Damian had finally arrived back at the cave. After catching up to Joker and finally apprehending him, Batman proceeded to send Damian home. At first, he was tempted to argue, but it had been a long night, and Damian wasn't interested in watching his father turn the Joker over to Commissioner Gordon. So, he left his father behind and headed straight to the mansion.

The cave was empty, which is what Damian preferred. He didn't need Grayson or Drake asking him about patrol right now. After storing his Robin suit, Damian when to his locker and proceeded to put the rest of his supplies away.

A small black arm poked out of the far pocket of his belt. Damian paused. The doll, he'd almost forgotten. He carefully unfolded the doll, pulling it out of the belt and surveying it slowly. It was long, skinny, about the length of his arm, and deceptively heavy.

Suddenly, the loud growl of a motorcycle could be heard throughout the cave. Damian quickly tucked the puppet under his shirt, pulling his jacket on to hide the slight bulge it made in his clothes.

The next moment, a blue-black motorcycle drove into the center of the cave, Nightwing jumping off and trotting over to him.

"Hey, Baby Bird!"

"Don't call me that, Grayson."

Grayson smiled and reached out to ruffle Damian's hair, "Don't be like that, Dami!"

Damian growled and ducked under Grayson's hand, "Tch. I'm going upstairs."

"Sounds good, Baby Bird!"

"You're an embarrassment to the family, Grayson."

"Love you too!"

After escaping Grayson and narrowly dodging Pennyworth's offer for a late-night meal, Damian finally made it to his room. He closed the door, locking it and engaging his many security systems. Pulling the puppet out, he surveyed it under the room's lights. Nothing had changed since the warehouse, the puppet's body was still dark with white lines, and its mask still had an uncanny grim.

Damian crossed the room to his desk in the far corner and pulled out a flashlight from one of the side drawers. He pointed the light directly into the puppet's left eye, and he could almost see the light get sucked into the darkness. Most noticeably, no matter how bright the light was, nothing seemed to pierce into the blackness of the puppet's mouth and eyes.

Clicking the flashlight off, Damian carefully set the puppet down on his desk, leaning it against a nearby lamp.

What is this thing? It's different, but I think I will keep it around.

Something about the puppet was weird. Maybe it was cursed or some other magical object. Whatever it was, it's his now.

The child had finally gone to bed.

Charlotte had known that this was the one she was meant to guard the moment she saw him. And while getting shoved into a pocket wasn't exactly the greatest way to travel, she was happy to stay with the little boy.

So far, she had heard many names for him, Robin, Dami, and Baby Bird; however, none of these seemed to be his full name. She watched Dami sleep from where she was leaning against the lamp, legs splayed and slouching slightly, and went over everything she knew about this new world.

1. Dami was some sort of soldier.

2. His brother is also a soldier. Batman is a soldier and may also be Dami's family.

3. There were bad people in this world. Current example: Joker.

4. Dami is brilliant. Example: Advanced calculus homework on his desk.

Conclusion: Dani is a child soldier within a family of soldiers. He is exceptionally mature and intelligent for his age.

Theory: He probably has some form of childhood trauma. More information is needed.

Current Action: Stay and support Dami. Protect Dami.

Charlotte surveyed the imaginary list and nodded to herself. Well, she tried to nod, but she still had figured out how to move her body. When Dami had been running around as 'Robin,' she had been busy figuring out where she was and what was going on. Now, she finally had a chance to start experimenting with movement again.

Her current theory was that she had been going about this whole moving thing the wrong way all along. When she previously tried to move, she searched for muscles to flex to force movement, exactly the way she did when she was alive.

You flex your bicep, and your arm moves.

The problem is that she no longer had a bicep, so maybe there was a different 'muscle' she needed to be 'flexing?'

...

2 hours later

...

I did it!

Charlotte felt her body pull up from its center, straitening her torso. It was like she was attached to strings and had to tug on these 'soul strings' to move. The string pulled her chest up and started to pull her towards the computer in the middle of the desk. Her feet dragged behind until Charlotte yanked on her legs, forcing them to bend and jerk in a sort of stuttering walk.

Dragging herself over to the black computer monitor, Charlotte looked into the reflective surface, finally surveying her new body. If she knew how to, she probably would have screamed.

It was another 20 minutes before Charlotte was able to calm down.

That bastard turned me into a puppet. Not just a puppet, The Puppet. I'm going to kill him!

I mean, yeah, the puppet is my favorite character, but that doesn't mean I actually want to be her. How am I supposed to take care of Dami trapped in this body?

No matter how you looked at it, the Puppet was scary. How could she help Dami if she freaked him out every time he saw her?

That geezer also said he'd give me powers. Maybe I can unlock a different form eventually?

Charlotte teetered back to the lamp, seating herself back down. Maybe with practice, she really will be able to protect Dami.

Damian was reasonably sure that the doll had moved. He hadn't seen it, but when he woke up, he was 87.4% sure that the doll was in a slightly different position than before.

But the difference was extremely small, and he couldn't be sure. Grumbling to himself, Damian pulled out his school uniform and got dressed. He quickly packed his bag and turned to leave, pausing before he opened the door. His brothers were banned from his room, but he still didn't want to risk them finding his...toy?

No. It's just an interesting object. The son of Batman does not own toys.

After some consideration, Damian grabbed the puppet and folded it up, slipping it into one of the inner pockets of his uniform. The jacket was bulky enough that the slight form of the puppet was easily overlooked. After confirming that the puppet was completely hidden, Damian went out the door and headed down for breakfast.

Pennyworth's pancakes were the best, after all.