Dear FF readers who have commented on this fic,

I am quite horrified to find I have not responded to your comments. I hope that you will forgive me for this. Please know that I am not really used to the website and hadn't realized that it would not notify me of your comments. I will be sure to read and reply to them soon, but my quarter has started and I'm not sure if I will have time to reply quickly. Please know I appreciate that you all have commented on my fic and will eventually respond.

To anyone who haven't commented and either have read or are reading now, thank you. All of you help me continue to write this fic even if you haven't commented. It means so much that you read this.

-ToastyThief

Damian ignored his father's frantic first aid for Owlman. Who cared about him; the man was dead. Richard knew his craft and had dragged open the wound as he dodged Batman's lunge. There was no saving the metal-clad villain. He disregarded the League's capture of Ultraman. He was focused on how Red Robin had thrown a bolo at Flash. The weighted line tangled around the spandex covered legs and bowled the man over. The crimson speedster had tried to chase after Richard. Jason and Damian stalked over to the trapped speedster who was glaring in disbelief at the trio.

"Let me go before more people are killed," he said calmly, obviously trying to hide his confused rage. His legs vibrated uselessly in his specially made trap. Father had made the bolo specifically for speed oriented metahumans. Damian felt a flash of familial pride before he refocused on their prisoner. "Nightwing is obviously a danger to civilians right now. I can't let him free-run in Metropolis like this."

Drake frowned at the reasoning. Damian lunged for the captive male, but was slammed to the ground by Todd. Red Robin looked over to Batman, but he was staring at the blood on his black gauntlets. No help from that quarter then. Sometimes Damian was disappointed in his father's strong moral convictions.

"Release me, Hood! He needs to pay for the slander he is spewing," Damian yelled, wriggling like a pinned crocodile. He snapped white teeth dangerously close to Todd's protected face.

"What if something happened to Iris?!" Todd hissed, "You'd do anything to protect her, right? That's what 'Wing is doing." Flash looked as scandalized as a gasping and tied man could. Damian wriggled from Todd's grasp. He bounced lightly on his feet as Jason stepped back. The trio waited for an answer quietly. Flash stuttered for a minute before his mouth caught up with his brain. Damian was losing patience. The longer they waited, the harder it would be to find Richard. He growled low in his throat.

"I wouldn't kill anyone, let alone in such a painful way!"

"HE DOESNT KNOW BETTER! Nightwing was taught for years and subsequently rewarded for murdering people. Afterwards, Batman hasn't truly been able to eradicate that conditioning, but changed the…direction of it. He was told only to have one goal, to protect us. The only way to do so in a permanent manner is murder in Nightwing's eyes. Owlman was a higher threat than normal because he had an evil Justice League ready to raze our planet. This is forgoing the fact Owlman probably dredged up flashbacks from the Court. I don't claim to know why he ran, but I certainly know that Nightwing doesn't deserve the bullshit you and the League put him through," Drake retorted. Then they heard Batman yell.

"SUPERMAN!" The alien was speeding off. Damian shot a grapple and latched onto the man's leg, the bat-shaped metal hooking around the metal rope tightly. Todd gripped the grapple gun as well to hitch a ride. It also ensured Damian's grip wouldn't fail him halfway through the flight, Damian noted with an annoyed huff. Drake dashed off to assist Batman's attempts to close the portal as his brothers were jerked into the air.

"Baby Bat, if you tumbled to your death trying to help Dick it would shatter him," Todd yelled over the roaring wind. Before Damian could reply he added, "This is experience talking. Don't you remember that footage I showed you?" Damian conceded to the point. He had seen the footage after Todd's demise. Nightwing had stalked Joker for months, learning his routine, habits, everything about the man before leading him into the Court's Labyrinth.

The only thing concrete on that footage was that Richard had kept singing one song over and over (Tonight you Belong To Me by Patience and Prudence, Damian recalled) and had driven Joker to even further madness with the possessive and repetitive lyrics before killing him. The cable connecting the pair to Superman twitched. Their heads snapped upwards and saw surprised and annoyed blue eyes staring back at them. Superman slowed and then began to hover over a concrete, gravel covered rooftop.

"Boys, let me go. Nightwing is a danger to the civilian population right now. Please release my leg, I don't want you to get hurt if your grip fails and you both fall," Superman said calmly. He shook his leg slightly to try and force them to move. They only tightened their grip. Superman sighed heavily at the determination on Damian's masked visage. Superman lowered them to the rooftop, soon joining them on the roof. Todd pulled out a small device, similar looking to a cell phone, and reading the information on it. He covertly showed Damian as Superman approached. It showed a pacing dark blue dot on the thirteenth floor of the building the trio were on. Todd had been tracking Richard and he was beneath them. Damian had to beat back the delighted grin that threatened to break free. Damian loved when his brothers showed their worth to his father's crusade.

"Nightwing isn't a danger to innocent lives. Have your ears finally failed you after Lois has screamed in them so much? There have been no screams of terror or agony. This quite obviously because they have not been attacked. Nightwing hasn't attacked civilians since his Talon days and those memories torment him to this day. It doesn't help that most of the Justice League of America remind him he has killed each time they see him. Wonder Woman's one of the only ones who are nice to him and that's only because she knows what he's going through," Todd said. His voice changer made it sound as if he was growling. Superman frowned in consternation as his wish wasn't followed. Damian had lost interest in this; Richard needed him. It was time to repay his brother for his continual kindness. Damian slipped from the roof unnoticed by the now arguing pair.

He carefully clambered down the wall to a closed and tinted glass window, which Damian proceeded to smash open. A startled screech responded from deep inside the room. Damian slid into the room, eyes adjusting to the gloomy room. Damian assessed his surroundings quickly.

It was drowning in Court paraphernalia, he noted with disgust. A golden set of Talon armor stood solemnly at attention at the wall, a large gong with the Court's Owl symbol hanging near it. Yellowed maps of Gotham were curling off the walls, the glue and tape long lost their sticky grip on the walls. Scattered manila folders bled aged papers, the inked information illegible after years of neglect. There were other items in the room, but Damian could only focus on Richard. Well…his eyes at least.

They were almost luminescent yellow in the dark corner he had sequestered himself into. The shadows were dark enough to hide the silhouette of Richard's body. When Damian took a step forward, Richard hissed in warning before his eyes betrayed confusion. It was if he was unsure how to react to his smallest brother and Damian faltered. Richard wasn't to blame for his actions…right? He had been under hypnosis. That didn't explain his strange actions, however. Hypnosis was not mind control and Richard had attacked Father, something that hypnosis shouldn't (wouldn't) have been able to do. He shook of the sudden doubt he had felt. Richard was innocent and Damian was sure of it.

"Richard…you were under hypnotism, a powerful type called Mental Domination. Any actions you committed were not your own. Stop wallowing in this…" Damian's nose wrinkled as he gazed around the room again, "mausoleum and return to the cave with me so this…incident can be put behind us." Richard didn't even twitch at Damian's words, gold eyes unwavering as he replied.

"Damian," Damian almost flinched at his own name. Richard rarely called him by name nowadays. "I'm fully aware my actions were my own doing, but I appreciate you trying to deny the fact." Damian took a defiant step forward, outrage bubbling in his throat at his words being brushed off, but Richard ignored him. "In following Owlman, hypnotism or not, I willingly placed myself in a mentally conflicting position despite my better judgement. I slid into Talon's thought's like a long lost and beloved jacket. The separation between these two sides of me has always been blurry and I willingly made it even more murky. I can't go to the Cave or the Manor, I endanger you all because I can't figure out if I'm Talon or Richard. I can't risk hurting any of you because I can't remember I care about you."

Damian's brother sounded so damn tired. Damian loathed it immediately. The child ignored Richard's words and strode over to his shaded corner. He crouched in front of his eldest sibling, removing his mask as he did so. It revealed Damian's swirling emotions; confusion, hurt, anger, but most importantly they showed genuine care for the man in front of him. Damian was sure now that Richard was innocent. Guilty people ran from confrontations. This was only Richard's own self-doubt voicing itself and Damian was going to squash it.

"You would never forget about how much you care for us, you idiot. The way you act, like an obsessed, overexcited puppy or an overbearing mother hen, it would be a miracle if you ignored us for an hour, let alone a day." Damian argued. Richard let a small, unidentifiable, desperate sound, hands twitching forward like he wanted to crush Damian to his chest.

"Richard, if you don't hug me right now I will be forced to order you to do so," before the halfhearted threat even finished, Damian found himself pressed tight into Richard's chest. He dutifully ignored the small drops of salty water that tapped on the top of his head. He didn't note Richard's quiet hitched breathing. He only focused on how right it felt to comfort his big brother. Damian felt a satisfied smile grace his face.

"I don't deserve you, but I'm so glad you think I do," Richard whispered. Damian scoffed.

"Stop being an idiot and help me rescue Todd from Superman. They were too busy arguing to find you. Then we will return to the Manor and obtain cookies from Pennyworth." Damian got a few soft chuckles at that before they left the Court's shaded tomb for the sunny rooftops once more.