Click.

" Don't."

Damian cursed. So intent was he on his mission, he didn't even notice the man come in behind him.

"..Todd. What do you want?"

"I want you to remove the gun from the man's temple. Then I want you to drop it."

Todd had always been an imbecile. The man had always been so wrapped up in his own demons, he didn't even notice how the people around him cared for him. Loved him.

Imbecile.

" Fat chance." He spun around to glare at the young man. The coward sitting on the ground let out a whimper. Damian snarled.

"Listen-" Jason tried, " -I know what he did. I do. But is it really worth losing yourself? Your life?"

"The only one losing their lives today will be him."

Damian would be sure of it.

Jason could only watch as the barrel moved back to the cowering man's temple. Just talking was clearly not working. He guessed that he'd have to try other methods.

"...He wouldn't have wanted this. Not for you of all people."

He watched Damian grow stiff.

"What would you know of what he would've wanted Todd. You were never there. You weren't there."

It was Jason's turn to grow stiff because-yeah. He hadn't been there. He felt his throat tighten a little.

"I-I wasn't. I never really had a relationship with him, did I?"

Damian's hand tightened against the guy's collar.

"How the hell would I know?"

"You would know because he told you about it. About us. About how stubborn I was. About how angry he was. About….how udderly stupid we both were. He would tell you kid. He told you everything."

Jason watched the finger pull slightly against the trigger.

"No. He didn't"

He also saw the tears begin to pool at the bottom of the boy's eyelids.

" The fact that he would tell you more about this is proof. If he could hide this, then what else could he hide? What-what else did he?"

And Jason, again, could not say anything. Damian continued.

"I trusted him with my everything. And he couldn't do that for me? I died for him and he didn't care enough to-"

"Listen to yourself. You sound like me."

It was enough to stop Damian mid-sentence.

"...What?"

" I said-" Jason took a step forwards. "I said that you sound like me. It's almost ironic. Dick's beloved "little D" turning into a monster like me."

"I am..not like you. I'm not!" Damian was visibly shaking from anger, his fist tightening around the glock in his hand.

" I'm not."

"But you're so close, aren't you?"

He was. If the man he held by the collar and gunpoint wasn't saying anything.

Jason moved a bit closer. Damian tightened his finger against the trigger, and Jason grimaced.

"You want to so bad. So bad that you don't care about consequences. But you should. Think about it."

Jason began to edge a bit closer.

" Think me, for instance. I died and I came back with a vendetta so strong it almost consumed me. It damn near killed me. And have I got to show for it? A family so afraid of who I am that they don't even want to face me. An entire Justice League that pretty much thinks i'm crazy. An empty apartment. A world that thinks i'm dead."

Damian hadn't seemed to be focused on how Jason was moving closer. He didn't seem focused on anything at all.

" What kind of life is that to live? With no one there for you. With everyone else to scared to try."

He was almost there..

"You wanna be like me after all? Leave it all behind? Do it. Pull the trigger. Lose your family. Your respect. Your future. Do it."

Damian wasn't moving. But he wasn't shooting either. Jason was taking it as a win.

" Do you truly believe that father will take me back in after this?"

Jason huffed out a breath.

"Even heroes sometimes come close to becoming the monsters."

Damian's head shot up in surprise.

"..really?"

"Really."

He watched the boy think for a moment.

"Okay."

Jason sighed.

"Good."

All at once, things went downhill.

The idiot prisoner began to try and get away. The boy reacted by aiming at the man. Jason could see the trigger finger reaching.

So he made a decision…

And pulled first.

The sound of gunshot rang in Damian's ears, but it made no sense. He hadn't even pulled the trigger. It was then that he got it. He spun around and found Todd standing there, a grim look on his face.

The gun in his hand was smoking.

"Why..?"

Jason's facial expression turned even more grim.

"Didn't want you to steal my black sheep status."