Chapter 1: A letter
Being the son of a billionaire has a lot of benefits: For example you can travel anywhere you want, have a butler that can attend you every time, buy whatever you want, be the heir of a great fortune and most importantly, be the center of attention after your own father. But for Damian Wayne, those things weren't the most important; he was more interested in something else, which was to fight criminals alongside his father as the dynamic duo of Batman and Robin, protectors of Gotham City.
However, there was something that had been bothering his father for a while: It was the fact that Damian wasn't very much of a social person. For Damian, the whole concept of friendship wasn't something to his liking, and there were very few people who could actually keep up a conversation like for example the bat-family, his pets, or the titans. Bruce knew that his son had a difficult childhood being raised by the League of Assassins, but at least the bond that he had with Damian was in good terms, nevertheless he felt his son needed something more. That's why Bruce decided to enroll his child in the prestigious Gotham Academy, so he could "interact" with people of his own age and build bonds with normal people.
What happened after a few days was that, upon entering the school, the young Wayne was expelled by the headmaster for confessing stealing some valuable objects of the academy. However, he actually didn't do any of those things. Even though he admitted to being responsible, he was actually defending someone: A girl.
This girl was totally different from him on the personality aspect: Childish, great humor, creative, persistent, and sometimes stressful, but above all those things, she was someone with a passion for adventure. They were literally polar opposites, yet during that time together; they formed the "Ultimate power team" according to her. The only thing that Damian could remember from her was her last name: Mizoguchi. You could say that at least, from that place, she was his only friend. Sometimes Damian wondered how the girl was doing in the academy, and if she was away from any kind of danger.
During a quiet night in the Wayne Manor, Damian was a bit anxious. His father decided to watch on the streets of Gotham by himself, ordering his son to take a rest after spending many nights fighting criminals without a proper rest. Damian didn't like the idea, but he obeyed the decision by staying in his bedroom, meditating peacefully until someone knocked on the door.
"May I come in?" asked a young voice that Damian recognized.
"What do you want, Drake? I don't have time for your foolishness."
"I just wanted to check on you and talk for a bit, you know. Please?" said Tim while in the hall.
After a brief minute of silence, Damian sighted and agreed to let this person enter his bedroom. This guy was actually Tim Drake, known as the previous Robin before Damian and currently known by the bat-family as "Red Robin". Upon entering, the child offered him a seat on a chair near his desktop, and Drake accepted it. The relationship between them wasn't the best. Ever since they met, both had a sort of rivalry to prove who was worthy to be Robin, until Tim finally agreed to give the mantle to Damian. The young Wayne since then always presumed and mocked everyone that he was the best boy wonder of all.
"Aside from bothering me, give me a reason why you've come here disrupting me from my meditation."
"Hey, no need to act like that, Damian. Just wondering how you've been."
"-tt- Good, now leave."
"Wait, I also wanted to ask you something: Since when do you go around giving girls batarangs?"
"Excuse me?"
How did he know about that? Damian remembered that back before leaving the Academy, he gave Maps one of his own batarangs, the same girl he defended and considered his only friend from that place. He gave it to her to use just in case she was in a dangerous situation. The young Wayne didn't think she would use it so early, but imagined that sooner or later she was going to get into trouble with it. What Damian was worried about was how Tim had discovered this.
"How do you know this?"
"It was quite easy to be honest. It's not common to see a girl from the Gotham Academy throwing batarangs right into my face while I'm trying to investigate something very important." Reply Tim with a smile.
"Maybe it was one of those random Batman fanatics. Those idiots have nothing better to do than make cheap copies of ours."
"It wasn't a copy, Damian. I checked it myself, and it was one made in the Bat-cave."
"-tt-, and why do you assume I gave her that?"
"Because you entered the Academy days ago, and got expelled in the dumbest way possible." Say Tim in a sarcastic tone.
"Listen, Drake: That girl dragged me into some stupid mess that day, and I was sick of staying in that boring place. Besides, we have thousands of batarangs; it's not the end of the world just because I gave one to a stupid child like her as a reward for giving me a reason to get expelled."
Tim went into a brief silence after hearing Damian's answer. He didn't seem convinced by it, and after thinking for some minutes, the previous Robin gave a mischievous smile while approaching and laughing a little bit.
"Reward for expelling you? Or maybe little Damian got worried for this girl and didn't want something bad to happen to her?" said Tim.
"If you want me to kill you, you don't need to bother me. I can take one of my swords and end your suffering." answered Damian with anger.
"Alright, alright, take it easy. I'll leave you alone…"
"Don't tell my father any of this. I'm warning you!"
"Of course, I'm not gonna tell Bruce. If he finds it out, your time as Robin will finish up just as quickly as your time at the Academy." said Tim as he was about to leave.
"Wait, Drake. Before leaving I have to ask you something." said Damian.
"What is it?"
"Is she…alright?" asked Damian while looking somewhere else.
"Oh yeah, nothing bad happened to your friend. By the way, she has good aim. Why do you ask?"
"-tt- No reason…"
"You know, I think you should check on her. Who knows, maybe she misses you too." said Tim as he left the room with a laugh.
"Good-bye, Drake." replied Damian, before slamming the door with anger.
Why would he get worried for someone such as her? Tim and the other boys of the family could wish for something like that from the young Wayne just for the whole purpose to mock on him. For Damian, the only people that he truly cared for were his family and pets. However, Robin was curious with some things: How did Maps met Red Robin, and how was she doing right now? He started to think for a while. Maybe a simple message to find out how she was wouldn't hurt anyone, but no one of the family should know about it, especially the boys. But how could he send that note if they never shared their phones before? It seemed that the only option he had left was the old fashioned one: A letter.
He sat on the chair near his desk, took a piece of paper with a pen and started writing whatever came to his mind first. He had trouble starting the letter. Choosing between a classic "How you've been?" to even a formal "Greeting Miss Mizoguchi" gave him some frustration, mostly because he didn't understand why he couldn't make a simple greeting. After that, he created the necessary sentences to end up destroying the paper with anger, due to some grammar mistakes, and messages without sense. Many hours later, Damian finally made the perfect letter according to him. He checked on it many times and decided to seal it but then he started to think: "Will Mizoguchi understand this?" After all, now that he remembered, she wasn't actually the most intelligent girl, and she was, well, quiet…easily distracted by everything. Damian imagined the girl throwing the piece of paper out of boredom and that angered him way more than before. So he decided to start all over again. This thing about making friends was something very annoying now that he thought about it.
After many hours of thinking and writing, Damian had finished with what he thought was the ideal letter for someone like her. He added the location of the Gotham Academy and to whom the message was for. Now he needed to place it on the mailbox until someone else opened the door of his bedroom: It was Alfred Pennyworth, the butler of the Wayne family.
"Dinner is almost ready, Master Damian."
"Ah, Pennyworth, just when I needed your service. I want you to place this letter in the mailbox right away."
"May I ask what made a boy of your age make this…letter? It's something very unusual considering you have a cellphone and a computer."
"The only thing you need to know is that none of the other boys can find out about this."
"Is it a letter for your mother? If so, your father will not be very comfortable with this.
"-tt- It's not for her. It's for a…friend." said Damian quietly.
"I beg your pardon? I didn't quiet hear what you just said."
"It's for a friend."
"Oh how wonderful! And here I thought you would end up becoming a hermit just like your father!"
"-tt- Just do your job and leave me alone."
"As you wish, I'll put this letter in the mailbox right now." said Alfred while leaving the room.
"And I also want a Caesar's salad, Thank you." said Damian before closing the door.
As Alfred walked down the aisles of the mansion, he became quite curious about the letter of Damian, wondering who the mysterious friend was. Suddenly, a wall opened and revealed a dark passage with a few lights illuminating a staircase. The butler was not at all frightened, for he knew very well where the passage was, and who the person who came out of that place was. It was none other than Bruce Wayne, owner of the mansion and secretly the masked hero, known as Batman.
"Alfred."
"Welcome back, Master Bruce. I assume you had an interesting patrol tonight."
"Just the usual. The villains are very quiet tonight. I'll check on the main computer if they are up to something bigger."
"Would you like some dinner then?"
"Sure, a little bit of food would be nice. How is Damian doing?"
"Now that you mention. I just checked on him and he seemed quiet…different."
"It's probably because I ordered him to rest tonight. I'll talk with him later."
"I doubt that's the reason, sir. I think your boy is actually becoming more…mature."
It was then that Bruce noticed the letter that his butler had in his hand. Curiosity entered his mind and he wanted to know what that was. It was not usual to see a letter considering that nowadays everyone was using cell phones.
"What've you got there?" asked Bruce.
"Well you see, Master Damian ordered me to leave this… letter, in the mailbox."
"A letter? Let me see." said Bruce while looking it over. "It says to Miss Mizoguchi with the Gotham Academy address."
"Your son asked me to ensure that none of his brothers see this letter, so if you'll excuse me, I'll be leaving this in its proper place."
"Interesting…"
"What is it, sir?"
"I met this girl once; she activated the Bat-signal all by herself just to show me some…drawings."
"I hope you didn't destroy the little girl's dreams, sir." Say Alfred.
"…they were ok." said Bruce. "I'll go back to the cave to…investigate."
"Investigate the villains or this new girl?" asked the butler.
