayed feeling inside of him. He just didn't understand why his own father couldn't trust him for once. Well, sure he's made some mistakes growing up with Bruce, but he was older now ── more mature than he used to be.

"I was raised to be the ultimate soldier, a master assassin. Nothing out there can hurt me." An eleven year old Damian told Batman.

"Under that hard shell, you're still just a boy." Bruce reminded him.

Walking up to his father, the boy replied, "If that were true, you wouldn't be taking me out on the streets hunting psychopathic murderers."

Damian remembered that time where Bruce was right for once. He was just a boy, a naive one at that. He was manipulated so easily because he didn't understand the real world at that time. He thought he knew everything back then when in reality, he was as innocent as any other little boy would be. But Damian wasn't like that anymore. He knew how to not let his feelings cloud his judgement now because he remembered how many problems it caused in the past.

So he couldn't understand why his father didn't trust him enough to help. Wasn't Bruce the one who said that trust went both ways?

DICK DECIDED TO SPEED SO he could get back to Gotham faster, despite being sleep deprived at the moment. Doing just that brought him back to his city within about an hour and a half. He found himself in front of Crime Alley, where Bruce told Dick to meet him at. Bruce would normally do things himself, and if he had to call Dick all the way from Jump City to help him, then it had to be very important.

He got out the Batmobile and made his way right next to Batman. He stood there, still and quiet, staring at the brick wall in front of him by a dumpster.

Nightwing moved over towards that area to see what Batman was staring at, which was another horror for them to see. That last time, it was only one body. Now, two extra corpses laid there, their backs to the wall and their lifeless eyes wandering. One had a huge stab wound to the chest while the other had a deep slit to the throat.

Nightwing's eyes widened at the two dead bodies he witnessed in front of him. There was so much blood in that one little spot. "How do they keep doing this...?" He questioned as he stood there, frozen.

"I don't know, but they're good. A little too good for my liking." Batman responded, his fists tightened in frustration as his expression looked blank.

Although Nightwing knew how much blood Damian's seen and experienced as child, he was glad that he wasn't there to see what was currently going on at the moment. This assassin definitely had a motive and they weren't just killing people at random. These people... they had to be connected somehow because it wasn't just a coincidence that all three were targeted by the same person. And it wasn't for no apparent reason. They had one, and there was no telling on who was going to be next.

"What the hell," Nightwing sweared in disbelief. Once again, this person fled the scene with no type of evidence left out, as if they knew what they were doing. They were... planning something. They had to been. Why else would an assassin kill someone.

"We have to figure out what relations these men have to the first victim. It's obvious that they're connected, or else it would defeat the assassin's purpose of killing them in the first place." Batman's dark, husky voice explained to Nightwing.

The wounds looked fresh still, so whoever killed them was out here not too long ago. Questions filled the vigilante's head as he stared at the bodies longer, in complete shock. What if they were going to keep killing? How were they even going to find the assassin at all? There was no clue about what they looked like or what their next move was.

"Well, we better hurry up before someone else ends up next on this person's wanted list." Nightwing replied to Batman.

Batman just stood there in silence. He was getting nowhere, and the more time he spent trying to closer to the assassin, the more people he killed. This was definitely Batman's least favorite mission. It became very tiring for him to constantly deal with certain situations like this. He just knew he wasn't going to be able to sleep for a while.

Batman only said to Nightwing, "I'm going to collect DNA samples so I find out who they're connected to. As soon as I can get enough information, I'll know who to keep a close eye on."

Looking back at the bodies, Nightwing sighed. "So, what are you gonna do with them...?" He asked Batman. There had been three murders within less than two weeks.

When will I ever catch a break, dammit...

"I'll call Gordon."

Nightwing nodded as a feeling of anxiousness took over. He already knew this wasn't going to end well. Something was telling him that whoever they were going after was ready. Ready and lurking in the shadows, waiting for the next moment to strike. And the most frustrating part was that they couldn't even follow up on that. They didn't have the time to do so at the moment because that would throw them all off, and they couldn't afford to let another person get slaughtered.

Even though the case was exhausting, Everyone had to be alert of everything now. It wasn't going to be long until the news noticed this pattern and warned all of Gotham about the mysterious assassin that's been murdering people during the night.

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published... !
04/23/2021

author's note... !
shidddd... it's been like two
months since i updated lololol.

but this mysterious assassin not
playing any games 😭that mf
woke up and chose violence
🌚

anyways make sure to comment
and vote loves <3