Yeah… "chapter's late as hell"…. "piece of crap is hardly a couple of paragraphs"… yadda yadda yadda. ^^"

Well, here it is nonetheless. I've had the worst case of writer's block these past few days, so here's an update that's a little on the late side. Don't forget to review….

I thought I mentioned it, but if not…

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters in this story or the Batman universe. I only own Kaiser, Kor Hol and members of it, Jaxon Haywood, and… that's about it.

ONWARD!

Chapter 10

The cold was not that bad, it just stung his face when he least expected. The gusts of wind were what really hurt. It was bitter and seemed to beat him upside the head.

Kaiser trotted forlornly ahead of the boy, panting from time to time. The wolf seemed unaffected by the weather, which made sense. After all, he was used to the freezing mountain range of Russia. Damian found himself wishing, not for the first time, that Jason were here with him. They made a good team. Damian smiled at the memory of the two fighting their opponents in his mother's mansion.

His mother… the little boy in him cried at the sense of abandonment. The assassin created at Kor Hol rejoiced at the loss of familial ties that could be used against him. Sure, his mother had been cold and calculating, never giving him the love or attention he had wanted, but… well, she had brought him into the world. Despite her failings as a parent, she did genuinely care about his future… as the Al Ghul heir… the boy groaned inwardly. He found himself wondering about the man that had fathered him. Damian wondered what features must have come from the man he had never met. His blue eyes, his hair, his facial features? It passed the time well enough, he supposed.

The wolf stopped, Damian stumbled next to him. Kaiser's ears were perked forward and the animal seemed entranced. He released a low growl that reverberated off the surrounding trees. It was a dangerous sound, one that Damian had heard only one other time. At his mother's mansion. Damian set himself into a defensive position as two black-clad figures stepped out from behind a large oak. The larger of the two, possibly the eldest, wore an outfit with a black bat logo on the front of a Kevlar suit, the other wore all black and had a blue bird symbol across his chest.

Damian wasn't sure why they were dressed so strangely, but his focus changed when he heard the sound. Kaiser turned around, all sings of previous hostility disappeared. The wolf howled a lonely tune and then took off in the direction they had come. Damian didn't hesitate, he set his feet at a dead run after his companion. There was only one man that could make that particular sound. Jason Todd.

Damian noted that the two were following, the footfalls behind him were soft, but obvious. He rolled his eyes, they wouldn't catch him. Damian picked out two smoke pellets and threw them to the ground, at the very least that would distract the men. No they – Damian was pulled to the ground. The line around his ankle pulled taut and the boy fell forward. Damian let out a strangled cry and Kaiser was there, waiting for him. He drew his sword and swiped at the line. The cord splintered and the broke, but the two men were on him. From out of the smoke the two men appeared. Kaiser stepped before Damian and bared his fangs. Damian got to his feet and started running, he didn't have time to face these jokers. Jason needed his brother and Kaiser.

He heard barks and snarls of agitation, the wolf had engaged the two. That meant Damian had at least five minutes until – the boy was jarred to the side, his body held tightly in someone's arms and suddenly Damian was scared.

He frantically kicked and cursed until a hand was placed firmly over his mouth.

"Shh, quiet down, kid. It's me." The familiar voice whispered in his ear. Damian cried out and twisted around to wrap his arms around Jason's neck. The older man laughed quietly and held the boy close. He whistled and the snarls off in the distance stopped abruptly. Kaiser would reach them. Damian let the hope bud in his chest.

Then the two men dropped down in front of them. It looked like the small family wasn't out of the woods yet (literally).

…

Jason stood shell-shocked for a moment. When he had spotted his brother running through the woods with a look of panic on his face, Jason had expected to fight the members of the Special Order. When he had pulled his brother out of the open, he had expected to have a moment of recovery before the bastards were on him. What he hadn't even remotely planned for was a rescue attempt by his father.

His eyes widened behind the mask. Kaiser arrived at his side and began snarling heatedly. Damian turned to the men, but did not relinquish his hold on Jason's hand. The older man smirked behind the red hood.

"Who are you?" Glad to see Bruce hadn't changed. His tone was cold and detached, distant. Yet Jason couldn't imagine hearing anything better than that voice.

"I could kiss you, old man." Jason said, his voice lighthearted, but muffled by the helmet. He released Damian's hand and removed his helmet. The domino mask was still in place.

"Really? Two masks? You're not being a bit overdramatic here?" Dick said, his voice sounded just like Jason remembered. Up-beat and sarcastic, but the overall tone of exuberance was dispersed throughout it.

"ehh, I thought it would add just the right effect to my sudden reappearance." Jason smiled sadly, looking between the two members of his makeshift family. A spasm of Pain wracked through him, his hands flew to his stomach even as he let loose a humorless chuckle.

The two men froze, yes, he could see it in their eyes. They remembered that devil-may-care sound. Jason removed the domino mask. His green eyes shone brightly and he staggered forward, leaning heavily on his left leg. Bruce stepped forward, as did dick. A single tear dripped down Jason's face as he signaled Kaiser to stand down.

"it's you. You were alive all this time…" The whisper was hardly audible over the wind, but Jason picked up on the raw emotion behind it. It was odd, to hear such a mixture of feeling in that voice.

"I thought I had time, I thought I could just leave as soon as Jax… and I never meant to hurt you, and I'm sorry, and I'm just so…" Jason gestured to himself wildly, the tears were flowing freely, leaving tracks down his face. His words were soft and quiet, he felt like he was choking on them. "I wanted to come home, but I was just so… so angry…" Arms were wrapped around him as he half sat-half collapsed to the ground. The tension, the anger, the pain, the hate was flowing out of him now in the form of wet streaks down his face.

His family surrounded him; Damian had a single small hand on his back, Dick's arm was wrapped around his shoulders, Kaiser nudged his side, and Bruce… Bruce held him tightly in a fatherly embrace as Jason let loose everything he'd left inside to fester for the past five and a half years.

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