Summary: Dick Grayson hasn't been Batman for very long, but it is already proving to be harder than anything else he has ever done. Damian is a handful by himself. Damian and Tim are constantly arguing. So, what happens when a group of major villains start working together while the Bat-Family is falling apart? Can Dick bring everyone back together or will he have to do it on his own?

Chapter 1: Catalyst

Dick hated stakeouts.

The boredom was too much for him to handle. He lowered his chin to his chest and took a deep breath. A side glance allowed him to see Damian sitting on the ledge, chin resting on his hand as he lay hunched over, elbows on his knees.

"Batman, we've been sitting here for hours. I'm starting to believe your "hunch" about tonight's criminal activities were, not surprisingly, wrong," Robin said without looking toward him.

"Robin, you will learn that patience is a virtue."

"T-t."

The more nights Damian and he worked alongside each other, the easier he found it to ignore the boy's snarky comments. Even still, he worried about the boy. How was he going to control the ex-assassin? While he believed himself to be good with kids, he didn't consider himself good with Damian type kids. Children like Lian Harper, Roy daughter, were more his speed. There were some nights he would rather be in a princess gown playing tea party than dealing with Damian's literal natural killer instinct.

Dick re-positioned himself on the building's ledge, stretching his tired muscles. Damian was right about one thing, they had been sitting here for hours. But he was wrong about the other, Dick knew the deal was going down tonight, the question was just when. Quite frankly, any minute now would be wonderful. He knew he had to be bored when he was practically begging for crime to happen.

"Batman, there is movement on the top floor in the penthouse suite."

Dick turned on the binoculars in his cowl. He put the hotels penthouse suite in his line of sight and zoomed in. Bingo. Dick recognized one of Scarecrow's henchmen walking into the room with a briefcase.

"I wonder what's in the briefcase…" Dick started to say.

"Really? It's obviously some variant form of Scarecrow's fear toxin," Damian interrupted.

Dick stared at the boy for a moment. "You really need to get used to working me, because I was going to finish by saying, I'm a little AFRAID of finding out. But as you know, I never got that far."

Damian snorted, "The real Batman wouldn't have time for childish puns."

"Well, yeah. That should be your job, considering the fact you're the child. But I'll pick up your slack," Dick joked back standing up. He took out his grabbling hook and pointed it toward the building across from them. As he pressed the mechanism's release button, he could sense Damian's glare on the back of his head, but it only made him smile more. The kid would learn. Eventually.

With planned precision, Batman broke through the large glass window of the penthouse suite feet first, and then barrel rolled till he was crouched on his feet. A few seconds later, he heard Robin land beside him.

"Sorry to drop in like this boys, but I think this meeting is going to have to take a rain check," Batman said with a small grin.

A laugh to his left made Batman turn his head. Stupid cowl. Simple things like turning my head could be so much easier if this thing was just a little bit looser. No wonder Bruce was always so gruff and tense. In front of him Scarecrow stood with his cloth mask over his head.

"Well, I'm sorry to inform you Batman, but this meeting isn't exactly one that can merely be rescheduled. So, I am afraid, I'll have to ask that your interference be cut short," Scarecrow stated with a stitched evil grin, "Boys, get rid of them."

And just like that, all hell broke loose. Within seconds Batman and Robin were surrounded by Scarecrow's thugs. Batman punched the nearest one in the chest, knocking him into the thug standing behind him sending them both to the ground. As soon as his foot touched the ground again, he used it to kick off into a roundhouse kick, making contact with a thug's hand, kicking the knife out of the man's grasp. He proceeded in punching the man in the head. The man stumbled back holding his nose until he backed up over a table, which he toppled over, landing in a ball on the ground.

Batman went to engage another thug when Robin backed up into him causing him to lose his balance, "Robin!"

"Watch where you're going, Batman," Robin growled out as he returned to fighting.

Really? The two of them worked terribly together. The boy wasn't even aware where he was. Bruce and he had been so in sync they could take out two dozen thugs in a few minutes. Damian and he could barely take out half of that without running into each other.

Batman tried to regain his composure, but before he could stand back up, a thug had taken a baseball bat to his back. The pain caused Dick to grimace. A criminal meeting in a thousand-dollars a night penthouse suite and this guy brings a bat. Classy. As the thug reared back to take another blow, Batman balanced his weight on his hands and spun his feet out from under him to sweep the thug off his feet.

He stood up and surveyed the room. Robin was sparring with one thug, until a weak, hopefully not lethal, jab to the throat sent the criminal to the ground.

"Robin! You know not to use lethal force," Batman ordered from across the room.

Robin snorted, "He should be fine." Key word, should, thought Dick.

"Aw, Batman and Robin not playing so nice together?" Scarecrow mockingly questioned.

Batman narrowed his eyes, "Just hand over the toxin Crane and we won't have any issues."

"Haha, you remind me of the Joker with your jokes, Batman. Hand it over. Sure, let me just hand over my most prized possession. This form of my fear toxin is so potent that I don't think even you can fight it," Scarecrow paused with an evil grin, "But there is only one way to find out."

With that Scarecrow took out a remote.

"Robin, gas mask on!" Batman shouted as Scarecrow hit the button.

"I figured you would show tonight Batman, so I had the room pre-set when some of my new toxin to try out on you. Maybe one day you'll learn not to mingle in my personal business."

Batman began running toward Scarecrow, but it was already too late. The room was filled with the yellow gas. Crane was right; the gas was extremely powerful, too powerful for his gas mask even. It began seeping into his mouth and he could taste the foul gas on his tongue. It traveled quickly into his lungs causing him to keel over onto his knees. Through the pain and confusion, he looked up to find Robin through the yellow haze. The boy was hunched over on the ground screaming. Being so small, it was evident the gas was going through Damian's system faster than Dick's. It probably also helped that Dick had been exposed to other forms of Scarecrow's fear toxin before.

Batman began searching through his utility belt for the cure, but when he looked down he was shocked to find his belt gone, replaced by a belt made up of miniature skulls. He recognized the faces of those who had lost. It's all in your mind, Grayson. The toxin is in the same compartment that it has always been…which just happens to be within the skull of my father…

Even with his pep talk, he still couldn't find the toxin. Where is it? How much time has passed?

He tried to stand up, but found his legs to be shaky. When he looked down, he noticed his legs were missing. No, it's just a hallucination caused by the toxin. You still have legs, Grayson. For goodness sake, you can still feel them.

Batman looked up to see Scarecrow laughing at him, however, it was no longer Scarecrow laughing at him but…Bruce.

"Really, Dick? I would have never gotten myself into this situation. I'm disappointed in you."

Ignore it, it is just in your head.

"Dick, you should've let someone else take over the mantle and take care of Damian. You're not doing a very good job," the imaginary Bruce continued.

Dick tried with all his strength to ignore the words, but that voice. He hadn't heard that voice in months. It wasn't Bruce, but it might as well have been. The figure in front of him was extremely life-like, from the shiny black shoes to the shiny black hair. The only thing missing was the life in the vision's blue eyes. The look of disappointment was there, but the essence of life wasn't.

"Maybe, if you had died when Two-Face beat you or the Joker shot you, we wouldn't be in this situation. I would still be Batman and would defeat crime with my real son," the fake Bruce hissed. Oh, Grayson, you clearly need some therapy.

Dick began walking toward the hallucination in front of him.

"No," it was Scarecrow's voice now coming through, "maybe you just need a larger dose." Bruce pulled out a gun and Dick felt a dart hit him the chest. Before he had become Batman, the suit would have easily kept the dart from hitting skin, but Dick had altered the suit to accommodate for his fighting style. This meant, he had sacrificed the armor to allow for more fluid, acrobatic movements.

The second dosage was too much, he found himself once more on the ground. Dick was shaking. The sense of fear was growing inside of him. Majority of the gas was escaping through the open window Robin and he had entered through, but the toxin wasn't lessening its effects. He lifted his head to look for Scarecrow, but Dick found the man gone. Crap. Scarecrow got away.

The world was spinning and he felt like he was falling. Next thing he knew, he was falling. Dick was back in the big top, falling to the floor. He landed on the ground next to the bodies of his dead parents. Dick couldn't feel his body and couldn't turn his head to look away. Suddenly, the eyes of his father opened and lifelessly stared at him.

"You didn't just disappoint Bruce, that man you replaced me with, but you've disappointed me, as well," John Grayson stated with a look of hatred on his face. It isn't real. You can move, you just feel like you can't. Get up, Grayson. But he didn't get up. The taunts continued, from his father, his mother, and the Bruce from earlier. He could feel tears on the corner of his eyes, but he choked them back. If you cry, Damian will never let you live it down.

Through the constant taunts, Dick heard footsteps.

"Batman!"

Tim, that's Tim.

He felt a needle in his arm and knew he was probably a cure for the toxin. Slowly the figures disappeared and Dick found himself in the penthouse suite once again, not the big top floor. He tried to move, but found his body unresponsive. Scarecrow must have put a paralyzer in that last dosage. No wonder he felt like he couldn't move, he literally couldn't.

From his place on the ground, he could see Red Robin administering the cure to Damian who was still shaking uncontrollably on the floor. When he was done, Red Robin turned around to face Dick.

"Can you move?"

"No, I think Scarecrow hit me with some type of paralyzer," Dick reported sadly. How did I mess up so badly to get into this situation? I really am a horrible Batman. Bruce would have never let this happen.

Red Robin moved over to him and stuck another needle into Dick's arm through the Batman armor, "That should give you feeling back in a few minutes."

Tim was right. Within a few minutes, Dick was sitting up rubbing his muscles to get the feeling back. In the corner of the room, Robin sat crossed leg on the ground with his hood over his head.

"Well, I think we should definitely call it a night," Batman said after searching the room for any evidence that might be useful to finding where Scarecrow had run away to. Red Robin informed the cops of their location, so the villain's henchmen could be taken care of accordingly.

The car ride back wasn't exactly a pleasant one. Damian was usually quiet but tonight the silence was deafening.

"Damian, whatever you saw, it was just in your mind."

"I know that, Grayson, I'm not stupid."

"I never said you were," Dick replied in a soft tone.

"Your statement implied it," was the harsh response.

How was he supposed to comfort this kid? If he hugged the kid, he would probably be murdered in his sleep. Could be worth it. He'd think about it.

As they pulled into the cave, Dick spotted Red Robin's motorcycle. Before he even fully parked the Batmobile, Damian was already out the side.

"Your interference was not necessary Drake," Damian said with a stern face as he passed Tim.

"Oh, really now? Well, if I hadn't interfered, I'm pretty sure you would be in the fetal position rocking back and forth till you slowly lost your mind," Tim growled back in response.

"T-t. If you honestly believe your help was needed, you're more ignorant than I originally presumed," Damian came back, still stern-faced.

Tim's face began contorting in anger as he approached Damian, hands in fists. "Look here…"

"Tim, stand down," Dick finally interfered turning away from the computer, "Your help was greatly appreciated. Truthfully, I wish it hadn't been needed." He turned back around to type a passcode into the main computer.

With Dick's back turned, Tim gave Damian a told-you-so face and glared at the younger boy.

"Whatever. Grayson won't be there to save you when you're alone at night."

Tim became heated again, "Who do you think you are threatening me? Especially, when I just saved you."

"Tim!" Dick shouted this time walking toward his two younger partners, "Calm down."

"He is the one threatening me!"

"Yeah, well you're the older one, so act like it."

At this comment, Damian laughed and took his leave from the cave. As soon as the youngest Bat-Family member was gone, Tim looked toward Dick with an angry expression.

"Why are you always taking his side, Dick? I don't know if you remember, but I was here first."

"Tim, I'm not trying to make you feel bad, but Damian needs my attention right now more than you do. The kid's a loose cannon. Tim, he could easily kill someone. I mean, he almost did tonight!"

"So, you think him threatening me is the best way to handle his anger? I'm not a tool, Dick, I'm a human being. One that thought you were his big brother," Tim spat.

"Tim…" Dick's voice trailed off. That last comment struck home. He wasn't trying to push his brother away, he was just trying to make Damian feel like he had a friend. The boy wouldn't change overnight, especially if he felt like he didn't belong. Things had been tough since Bruce's death. Everyone tended to handle things differently, and Tim was handling Bruce's death with full denial.

"Save it. There is nothing left to say here. I save you guys and this is the thanks I get," Tim said as he turned away. Dick couldn't think of the words to say right now. He couldn't please everyone, he was only one person.

Suddenly, Dick found himself wondering how Bruce had handled everything, the mission, the double life, and the sidekicks. Had he always been this hot-headed and stubborn? The sound of Tim's motorcycle engine starting made Dick turn to watch as the boy revved the bike and sped off. Eventually he would make Tim understand where he was coming from, but right now he couldn't even understand it himself. He just knew this was the right thing to do, a little parental intuition possibly.

Besides, he had bigger issues to deal with, mainly Scarecrow and his potent fear toxin that was loose somewhere in the city.