Author's Note: Finally wrote the story involving the healing pod incident I alluded to in Return of Jason. You might want to read that story before this one. Part of my Return Series. Hope you like it!
It had been nearly two weeks since the Red Hood had made his dramatic reappearance, and despite Damien's endless searching, he had nothing to show for it. He had scoured all of Gotham, leaving no stone unturned, but no one had seen or heard anything of the vigilante menace. It was almost as though the anti-hero had been wiped off the face of the Earth, again.
Damien scowled at the blinking screen in front of him, resisting the temptation to put his fist through it.
"What did that computer ever do to you?" asked a cheerful voice from the stairwell.
He didn't have to turn around to know who it was, but nevertheless he swiveled in the chair to face his older brother.
"It has failed to find any sign of the Red Hood, despite having all the resources of Wayne Enterprises at its disposal." He spun back to face the screen once more, waving angrily toward his fruitless search displays. "It's been two weeks, and there hasn't been any sign of him. He shouldn't be able to elude us like this!"
A grunt from the stairwell brought his attention back to Dick, and his frown deepened. His normally gravity defying brother now seemed bent under the weight of its invisible force. The bulky knee brace he wore made his movements stiff and robotic, and he held a hand to his chest as if every step pained him. It was a stark contrast from the normal fluidity with which the acrobat usual moved, and it was frighteningly unnatural to watch.
"You look terrible Grayson."
"I think you mean terrific." Came the answering laugh.
"You should not be out of bed. Pennyworth will have your head if he catches you down here."
"Ahh come on Little D, you know I hate being cooped up. Besides, how else am I supposed to help out my little brother?" he teased.
"Ttch." Damien scoffed in feigned annoyance, "You are of no use to me in your present condition."
But his insult only served to make Dick grin even wider as he continued to painfully make his way down the stairs.
After a few more agonizing seconds of watching Grayson struggle to descend, Damien quickly rose to assist him lest he fall. Coming to his side, Damien draped Dick's free arm over his shoulders and allowed himself to be used as a human crutch.
"Aww." Dick cooed, "Thanks Dami, you're the sweetest."
"Don't flatter yourself Grayson," the younger hero grumbled, "I'm only ensuring Robin gets to patrol sooner, and he can't do that without Batman." But he had to turn his face away to hide the color that rose in his cheeks.
Up close, Damien could now notice the other tell-tale signs of his brother's less than perfect health. His face was flushed with the vestiges of a fever; his normally tanned skin was now an unhealthy shade of gray and despite his joyful manner, and Damien saw the tell-tale tightening of his eyes that betrayed his pain.
The kid would never admit it, but he hated seeing his partner reduced to such a state. And he hated the villain responsible even more. The Red Hood would pay; Damien would make sure of it. It was just a matter of finding him.
Upon reaching the giant computer, he deposited Dick into a chair as gently as he could and sat beside him. To his great concern, Dick looked even worse for wear after their short trip.
"Grayson..." he began.
But the older man cut him off with a tired smile. "I'm fine Dami, Doc says I'll make a full recovery in no time, and anyway you shouldn't be down here by yourself all the time. Alfred says you've hardly left the cave since…the incident." He finished lamely.
They had yet to fully discuss what had happened that night Jason had shown up, and Dick's nonchalant attempt at brevity made Damien's annoyance flare up into anger.
"If 'the incident' you are referring to was Red Hood breaking into the cave and attempting to kill you, then yes, I suppose I have been spending a lot of time down here recently." He responded cheekily.
"Dami," Dick sighed, his eyes awash with worry, "you shouldn't be looking for him by yourself."
Damien clenched his fists and refused to meet the man's eyes.
"I know you're angry, but Jason's too dangerous for you to take on alone. I-"
"I'm not a child Grayson!" he snapped. Having the hero speak to him as though he was a toddler was degrading, and Damien could not let it stand. "I am fully aware of Red Hood's capabilities, no thanks to you!"
Dick leaned forward in his chair confusion on his face. "What are you talking about?"
Rising from his seat, the teen brought up a file on the monitor for Dick to see.
"I'm talking about this!" he shouted at his brother with an accusatory glare.
It only took one glance for him to realize what it was. It was a file on none other than the infamous Jason Todd. News articles and videos, photographs and notes, captured Jason as both a civilian and as Robin, meticulously compiled and laid out in chronological order, all the way up until his untimely death. It was there the file came to an abrupt conclusion, but the time stamp indicated it had been updated as recently as three weeks ago.
Several entries had been made over the course of the last year, entered not by Bruce Wayne, but by Dick Grayson. In them, Dick had made note of the sudden appearance of a mysterious figure going by the moniker of Red Hood. The observations linked the vigilante to a series of gang murders and subsequent turf wars that had been plaguing Gotham over the last few months, and according to the file, Dick had begun to suspect the newcomer was none other than the late Jason Todd.
"You knew about him! You knew this whole time, and you did nothing! You didn't even think to tell me the first Robin had somehow managed to come back from the dead!" Damien turned away from Dick to face the screen, his entire body shaking with suppressed rage.
He wanted to be angry, to lash out at Dick and release some of the frustration and helplessness that had been building up over the last few weeks, but Grayson had the uncanny ability to make him feel guilty about the smallest things, like yelling at a brother for instance.
"You said we were partners," he muttered softly.
"Oh Damien." Dick breathed, "Damien, we are! I promise we are! I just- I didn't want to believe…Damien look at me." He pleaded.
But Damien was hesitant to face him. Normally, the son of Bruce Wayne would never avoid confrontation, he normally relished it; it was part of his character. He was defiant and proud, and impossibly stubborn, but Grayson was the one exception to the rule. He knew if he turned to face his brother all his anger would dissipate, and he wasn't quite ready to relinquish it just yet.
"Please Dami."
How could he refuse?
Finally relenting, he lifted his gaze to meet his brother's blue eyes. "Explain yourself." He rasped.
"I wasn't trying to hide anything from you Damien." Dick began, "I just wanted to be absolutely sure it was him. I had no idea he would try to attack us."
"Not us Grayson. You. Hood was here for you only, and I demand to know why."
This time it was Dick who broke eye contact, unable to face the piercing eyes of his brother. "It's complicated."
"Ttch."
"I'm not trying to make any excuses," he said hastily to assuage his brother's flared temper, "I just need you to understand. The mantle of Robin has a pretty dark history, some of which you already know…but there are some things you should probably be made aware of, especially now." There was fire in his eyes, a kind of grim aura around him that instantly put Damien on edge.
He couldn't remember ever seeing his brother like this before. The current Dark Knight seemed to be cloaked in shadow even without the cape, and he looking haunting. With his pale skin and the sheen of sweat on his face, Dick appeared more ghost than man, and the bags under his eyes only added to the illusion. Damien found he didn't recognize the person who sat before him. He hadn't realized there was a darker side to the golden Richard Grayson. He wasn't sure he liked it.
"When Bruce took me in, he was still suffering from the loss of Jason, and his grief made him a different person. Not the fun loving guy you got to know." Dick began with a wry grin.
"He was in a dark place, teetering on the edge of the abyss as a broken man, and his guilt made him distant. I know everyone likes to think I managed to bring him back with my charming personality, but it was really more persistence than anything. I became Robin to save Bruce from himself, because I knew if I left him to follow his path of self-destruction we would both be lost.
"Those first few years were… challenging for the both of us." he said with a deep sigh, "My training was intense. He refused to speak directly of Jason, but he was a constant presence. Bruce saw him in every mistake I made, and it made him a harsh teacher. When he looked at me, he was seeing a ghost and I quickly learned I could not hope to escape Jason's legacy. 'Mistakes get you killed' he used to say. I was a constant reminder of the boy he had failed, and as a result he was constantly pushing me to become better, because if I was better than so was he. I think it was his way of atoning for his sins."
Damien failed to see how this had anything to do with the Red Hood's sudden hatred for him. "Jason said Father loved you."
"He did Little D, he did, but it took some time for me to break down those walls of his. Eventually, after I began to prove my competence out in the field, Bruce opened himself back up to the world, not quite as convinced I was doomed to follow in my predecessor's footsteps. He was happier for it."
"That still doesn't explain why he wants to kill you."
"Doesn't it though? By taking me in and deciding to train me, Bruce was essentially allowing himself to move on from Jason's death, but Jason saw it as the ultimate betrayal. When he learned there was a new Robin, he believed it was Bruce's way of saying Jason was replaceable, expendable, that his death wasn't some tragedy to be avenged, just a minor inconvenience. Another faceless soldier lost in the war against crime."
"Father would never-"
"I know, D, I know, but to Jason, my very existence is a personal affront. He hates me because he believes I took his rightful place." He paused and absentmindedly brushed his fingers against his recetly torn ear, Red Hood's parting gift, "Not unlike how you hated Tim."
"My conflict with Drake is nothing like yours and Todd's!" Damien protested.
"Isn't it?" Dick said with a weary smile, "You tried to kill Tim too when you met him."
"That was only because he was unworthy of being Robin."
"And why was he unworthy?" Dick pressed.
"Because Drake was simply a temporary stand in until I was ready to claim my rightful place at my father's side." he trailed off as he realized what he had said. "But that's different!" he said defensively, "I am the blood son of Bruce Wayne, I am the rightful heir to the Batman legacy-"
"And Jason Todd was the original Robin who believed he had a rightful place at Bruce's side as both partner and son. Only when he came back to reclaim it he found the mantle had already been passed on, to me. I was living the life he had lost, and that is why Red Hood wants me dead. Do you understand?"
Damien reluctantly nodded, then studied his brother, who looked weary from trudging through the past, but there was still something that had plagued him from the very beginning. "Fine, I will accept your explanation of Todd's behavior, but there is still one thing I do not understand."
"What?"
"Before, during the fight with Hood, you mentioned yourself dying and- and you said Father did not want you to live. What did you mean?" He was asking as much out of self-preservation as out of curiosity. He needed to know if his death would mean something to his father. Perhaps he was beginning to understand Todd after all.
"You heard that huh?"
"I have re-watched the video enough times; I have the entire thing memorized."
"A few years after my debut as Robin, I had a run in with Two-Face. Nothing new, but this time he seemed more in-sync with himself, more focused, and it made him unpredictable." A dark look passed over Dick's face, and Damien noted once again that the brooding look did not suit him.
"He had me for nearly an hour before Batman found me, and he was almost too late." Dick continued. "I was taken to Watchtower and placed in an experimental healing pod. It was my only shot. Bruce didn't know it, but as I was healing, I would drift in and out of consciousness, and sometimes I could make out what people were saying on the other side of the glass. On one of my more lucid days, I became aware of Batman standing outside my pod speaking to me. That's when I heard him tell me that he hoped I- that I wouldn't make it."
Shaking himself out of his dark thoughts the man looked at his speechless brother and gave him a weak smile. "Anyway, it was a close call, but I recovered. I figured it was a good a time as any to set out and become my own man. I guess, I guess I was also afraid that if I continued as Robin, I would meet the same fate as Jason, and I wanted to spare Bruce the pain of reliving past horrors. Nightwing was born shortly after, and I think you know the rest."
"But how did you come to uncover the identity of Red Hood?"
"After that whole Two-Face fiasco, Jason's murder haunted me." He paused to regain his composure, "I went through Bruce's files on him, hoping I could oh I don't know find closure or something from my time as Robin, but instead, I found rumors of a new vigilante. His technique was so similar to ours, so familiar, it couldn't have been anyone else. I did some digging, not wanting to believe such a thing was even possible, but then I found his empty grave. It wasn't the most substantial evidence, but it was a start. Then, when those gang murders started popping up, things just started to fall into place." There were tears in his eyes, eyes that were pleading earnestly for forgiveness.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you all this sooner Damien. I really am. I thought that by not telling you I was somehow protecting you, but well, we can see how well that turned out." Dick ended with a bitter laugh.
"Your foresight is astoundingly dismal for one who calls himself a detective." It was a peace offering, acknowledging his brother's apology without verbally accepting it. He was a child assassin after all, forgiveness was not his forte.
"Yeah well, hindsight is twenty-twenty, or so they say." And they laughed together, finally expelling the ghosts of the past from the present.
"Master Dick, what on earth are you doing up and about at this ungodly hour when you should be in bed resting?" an elderly voice inquired from the stairs.
Damien chuckled evilly.
"And Master Damien, is there any particular reason you have allowed your brother to sojourn from his bed to the Batcave?"
Flashback to Batman standing before Dick's pod in the Watchtower.
Batman stood before his son's broken body, and gently laid a gloved hand on the glass casing that separated them. Wearily he pushed back his cowl to reveal the eyes of an anxious and guilt laden parent. "Oh Dickie." He breathed.
As he looked at the dark-haired boy who lay still as death beneath his hand, he saw in his mind's eye another boy, just as pale and unmoving, being lowered six feet beneath the ground. And in that moment he was not Gotham's indestructible Dark Knight, he was just a man. A man who had failed to keep his promise that he would keep his son safe. It was not the first time he had broken it, but he swore it would be his last.
That's what you said after Jason, and now look at you, making the same mistakes all over again. That voice in his head was back. Will you never learn? How many children will have to die in your crusade for vengeance?
But it wasn't for vengeance, not anymore. After Jason, Bruce never expected to let anyone else into his life. It only seemed to bring him pain, but then Dick had forced his way in anyway and reminded him the world wasn't as dark as he had once thought. He had shown him the light.
And what good did it do? It hissed. He saved you, but you couldn't save him.
Drowning in turmoil Bruce rammed his fist repeatedly against the wall in his despair. Never again. He vowed with each hit. Never again.
Panting, he leaned heavily on Dick's pod, and his shoulders shook with his sobs.
"I said I wouldn't let you out until I was sure you were perfect. You're not like Jason, not at all, and I thought that would be enough. I was wrong. A part of me hopes that you don't make it, so that I won't be forced to go through this again, because if you recover, eventually we'll end up right back here, and I'm not strong enough to do this again. You weren't ready; you weren't good enough…and I will never forgive myself for making the same mistake twice."
For a while, there was silence, then pulling himself together, the man pulled his cowl back over his face to become Batman once more. Casting his cape aside, he turned and left the room.
He had no idea the boy inside could hear him.
Back to present day
In the dark of the night, a dark figure stood alone on a rooftop as he surveyed the city below him.
A patch of moonlight broke through the smoggy Gotham air, revealing a red bat symbol splashed across his chest. His leather jacket flapped in the wind as he spoke into phone by his ear. "Is everything ready? Good."
The vigilante snapped his phone shut before picking up a red helmet from the ledge and placing it on his head. "It's time to go to work."