Notes: I'm hoping to ends this after this arc. Which kicks off this chapter. :) Here we go:


This was a horrible idea, Damian knew from the start. He had an earpiece in his ear and his computer in front of him; a laptop which barely had the power to hack a city, let alone run a mission; breaking into the FBI.

"If you both get arrested, I'm not breaking you out of prison," he said.

Both Mozzie and Chuck were offended.

"I helped you break out of prison."

"I helped you break out of the CIA, unwillingly it might have been."

"The CIA? Really? I need to know about this."

"Sure. It all started when-"

"Chuck! Focus. Your first step is to get into the FBI building."

"That's not hard." Mozzie had done it a number of times. "But we're going to turn the mics and camera off until we get in there. I don't need you telling the Suit about my super secret way in."

Damian tapped a few buttons and the bug camera flew down to Chuck's shoulder and shut down. "There." He didn't care if they got arrested while he wasn't looking.

He really didn't.

Damian tapped his fingers on the side of the desk, waiting for the mic and camera to be switched back on. It felt like a long wait.

Finally, the camera clicked back on and then the mic came live. Mozzie was checking in to make sure they had the right floor for the holding cells.

"I can't believe they hold people here," Chuck huffed as they walked along the corridors and empty offices. They were creepy in the dark. This was one of the floors where everyone went home or to a stakeout at 5pm. "Who makes sure they're safe?"

"There are security guards and cameras," Damian reminded them. "And Agent Ruiz isn't really the kind of guy who likes doing the right thing."

"He's probably hoping to crack Frost after a night in here," Mozzie quietly laughed. He didn't think that would work on a CIA agent.

Chuck and Damian both agreed with him.

And Damian's doorknob rattled.

Damian cursed and folded down the computer screen. He could wire the feed through to the computer contacts in his eyes so he quickly did that to one eye so he could keep an eye on them.

"Someone's at the door," was all he had time to report before the door opened. "Sarah?"

Sarah Bartoswki walked in with Casey behind her. Damian growled at the sight of Casey's gun.

"You better not have threatened or hurt June or any of her staff."

"Relax, the old lady's fine."

Sarah, perhaps seeing that a fight was about to break out, answered, "they're fine. June was happy to let us in when I explained that we're old friends who lost contact for years."

"Okay."

"You don't seem surprised to see us," Casey commented with a frown.

"Maybe I just don't like showing it." And he was surprised. He hadn't expected to see them in his apartment at this time.

"I'm thinking more that you've been in contact with Chuck."

"So what if I have? Despite everything, we're still friends."

"Here I thought you two were fighting over Blondie here."

Damian frowned. "Sarah? No offence, but she made her choice. I respect that. Also, I have a girl."

"You have a girl now?" Chuck teased over the mic. His comment reminded Damian that they could hear everything. "Does her name start with M?"

"Chuck isn't at the hotel," Sarah said. "Do you know where he is?"

"Chuck? No." After all, he wasn't completely Chuck right now. This was vigilante stuff and that was more a Billy thing.

"You're lying." Casey took a threatening step forward.

"And you think you can get me to talk?"

"Everyone talks, Larkin."

"Perhaps. But you have to catch me, not kill me, first."

"Stop," Sarah finally stepped between them. "We're on the same side."

"Are we?" Damian glanced at Casey, the subtext clear.

Casey huffed. "Orders are orders." Whether he was referring to the time he shot Bryce or how they were working together now, Damian wasn't clear.

"Play nice with the super-suit," Mozzie warned over the comm. Damian shook his head because he was supposed to be reigning them in, not the other way around. Right now, Chuck and Mozzie were deep in the FBI.

"It's a little early for you two to be here and is Chuck missing? I can help you look?"

"No," Casey grunted. "We can find him."

To be honest, he probably couldn't. Not in time anyway. Chuck and Mozzie had reached the holding cells. So it looked like Damian's job was to stall.

"How can I help?"


Chuck turned the corner. "Mum!"

Frost jolted for a moment, something flashing in her hands. How had she gotten a knife past the FBI?

"Chuck?"

"What now?" Mozzie asked as they looked at the bars. Chuck looked up and down the hallway as he grabbed some bars close to the wall. These were the easiest to bend away without anyone noticing. At his pull, the bars bent and whined.

Frost made an impressed noise as she slipped out. Chuck let go of the breath he had been holding and shoved the bars back.

"They're not going to hold up," Frost commented, noticing the extreme wear and tear marks on the bars from Chuck's interference. It would only take a touch now to cause them to break.

"Yeah, they'll probably figure it out. But that's not the point. The point is to get you out of here so they can't track us."

"I have memorised the locations of the cameras." Surprisingly enough, there were less cameras here than in White Collar. Maybe to give the prisoners a little bit of privacy?

"And instead of heading down, we need to go up."

"Up?" Frost questioned. She regretted asking as she was informed of who was in charge of their escape. Chuck flew them across rooftops and around buildings before bringing them to land in a random part of New York.

"We better get a lift back to June's," Chuck mused as Mozzie pulled out the keys for his taxi. It was just across the street, waiting patiently for them. "Before Sarah and Casey interrogate Damian."

"I think he's doing just fine."


Mozzie wasn't wrong, although Damian really wished there would be some urgency on his part.

"I hope you two remember that I can hear you," he growled across the comm. as Sarah was distracted by the cheese in his fridge.

"Then why didn't you say anything when Mozzie insisted on making us pay for the lift?" Chuck countered.

"Because I'm having to wait until Sarah and Casey are distracted to talk." Casey was searching through his bookshelf for something, Damian didn't know what.

Chuck sighed on the other end. "Pull over." The word rang out over the comm. a moment later and Damian felt dread rise up in his gut. Somehow, he had an idea of what Chuck was planning to do before he even turned up on the balcony.

Without knocking, the red and gold superhero walked inside. Sarah and Casey had their guns out in a second.

Casey even fired.

"Casey!" Damian and Sarah scolded in unison. The bullet bounced harmlessly off Chuck's chest.

The hero sighed. "I just rescued your agent from the FBI holding cells. I would like to not be shot at when I come to tell you that."

"You did, huh? Well, where is she?" Casey wasn't convinced at all.

"I hailed her a taxi. She said she could make her own way here."

"Makes sense," Damian said, crossing his arms and glaring at Chuck. It seemed like Chuck wasn't going to tell them about who he was. It wasn't Damian's place to force him though. He hadn't had to tell anyone before.

Sarah seemed to agree with him. "Understand that if she doesn't arrive here, then you'll be where we start looking."

"Uh..." Chuck looked around nervously before jumping back out onto the balcony. "Good luck with that! I guess. Not like you know where to look." He jumped into flight and blasted up into the sky. Damian was glad this was over.


Damian awoke to a gun in his face. Not a big deal. He sat up.

"What are you doing here, Todd?"

"You let Frost out of jail."

That didn't make sense. While they didn't approve of the CIA, there was no reason for any member of the Batman clan to go after Frost.

"It was an FBI holding cell. Not jail."

Todd rolled his eyes behind his mask. It was a motion done often enough in their group that all of them were able to recognise it, even though there was only a tiny visible indication.

"Why is this an issue?"

"Frost issued a challenge to B."

"A challenge?"

"A criminal escaped Gotham and came here. Frost suggested that she be allowed to go. When B told her no, you know, as he does, she decided to go anyway. Her final words were to issue a challenge; her family against ours. Whomever catches the criminal first wins."

Damian didn't need to ask if there was a prize. He knew that either way, their family's pride wouldn't let them back down from a challenge like this.

"You realise that Chuck is in their family, right?"

"He's just a Superman clone. We can take him."

"Having fought alongside a Superman clone, and Superman's son, I assure you, they're very different to Chuck."

"We can take him though." Now Todd was winking.

"I don't know about you but I can." Obviously.