Work Text:
It was a cool summer night. Two hours ago, the bats started their patrol. Like always the split up in teams. Black bat and Spoiler, Nightwing and Red Robin, the famous duo Batman and Robin and Red hood was patrolling Crime Alley by himself. The night has been rather quiet for Gotham. A couple of muggings, two robberies and just the usual gangsters making the streets unsafe.
Robin and Batman were on a roof after Robin stopped a drug deal. Batman was lecturing him about going off by himself and using unnecessary force. “Robin, you can’t just leave without saying anything. It is dangerous”, Batman lectured. Robin refuted: “Father, I am more than capable of handling those lowly criminals. As you are aware, I am a trained assassin and don’t need protection. I didn’t see a reason to inform you, since it was a simple incident”. “I am aware of your training Robin, nevertheless, I don’t want you to act alone without informing me”, stated the dark knight. Robin glared at Batman “Tt. I took care of the crime. I don’t see the problem”. Batman let out a sigh before he continued:” You acted careless and put yourself in danger. You also have used unnecessary force on those people.” The atmosphere was tense. In the distance there were police sirens and gunfire. “I made sure those fools didn’t get away. The police arrested them, and they got what they deserved.”, Robin protested. “Robin, you have broken two armes, one has a punctured lung. Everyone involved needs medical attention. It would have been enough to just knock them out.”, he paused for a moment and continued, “We had talked about this already. I thought we were past this violence”. It was quiet for a couple of minutes before Robin turned around with a “Tt” and grabbled away.
Batman was left alone on the roof. He let out a sigh before he tapped his comm:” Oracle, can you keep track of Robin.” Immediately Oracle answered:” sure, but why is he running away. What happened?” Before he could respond, Red Hood interrupted him:” Did the brat run away again?” Others joined in and theorized what the reason was this time. Eventually Batman told them to be quiet and focus back on their patrol. Just as he was about to ask Oracle to track Robin, she had informed him that Robin had turned off his comm and all trackers. All he could do was to follow the way Robin left and hope that Robin eventually turned his comm back on.
Meanwhile
The moment Robin was out of sight of Batman, he turned off his comm and made sure nobody could track him. He continued to grapple from building to building, taking many sharp turns to avoid being followed. Eventually he stopped on the roof of an abandoned building. He caught his breath and looked over the dark city. All he wanted was to make his father Batman proud, yet everything he does is wrong in a way. He was more than capable of handling criminals by himself. He didn’t need to be baby sat, and he made sure to never be too violent when handling criminals. His siblings father’s charity projects don’t seem to have that problem. His father always looks proud of Nightwing, Red Robin, Black Bat even Red Hood. They even get along better with each other than him. He often gets in fights with them and the only one who stands up for him is Richard. He would never say it out loud, but he does wish he could be closer to them. That his father would openly say he was proud. He wants to feel cared for and not just the brat, which was shipped off to live with his father. He wants to be part of the team the rest of his family formed. If only they would care for him like they care for each other.
As Damian kept pondering, Batman gave up on following Damian and decided to wait until he comes back by himself or Oracle spots him on one of the cameras. The rest of the vigilantes returned to their patrol routes.
Damian was so lost in his head that he hadn’t noticed the people on the roof behind him. A small group of masked men were sitting directly the building behind him. One of them took slowly out a tranquillizer gun out and aimed at the unexpecting Robin. The only warning he got was the quiet hiss before his world went dark.
The first thing he noticed when he woke up was that he was tied down to a chair. His head hurt and everything was fuzzy. He took a deep breath trying to remember what happened. He was on a roof watching the city, before everything went dark. He remembers hearing a quiet hiss before losing consciousness. It was probably a tranquillizer gun that took him out, since he doesn’t feel any other injuries or drugs in his system. He had to blink a couple of times before his vision became clear. He looked around the room. The windows are sealed with planks and shut out any natural light. The room is being lit up by a small lamp that was hanging from the ceiling. Beside him, there was nothing in the room. He could gather that the building was abandoned, and he was not on ground level.
Damian tugged on the restraints, testing out how strong they were. They are pretty strong and the only way to get out was to dislocate his wrist. As he sat there, he came up with a plan on how to escape. All he had to do was to get out of the restraints and contact the others. His captures may have taken his equipment, but they have forgotten to take his communicator. As he was looking around the room, figuring out how he could escape, he started hearing footsteps and voices getting closer. Soon the door was opened and five masked men stepped through.
“Oh look, our guest is awake” was the first thing Damian heard. He glared at the man, which had said it, but didn’t respond. The group walked towards him and formed a half circle in front of him. One, the leader, stepped closer and stopped right before him. “You know, we heard quite a bit about the bats of Gotham. Everyone said you guys are professional and hard to get. But now I’m doubting it. It was so easy catching you.” His men laughed at his statement. Robin straightened his back and responded: “You are not from Gotham. You have no idea what you are doing. All of you are armatures.” The laughter stilled and before Damian could continue, his head was abruptly turned to the side. His cheek was burning from the slap he received. Damian looked at the culprit of the slap and began taunting: “Was this supposed to scare me. I have felt worse. If that’s your best, then you should rather return to the hole you came from.” The room was silent, but Damian saw how the man in front of processed his words and slowly anger took over his face. The next thing he knew was that he was on the floor. The man pushed his chair over and was towering above him. Damian bit his check when the now enraged man started to kick him. That was going to leave with at least a bruised rip when not multiple. The man continued to kick him. He only stopped, after he stepped on his fingers and broke them. Not because he was done, but rather because Damian let a whine slip out. His minion picked him up and put him in his starting position. Soon he was all alone in the room.
Damian assessed his injuries. His fingers on his left hand were broken, his nose had stopped bleeding, and he probably got a concussion from being pushed to the ground. After all his head collided with the floor rather hard. His rips ached and the binds were tearing into his skin. As he was looking for a way to escape, he slowly realized that the only thing he could do was to wait till someone of the others realized he was missing and came to his rescue.
Batman hadn’t heard anything from Robin for 3 hours. He started to get nervous of the lack of signs from the youngest. It wasn’t uncommon for him to run away and turn off his comm and only show up in the cave at the end of the patrol. But since the death of the second Robin, there is a worry he can’t describe. He knows that Robin is more than capable of looking out for himself, yet it is his son Damian that has run off by himself. “Oracle, has Robin turned back on his comm?”, he questioned. “Sorry B, but his comm is still offline as well as his trackers.” The robotic voice responded before returning to the silence. That silence was broken quick as the comm turned to life by many voices: “Uhh B, this is an open line.” “Has the demon brat still not returned to you?”, Red Hood’s question was followed by a concerned Nightwing:” He still hasn’t turned back on his comm? I can go look for him if you want.”
Batman turned down the offer and assured him that Robin would show up at the end of the patrol. No one responded, the usual banter wasn’t heard. None of them would admit it, but since the incident with Jason as Robin, they were all a bit uneasy. No one liked it, if no one knew where Robin was. He may be a capable fighter, yet he still is a kid.
Those fools left him alone in a room. Their second mistake. Has no one ever teached them to never leave their captive alone. Damian was not going to sit there and wait to be rescued. He is the son of the Batman and heir to Ra's al Ghul and the League of Assassins. He doesn’t need saving. Also those people forgot to check him properly. Sure, they have taken his gear away, but they forgot about his comm in his ear. Has he mentioned that they were fools.
If he can get his hands free, he could call back up. His hands were tied to getter with a rope. It was thick but with that came a weakness. Thick rope means it’s easier to slip your hand out of it. It’s going to hurt or better burn to get his hands free, but a little pain is not going to bother him.
In a trained movement he started to twist and wiggle his hands. The rope started to loosen. Not long and his hands are going to be free.
Just as he was about to get his hands free, he heard footsteps. Apparently, those fools remembered that they had a hostage and decided to check on him. If they discover he can break out of these binds, they will definitely get something better and that he can’t let happen. He needs to get his hands free and inform the others before any of those fools realize it.
Finally, his hands were free. As he was about to turn on his comm, the door swung open. The group stopped in their tracks, when they spotted Robin. They realized where his hand was reaching and started to sprint towards him. In a swift movement Robin turned on his comm and called: “Batman this is Robin. I need help. I have be-“, his hand was pulled away from his ear and someone ripped out his comm out. The rash action hurt his ear. Once the comm was thrown to the ground and destroyed, he was pushed onto the ground. A kick to the chest followed quickly.
Many more followed. He was kicked, thrown and punched. The group was very angry with what occurred. Damian started to lose his awareness and started blacking out. Eventually he realized he was crying out in pain. Something he never does.
A childish thought crept into his brain. He wanted his father to show up, his siblings, he wanted to go home. The thought was beneath him, yet he was in pain and a bit scared on how far these people are willing to go. Hopefully the others received his call.
It had been another 30 minutes of no sign of the youngest and Batman was getting angsty. The others were also worried for the well-being of Robin. They knew he could take care of himself and that he would show up at the end of their patrol, but still they were uneasy.
They were all still on the open line that Batman had accidentally opened. The usual quips they had were missing. No one felt like trying to lift up the mood.
Suddenly Robin’s comm cracked back to life. Instead of the serious and downgrading sound of his voice, they were greeted with a panicked and dip with fear voice: “Batman this is Robin. I need help. I have be-“. They heard a shuffle and a couple of unknown voices, before the comm cut off.
“Robin, where are you?”, a worried Batman asked. They waited but didn’t get a response.
“Oracle, can you open Robin’s comm again?”, Batman asked. “Sorry B, his comm is offline. But I got the emergency signal. The comm status changed to beyond repair….”
Beyond repair.
Someone must have broken the comm.
Robin tried to call for help. Damian needed help.
Batman stood frozen on a roof. The comm broke out in many panicked voices. Everyone must put together what it meant.
“I sent you all the location. Spoiler and Red Robin are the closet. ETA 10 minutes”, Oracle informed them. The moment they received the location, they all sped off, trying to be as fast as possible. They can’t be late.
Just as Oracle said, Spoiler and Red Robin arrived first. It was an abandoned, multiple floors building. The two of them scouted the building, trying to figure out where Robin was. They had searched every floor, except the last one when the others arrived. Spoiler and Black Bat were ordered to enter through the roof while Batman, Red Hood, Nightwing and Red Robin are going through the door.
They were still waiting for everyone to be in position, when they suddenly hurt a painful scream. Batman lost it and kicked the door open. The view made all their anger rise. In the back of the room were multiple people standing around a bleeding Robin. On of them even had grabbed Robin by his shirt and was lifting him up from the ground. The body of the young boy was limp. The culprit had his fist raised, as if he was about to hit the child.
Red Hood was the first to move in action, pulling out his guns and shooting at the people. The others soon joined in. A brutal fight broke loose. None of the bats were holding their punches back. Nightwing was the first to break through the group and reaching Robin. He kneeled down, checking for a pulse.
Robin- no Damian looked awful. His face was bloody, and his breathing was uneven. Nightwing let out a sigh of relief when he felt the younger’s pulse. He was alive. Not long after the fight ended, leaving a lot of injured people on the ground. Batman rushed over to the oldest and youngest, followed by Red Hood and Black Bat.
Red Hood let out some more cursed when he saw the condition of Robin. If it weren’t for Tim stopping him, he would have killed every single one of the goons. Batman quickly treated the injuries while waiting for the Batmobile to show up.
The silence was broken by a groan. Slowly Robin was opening his eyes.
He was back on the ground. The people standing above him were yelling at him. Everything hurt. A hand grabbed his shirt and pulled him up. With the other hand the man punched him in his face. To make it even worse for him, one of them straightened out his right leg. He knew what was coming, but it didn’t stop the scream he let out. The ma stepped on his knee, breaking his leg in the process. Due to the immense pain, he blacked out again, barely registering the sound of the door opening.
The next time he opened his eyes, he was greeted with a familiar face. He blinked and another face appeared.
“Baba”, he weakly said.
Voices spoke around him, but he couldn't focus on them. Each time he blinked, the scene changed.
“They broke my fingers…and my leg. My ribs also hurt. Everything hurts”, a small, almost crying voice said.
He was tired and just wanted to sleep but he knew better. Or did someone tell him to stay awake. He wasn’t sure.
He blinked again. The stone roof was gone, and a black metal roof took its place. The ground was also softer. It also wasn’t cold anymore.
He blinked.
He closed his eyes.
He opened his eyes and was immediately blinded by a bright light. Slowly he tried again to open his eyes. A white blanket was over him and he was lying in a familiar medical bed. The medical bed in the Batcave.
Was he in the Batcave?
He tried to sit up but had to stop when his ribs cried out in pain. The noise that left his mouth must have gotten the attention from the people outside the medical area, since the face of Dick appeared in the door. When he spotted Damian, he immediately walked over to him.
“Don’t sit up. Your ribs are heavenly bruised.”
He helped him lie back down.
“What happened?”
He scrunched his face at how weak his voice sounded.
“You were taken by these people. By the time we found you, you had already been beaten and injured. It will take time to heal, but there shouldn’t be any long-lasting issue. You should recover fully.”
That was a relief to hear. Damian wasn’t sure how bad his injuries were exactly especially his head injury, but hearing that it should heal, made his worry disappear.
“How are you feeling?”
“Adequate.”
Richard raised an eyebrow and send him a look that meant “you sure, that’s how you are feeling?” and Damian changed his answer to a more accurate one.
“I have a headache and my body hurts. But I don’t feel nauseas or dizzy.”
“That’s good to hear. Still, you are on bed rest and banned from patrol until Leslie cleared you.”
He wasn’t planning on going out with these injuries. That would be stupid and cause unnecessary issues and the last thing he want’s to be was to be a burden.
“Hey Dickface, have you seen my-“
Jason stopped talking when he made eye contact with Damian.
“Look who’s awake. How are ya feeling?”
“Adequate.”
Jason sight and looked over at Dick, who told him how Damian was feeling. Somehow the others must have noticed the commotion from the med bay area and came over as well. When they saw Damian awake, they immediately asked him how he was feeling. Before he could answer, Dick told them about how he was feeling.
“What happened to those people?”
His question silenced the banter. They exchanged looks before Stephanie answered his question.
“Don’t worry, we won’t be seeing them anymore. Jason and I were tasked with the cleanup.”
“We are not sure what happened to them and those two won’t elaborate what the cleanup entailed”, Tim added.
A fatal mistake on their side. Why would they leave Todd and Brown in charge for the cleanup. What fools.
The banter returned and Damian was starting to feel annoyed. Not in an actual annoyed way, more because they always do that, and he actually likes to listen to their banter. He won’t ever tell them that. If they asked, he was annoyed at their useless banter.
To know that Jason and Stephanie took care of those thugs, made his chest feel warm. Watching how the family was sitting in the med bay together and talking to each other made him feel included.
His father sat down next to the bed and gently brushed through his hair. Neither of them were good with words, but Damian knew that this was how his father showed affection. Duke came down with Alfred and handed them all something warm to drink.
He wasn’t alone. His father and siblings were all with him.
Maybe, he was wrong and was part of the family and he was just too blind to see that.