Independence Day

Damian woke up with the tone of «Bring the Sexy back» ringing near to his ear. It wasn't loud enough to be heard outside his room, but it was enough to be extremely irritating to his trained assassin hearing. With a grunt turned his body to the right to be able to take his cell phone from the bedside that this was.

He pressed the button to answer while he sat up, to move into half-sitting on the bed, while his free hand rubbed his eyes.

"Hello, D"

"Roy, I hope it's important because it's too early for social calls" he mumbled harshly, but without malice behind his words. He was exhausted. He wanted to sleep and honestly being nice to his lover wasn´t one of his top priorities right now.

"Oh, busy night?"

"Yes" he replied with a sigh of exhaustion. Apparently, he wouldn´t be able to get out of chatting with the other man. Many times Roy was worse than Richard as to stubbornness came so he let a sigh left his lips before he answered "New villain. The idiot thought it would be a good idea to mess with us and had me chasing him until four o'clock in the morning."

"I assume you broke it and B got angry at you?"

Damian rolled his eyes at the obviousness of that estate. If there was anything that annoyed his father was him maiming his enemies and no to say that he kills them. However, that was the only way to protect Gotham and his family, and honestly, he didn´t regret that the name «ShadowBird» was associated more with a murderer than with a vigilante. As to provoke more fear than the Bat in the hearts of the villains of Gothic City had its benefits.

"I'm sorry to hear that, really, but I had to call you."

"If you say that you missed the sound of my voice, the next time we see each other, I'll put a Bat-rang so deep in your ass that you will not be able to sit down again in your life," he threatened in a hoarse voice.

His lover just laughed. Not taking his words seriously even though he knew Damian was more than capable of keeping up with what he said.

"It's not that, love. It's just that…today is The Day."

The demon's son's green eyes softened as he heard the nervousness in his partner's voice.

"I know" was whispered with a smile as he remembered how his little brother had spent all the day before babbling how excited he was to go to The League Headquarters. He, as well as the other sidekicks, had been invited to meet the barracks.

However, his smile slowly disappeared, replaced by a bitter grin. He knew Roy thought that that would be the first step to being accepted as heroes in the League, but Damian was sure that was not the case. After all, Batman would not allow Robin to leave his control zone for a few years or when Dick got fed up and decided it was time to fly alone.

Even so, he couldn´t crush the illusions of his brother or his lover, so he simply fell silent. After all to learn it was necessary to suffer, so he couldn´t spare them the pain of a disappointment.

"Are you sure you do not want to come with us?"

"No. You know that I am not material for the League. You all fight for what is right, I only do it to protect what is mine." He said as he shook his head slightly, even as he knows that Roy couldn´t see him. "Although, if you decide to become independent it wouldn´t bother me working together"

"That sounds great and everything, but I still remember that your dad promised that if I put one foot in his city he would castrate me. So no thanks"

That remark made him laugh, for the memory of his father giving the talk to Roy two years ago always seemed extremely amusing to him.

"Stop making fun of me!"

"Sorry, Sorry"

"Oh, shit. I have to go, there's an idiot attacking the bridge."

"Kick his ass, baby" he said before the call was cut off. With a sigh he looks at the time and growled, it wasn´t really early. Actually was past twelve-thirty, but after not having slept much for the last three days, Damian thought he deserved a break. He had planned to sleep all day.

However, that was no longer possible. Now that he was awake he was going to have to do something with his time or he wouldn't be able to feel at peace with himself. Whit a sigh he got up and went to take a shower.

"As always, it was delicious, Alfred" said the nineteen-year-old boy once he had finished his breakfast, as he stood up from the table and headed for the Bat-cave. Whit Bruce and Richard outside Gotham, the city became his territory.

"I'm glad you like it, Master Damian" the butler's voice dismissed him as he left the dining room, mourning for not having breakfast with Jason, his other baby brother, but there was nothing to do as Jay had school and had left at seven a.m. in the morning.

Once in the cave he put on his uniform (a stylized suit that was the mixture of Red Hood and Nightwing, with his own seal: the symbol of the league of assassins inside a bat tinted in blood red into the black background), although he did not expect there to be any problems - since Batman was out of town and his rules were now in force - he was of the mentality that it was better safe than sorry.

Now, not many villains were so stupid as to mess with him when his father was not there to make sure he did not send them to hell, but there were cases.

Even though it was common knowledge that in the absence of Batman, Gotham was owned by ShadowBird and he had no qualms about executing those who try to create problems in his city. And that the massacre of the clown and all his associates from four years ago was still remembered with fear by everybody inside the city.

That particular event was the star of his legend. As He was the one to kill the Joker. He was the only murderer that Batman had not defeated and permitted to go free for his city. Furthermore, He was allowed to fight whit him and Robin as well to claim the city as his when the Bat wasn´t in town.

And that makes the villains fear him more than they fear his father.

Because his father doesn't kill. But he does.

And that's exactly why he knows that his father will not allow Robin to stay away from Gotham because his little brother is perhaps the only thing that keeps him from killing the villains every time he goes out on the field. His little robin had made him promise that he would not kill anyone unless it was absolutely necessary while they were together. And honestly, for someone with his skills, killing is never necessary. It just makes the job much easier

He turned on the computer and proceeded to watch the security cameras with a lazy air. Sadly, his tranquility did not last long, for not even three minutes after he had sat down in front of the Bat-computer, Robin's transmitter went out.

Which only meant one thing: Problems.

Batman, who was attending with the other members of the League the emergency in the sun, received a call from his eldest son. Which caused his blood to freeze in his veins, this because Damian never called.

Not unless it is life or death.

ShadowBird was an independent watcher. A trained killer, the son he had with Thalia, the boy who, at fifteen, brutally murdered the Joker and all those who associated with the clown, the cold, distant young man who called him "Father" both in the suit and outside of this and had never smiled at him.

The same boy who loved Robin and Jason more than anything and who is the best big brother that his children could wish for is always for them when they need it. That he would do anything for them, whether kill or stop doing it

He immediately answered the call. His heart throbbing with much more force as he thought of the terrible possibilities that could be the reason behind the call of his firstborn.

"Father, what do you know about CADMUS laboratories?"

Bruce blinked slowly, he wasn´t expecting that.

"Not much" he admitted reluctantly if there was anything that bothered him, it was not having the information complete. "Just that they are not what it looks like, we haven´t had a chance to do more research, so all I have is suspicion, why?"

"tt-Because the transmitter of Robin was extinguished and its last coordinates are from that place."

"WHAT?!" he exclaimed as he felt the claw of fear tighten his chest.

"Do not worry, I'm going there, but I cannot promise that I will leave much standing if the place is dangerous and its workers threaten my brother's safety"

The call was cut off and Batman let out a grunt. For one thing he was relieved because Damian would bring Dick safe and sound, but on the other hand, he was sure that his son will leave a trail of blood and bodies in his way.

"Superman, we have to get back to Earth as soon as possible!. ShadowBird informs me that the boys went to CADMUS labs." Bruce announces to the Kryptonian, pressing the team to finish the matter quickly so they could return to Earth as soon as possible.

Getting into CADMUS had been simple.

Especially because he did not leave anyone alive who could communicate what was happening. Finding strange creatures was the least of his problems, for they were living beings, which meant that he could use poison to eliminate them.

Damian was well versed in many areas of the art of killing, the use of poison was one of them. It was not a skill that occupied much, but always carried with him vials filled with a potent narcotic that paralyzed the muscles of the one who breathed it and if it didn´t receive the antidote the target died in two minutes, since the heart beating and the lungs function as well as many other vital organs stop.

He had made more complicated missions for the League when he was seven. The security of this place sucked because the shapeshifters were only attacked dogs of a different race. They did not have a mind of their own and the humans in the compound were weak, scum.

It didn´t take long to finding out that his brother, along with Kid Flash and Kaldur were on level 52 waiting for the cloning process to end and to be eliminated as they will be no longer needed. When he received this information from his dying victim, his breathing stirred for a moment, as the idea of losing Richard caused him unimaginable pain.

He clenched his teeth tightly and tightened the handle of his sword until his knuckles turned white, his green eyes turned for a moment like the luster of the Lazaro pit and filled with unprecedented hatred and madness. He cut the man's throat against the wall without a second thought.

He got up and started walking, the images of the last time he saw Grayson danced in front of him.

He had to make a great effort to wake up and be able to regain control of his body and mind. He hat to repeated time father time that that wouldn't happen again.

He was no longer the weak child they had to protect. No. Now it was his turn to take care of them, to protect them, to be the older brother.

With that in mind he took a deep breath and headed for the 52 floor. He had three teenagers to save and a little brother to recover.

Seeing a boy dressed in a sun suit in front of the other three shocked him enough to stop for a moment and allowed to say boy turned around. His eyes widened with surprise as he noticed the Superman symbol on the boy's clothing.

He heard the gasp of surprise from his brother and Kid Flash, but he did not have time to worry about it because the young man who was so much like Clark rushed against him with a roar of fury. His mind focused on the threat and proceeded to block everything else.

It was not the first time he had fought against a meta-human so he managed to dodge, applying the grace of the moves he had copied from Grayson to get out of the way, he turned and placed himself in front of the tubes where his brother and the other two were in whit a defensive posture.

He had dropped the sword in the process because he was aware that it would hurt his enemy and so was a dead weight. In an instant, his right hand was holding a dagger covered with Kryptonite. His armament was similar to the one Batman used in many ways, with the only difference being that all he had on him were weapons and not simple toys.

ShadowBird was a killer, not a hero with pointless morals. So he lifts the dagger and point, his opponent did not know how to fight, he had too many openings. A cruel smile made its way to his lips while pointing to the heart of his opponent, the boy had no chance.

"Don´t kill him!" The cry of his brother pierced his ears and forced him to change course, with a slight wrist movement changed the course of the knife and instead of embedding himself in the heart it perforated the boy's left shoulder.

The young man collapsed as Kryptonite contact whit his body demonstrating that he was the same species as Superman.

Damian gave him an arrogant look before turning to help his brother. Ignoring the gasp of surprise of the assistant of Aquaman, the idiot expression of Kid and the groan of the pain of the meta-human that was on the ground.

"Do you know that Batman is not going to be happy with your actions, right?" he asked once he had freed Robin, giving him a look of disappointment that causes the child to flinch, his stance spoke of being sorry, but didn´t regret it.

"Shadow, I ..."

"I do not want to hear your excuses!" He cut his brother whit harshness. Making the boy close his mouth and look away.

The truth is that he was torn between hitting him and hugging him and never letting him go. And so he was experiencing a growing headache.

Robin had such a tendency to get into trouble that Damian was not sure how he had survived until his twenties, let alone beyond them. Always going forward, without thinking much about the consequences of their actions. And the worst thing was that he had no place to judge him! Because he had done the same when he was younger. Although in his case he had been arrogance in his abilities, and not confidence learned from having worked with someone who has your back and knows exactly what your patterns are.

That had been captured made evident that Robin was not ready to fly on his own. Actually, none of the three sidekicks in the room was ready to go on solo.

"Ah, D? I don´t want to interrupt this beautiful moment between brothers, but if it is not too much trouble, could you free us?!" Kid's voice pierced his ears and made him grimace, then turn his gaze to the redhead and give him a Bat-glare that made the speedster shiver.

"You release Aquaman's assistant. I will take care of Kid Flash, then I want a report of what has happened since Batman committed the stupidity of leaving you unsupervised in the Hall of Justice"

"Should not we get out of here first?" Kaldur asked as Richard helped him free himself.

"There's no need" Damian, Dick and Wallace responded in chorus, making the Atlantean look at them as if they were crazy, which was pretty funny in ShadowBird's opinion.

"Ah, Sorry? There is no need? We are in the middle of a secret laboratory full of potential enemies"

"Oh, right, you haven´t been in Gotham" Wallace murmured as he scratched the back of his head in a nervous motion.

"Oh, is that it? Well, then presentations first and then report" exclaimed Robin with a big smile.

At that, Damian just sighed. He had learned that it was better to go whit the current as far as his brother's eccentricities were concerned.

"Shadow, you already know Kid. This is Kaldur, but you probably already knew that. And the boy by the wall is Superboy ... ah, he's a Superman clone and well, we promised to take him with us and introduce him to Super ... "This last part cost him a dark look from his older brother so Robin proceeded to continue with the introductions, hoping that Damian did not lose his calm.

"Ah, Kaldur, Superboy. This is my brother ShadowBird. He is, an Anti-hero that work´s in Gotham, but not with Batman, per se…and since he came to rescue me, eh, rescue us, is very likely not nobody lives on the premises apart from us ... " He finished with a little sadness, as he conceded that those lives were lost partly as his fault because Shadow wouldn´t have had to kill anyone if they had not set foot in CADMUS.

"Wait. I thought ShadowBird did not leave Gotham" Kaldur said looking with a mixture of fear and respect at the man who had come to his aid, letting Damian see that he had heard rumors about him.

"Under normal circumstances, I don´t do it" Damian said lightly, before looking at his brother. "But if my family is in danger, that changes. I'll go to hell if I have to," he aggregated sternly. The 'And I will do whatever it takes to ensure their safety' was heard by everyone in the room even though it was not expressed aloud.

This was received by a nod from the Atlantean, who, although he did not approve the actions of the other youth, understood the reason behind them.

"Am, Shadow, do you think we can take that away from Supey? I do not think that skin color is healthy ..." Wally, who was standing next to that young man - who looked sick - commented with an insecure air.

Everyone had looked at that point as an immediate reaction to the sound and after a few moments, Robin and Kaldur redirected their gaze to Damian with expressions that entered in the kicked-puppy category.

The three teenagers had naturally accepted ShadowBird's leadership, who supposed it was because he was the greatest and only hero (even if he fell more in the category of Anti-hero) in full rule and did not think too much.

Tense moments of silence in which the green-eyed young man analyzed the clone when he finished, made a slight movement with his right hand and Robin grabbed Kaldur by the arm and backed away from Superboy. Kid imitated the movement and joined them.

Damian advanced to where the clone was and knelt beside him.

"I will take the dagger out and let you come with us to honor the convent my brother made with you." Damian declares in the same soft, but firm tone he used to talk to Jason. He sensed that Todd and Superboy had a similar character, so he tried to not sound patronizing with the intention of avoiding problems.

He extracted the dagger with a brutal and quick movement, proceeding to save it in the special part of his armor that covered the effect of the stone.

"However, if you try something against me or their's, I'll kill you." his words were simply the exposition of a fact so his voice did not change in the least.

He held out his hand and the boy looked at him suspiciously for a moment before accepting it. Letting the eldest help him to his feet.

When they came to the surface the whole league was outside the laboratory facilities. None of them looked exactly happy, but the heroes who were responsible for the teenagers looked frankly angry.

Especially his father.

Internally Damian cringed at the look Batman gave him when he positioned himself in front of Robin and maintained physical contact with Superboy, maintaining a protective stance towards both. But on the outside he held his head high, looking proud and somewhat rebellious, in a silent challenge to his father and the other heroes.

After hearing the story of the clone, it had been easy to create a bond with him, for Damian could understand -perhaps better than anyone- what it meant to be a life created with the sole intention of being a weapon to the machinations of someone else.

And he had no intention of letting anybody touch Superboy. Not his father and certainly not Superman, so Damian show the Kryptonian his teeth when he looks bad at the clone when notice the symbol on his clothes.

"Start talking" was the Bat's order.

And Damian obeyed.

He took the role of the team leader almost unconsciously and the other four echoed this, keeping quiet and close to him, shielding himself from the irritation of his mentors.

"... leaving the facilities intact so it should be easy to gather information about what was going on at CADMUS and who was behind it. However, there are no survivors beyond Superboy whom I plan to take under my protection"

The last part of his estate caused a stir among some of the heroes, for none of them trusted the young Anti-Hero by his brutal methods. He was not part of the League, nor would he ever be, so they immediately opposed his statement. However, there were others, the most intelligent, that understood that the young man was under Batman's protection and that they couldn´t do anything to keep him from fulfilling what he had said.

Bruce looked sternly at his son for a moment, analyzing it in silence, then he gave a nod. He had seen that expression on his son a couple of times and he knew Damian wouldn´t back down on this.

"Fine. But both of you will stay where the League can watch you" he said to calm those who were aerated.

ShadowBird shrugged to show that he didn´t mind the condition. Robin shouted joyfully with Kid Flash and hugged the surprised Superboy who could not believe what was going on and was somewhat hurt by the way Superman was seeing him, as if he was a monster or something, for his part Aqualad patted his shoulder in support.

"Tell me the location and we will go immediately"

"Mount Justice"

"Understood, Father. We'll see you there"

Damian takes Superboy's hand and pulls it gently to where he had left his car, which was very similar to the Bat-mobile whit the difference that it had other colors. He asked him to take a seat and the child obeyed, so he proceeded to say goodbye to Robin with a signal and entered the vehicle.

He wanted to leave the danger zone as soon as possible because he did not want to hear a sermon from his father. Bruce was his father and so he respected him, but he was not his Batman. That honor had been Grayson's, and so he did not have to listen to his father's sermons.

Once they were far enough Superboy inquired what had been bothering him since they had left the labs.

"Your expression changed when you heard what it was, why?"

"Because we look more like what you might believe, Superboy" he answered truthfully.

Sensing the teenager's incredulity, Damian sighed and stopped the car. He took off his mask and turned to see the other boy in the eye, connecting his green gaze with the blue of his contrary.

"My name is Damian Al Ghul, grandson of Ra's Al Ghul, Head of the League of Shadows and my mother, Thalia, only had an intention when she had me: join her genes with the ones of my father and to create a powerful heir.

She made me train from my birth, day after day, without rest. For years I only knew a lifestyle, a tortuous way of life where I was forced to fight for my life at every moment and to murder others. Until my tenth birthday I was a living weapon whose sole purpose was to obey my mother and her wishes. It was not until I met my father that I had a choice. To be me.

As you can see, our stories are similar. "

"That's why I insisted on taking you under my protection because I want you to have the same opportunity," he added with a small but sincere smile, before putting on his mask again and continuing to drive.

"Home, sweet home" Damian murmured as he looked inside the old base with disdain.

It was frankly a place in decline and it was obvious that no one had used it in years. It needed a good cleaning and security improvements, but he could work with it. After all, he had lived in places with worst conditions during his year of blood.

"Home? I thought your home was in Gotham"

"It is, but my father does not like Meta in the city, so we'll have to stay here for a while," ShadowBird explain calmly to his new protégé.

"Okay"

"Come, you have to find a room for each of us," said the older man as he began to walk toward the interior of the base.

Superboy smiled and followed the other man. He liked Damian and was glad that the other boy had decided to take him under his protection.

Roy. I know you do not want to talk right now, but when you're ready, call me or come get me. I am not in Gotham at the moment and probably will not return in a long span, so I sent you the coordinates. (51.4966; -0.143) Call before entering or I'll break your wrist.

Harper read his partner's message before throwing the phone across the room of the apartment he had rented a few hours ago. He was furious and hurt by the lack of confidence from his mentor, Green Arrow.

He was thinking of following ShadowBird's advice and becoming an independent hero, leaving Oliver and making his own life. He was going to prove to his mentor and everyone else that he was ready to join the Justice League. And that meant doing it alone, which meant leaving his relationship with Damian aside for the time being.

That morning Speedy had died and Red Arrow had been born.

Well, this is the first part of the ShadowBird universe which is a Young Justice AU with some Crossover tones with Batman. This is because Damian is from another universe and comes to the YJ by a portal after having lost all his family (to Tim, Jason and Dick, and it is to them that he refers when he calls them by his surnames) when he was fifteen.

Depending on how it is received, I will publish the following parts. I would appreciate it if you leave your opinions in the form of Reviews.

I apologize for the grammar mistakes. English is not my maternal language and I´m still learning.