The Batmobile made its way back into the cavern, its tires squealing loudly on the gelid floor.

The vigilante family looked curiously at the vehicle when Robin angrily got out and slammed the car door hard.

"Someone's pissed." Red Robin muttered as he took off his mask and looked critically at the situation.

"I can't believe it!" roared Red Robin angrily, casting deadly glances at his mentor.

"This is going to be so much fun." smirked Jason and at his side Cassandra rolled her eyes.

"You know I had to do it." spoke Batman calmly.

"I thought we were partners!" shouted Robin. He quickly tore off his mask and threw it on the ground, his green eyes full of anger staring hard at the Caped Crusader.

Batman sighed and lowered his cowl. Blue eyes surrounded by heavy dark circles were revealed mind the owner of them looked wearily at Damian. "We are, Little D."

"Then why didn't you let me fight Scarecrow with you? Am I not good enough?" frustrated, he raised his arms in the air.

"You know that's not why I asked you to stay behind." sighed the firstborn heavily as he approached Damian but stopped, raising his hands in a sign of peace when he saw him backing away, his eyes openly challenging him to take another step.

"Then tell me, Grayson!" shouted Damian, his voice echoing through the cave, waking some bats that began to flutter.

"Last night you received a stab wound in the side. Do you think I would have made you fight Scarecrow?" asked Dick sarcastically and regretted it soon after when he saw Talia's son clench his jaw.

"You know very well I can handle it." he hissed dangerously.

"Maybe." said the acrobat and continued soon after when he saw the younger Wayne open his mouth for a retort. "But that doesn't take away from the fact that you were and still are tired from yesterday's injury. I would never have made you fight Crane. You know how dangerous he can be with his fear toxins." stated Richard calmly, his posture relaxed and calm, unlike Damian's who was practically shaking with rage.

Dinah knew she had to intervene before the confrontation escalated and things got out of hand but a part of her told her that this was a matter for Dick and Damian alone to resolve, without outside intervention.

The blonde turned her gaze to the other vigilantes and noticed that they too were in conflict with themselves.

"I don't care! The fact remains that you left me behind as if I were a child!"

"You are a child." muttered Stephanie, and her little brother gave her a deadly glare that almost made her flinch from the anger present in his green eyes.

"I don't understand why you're so pissed off, Demon Child. Did he leave you behind? Fuck that. Get over it and overcome it." Jason stated bluntly as he pointed his cold gaze at his little brother.

"Stay out of it. It's none of your business, Todd!" spat Damian venomously.

"And you don't make this shit into a Shakespeare tragedy." retorted the second son sarcastically.

With a haughty snort, apparently believing that arguing with Todd was pointless, Damian turned again to the eldest Wayne. "Well? Where's your apology?" he asked, crossing his arms and proudly tilting his chin upward.

"My apology?" Dick stammered at first, followed by a chuckle. "I don't owe you a damn thing. In fact, you're the one who owes me thanks that I took you on a regular patrol and made you fight the common thugs. I might as well have left you here and blown off the patrol, but instead I took you with me."

"Funny coming from the one who regularly patrolled Gotham despite the fact that the night before he was inside a building that then exploded." he rolled his eyes in irritation, referring to the event that happened a month or so earlier.

"That situation was different. There were many witnesses who had seen the building explode with Batman inside it. I had to prove that even the new Batman stops at nothing. Besides, I was fine."

"You weren't. You pissed off all of us for wanting to go out on patrol right away despite your injuries." quickly interjected Black Canary, earning a dirty look from her boyfriend and a cheeky smile from Damian directed at his mentor.

"See? By your pathetic reasoning you too should have been excluded from the patrol that night."

"No Damian."

Damian quickly lost his smirk and angrily slammed his foot on the ground. "You still haven't given me a good reason for leaving me out of the battle with Scarecrow! You called as a backup Brown! I'm your partner, not her!"

"The brat is jealous." whispered Jason to Stephanie, who covered her mouth to muffle her laughter.

"True, you are my partner, but so is Stephanie as well as everyone in this room, but especially you and Steph. She's my Batgirl and you're my Robin, my main partner and ally and I trust you with my whole life but I was afraid you were going to get hurt because of that stabbing last night that might have slowed down your movements." admitted Dick calmly, his worried eyes basically begging Damian to understand his point of view.

"If even Bruce could have made similar speeches when he excluded us from the patrol instead of limiting himself with a glare and a few words, it would have made our lives much easier." muttered Tim, and everyone who was Robin excluding Dick and Damian (himself, Jason, and Stephanie) nodded without adding anything else.

Everyone knew that words were not Bruce's strong point.

With these sweet words, helped also by Dick's blue eyes so concerned and full of love for him, Damian deflated and his anger subsided. Listening carefully to his mentor's words, he understood the logic behind Grayson's actions, and he probably would have done the same in reverse.

He had noticed himself that, against common thugs, his movements were sloppier than usual.

Not that he would have told him.

"-tt. You could have said that earlier, Grayson, and we would have avoided a spectacle for these idiots." he nodded to the rest of his family, who remained indifferent.

The last of the Flying Graysons gave him a tired smile. "No matter who is behind the masks, sooner or later any Batman and Robin will have to have some disagreement, Little D."

"That does not imply that I have to be happy when you give me such stupid orders." he muttered bitterly, still reluctant to give the victory of this debate of theirs to Grayson.

Dick rubbed his temples, already anticipating a severe headache. Everyone inside the cave could see the tiredness, stress and pressure the 20 year old had on him.

He was really getting fed up with Damian's tantrums.

God, was this how he was acting with Bruce?

He fervently hoped not, although he feared the answer was exactly the opposite of what he hoped.

"Once again, you have to thank me that I brought you on patrol." Dick gritted his teeth angrily, almost afraid they would break from the heavy pressure he was applying. "If Bruce had been in my place, he wouldn't have brought you along and you would have stayed home."

Damian frowned heavily and his fists clenched unconsciously. As soon as he had uttered the next five words he immediately regretted them and immediately wanted to take them back; but alas, he could not and by now the damage was done.

"You are not my father."

There was a collective gasp and immediately afterward the cave fell frighteningly silent.

Dick's eyes opened wide and showed such pain that it almost made Damian flinch.

For Dick it was as if his heart had been violently ripped out and a tug had run over it several times. He rarely felt such emotional pain and wanted to hide from the rest of the world and cry silently.

But he was stronger than that.

What hurt most, however, was that he was aware that Damian's words were true.

He was not Bruce.

He could never have been like Bruce.

He could not be the father Damian needed and hoped for with all his heart, no matter how much he wanted to be.

The second after that fateful sentence was spoken, the pain quickly disappeared from Dick's blue eyes as he let out a very long sigh. He walked past Damian and, without ever meeting his gaze, headed for the locker room.

He stopped in the doorway, his back to his family. "I know I'm not Bruce and that I can never be like him." there was a pause. "I'm sorry." and he entered the locker room.

Damian shuddered at the absence of emotion in the Wayne elder's tone of voice.

It was very creepy to listen to, especially since it came from Dick Grayson, one of the most sentimental (and at the same time dangerous) people in the world.

Damian noticed that all the other vigilantes were looking at him hard. "What?" he snapped.

"You just had to make him feel like he wasn't living up to Bruce's legacy, didn't you?" asked Stephanie, sarcastically rolling her brown eyes.

Damian opened his mouth to try to defend himself but was forestalled. "Or like he was doing a bad job with you?" Jason cast a deadly glare that almost startled the youngest.

Almost.

"Which is why he thinks he can't be like a father to you." Tim added, squinting at Talia's son.

Cassandra said nothing but merely looked coldly at Damian.

And her cold stare was very frightening.

Dinah took a step forward, looking down at him with a fierce and protective gaze. "See that you solve it as soon as possible otherwise." she left the threat hanging but it was enough.

Damian resisted the urge to swallow.

He was not at all afraid of threats from Todd or, God damn him, Drake and Brown.

However, he respected Cain and Lance to a slightly greater degree than them.

"-tt. You didn't need to tell me."

And it was true.

He had immediately regretted what he said and really wanted to apologize to Grayson.

Even if it meant that he would have to ridicule himself.

For his mentor, he would have done anything.

Dick was sitting on the bed in his room, working from his laptop when a loud knock on the door interrupted him.

"Come in."

The door opened and small but sure footsteps resounded. The firstborn shifted his gaze from the laptop and met Damian's determined green eyes. He managed an easy smile at the younger. "Hey, Dami. Do you need anything?"

Talia's son straightened his back into a more proper and solemn posture, his eyes staring concentrically into Richard's. "I just wanted to offer my apologies for last night's behavior. My comment was completely inappropriate and I admit my mistakes."

A small sincere smile appeared on Dick's face. Damian apologizing was always a more unique than rare occurrence.

"Don't worry, Little D. Besides, it's not like you were so wrong."

Damian's heart clenched at that confession and he really wanted to tell him that no, he was not wrong, that he is a better person and a better Batman than Bruce had been.

That he was a better father.

But he could not bring himself to utter any of those words. Instead, he simply shook his head stubbornly and looked at the elder. "Don't talk idiocy, Grayson. Since I want to make it up to you for all the nonsense I've said, I have a proposition in mind."

Dick raised an eyebrow, genuinely curious about Damian's proposal.

Something like this did not happen every day.

"To make it up to you, I'll take you for ice cream, Grayson."

Silence.

Silence.

Laughter.

Dick laughed so hard he almost fell out of bed. His laughter was so infectious that it almost made Damian chuckle too.

Almost.

Dick's face had practically turned red and he had to catch his breath for a couple of minutes where the youngest waited patiently for an answer.

After he had taken a long breath, Richard looked at him with a very wide and amused smile. "Shouldn't I be the one to make that request, Little D?"

"Just give an answer."

Dick glanced at his laptop and, with a snap, closed it and placed it on the bed. "I never refuse ice cream. What are we waiting for then?"

Batman flew from house to house with his grappling hook, followed by his partner. He had a small smile on his face as he listened to the voices booming in his ear.

"Is it true that the Demon Child took you for ice cream?" came Black Bat's amused voice, followed by a few chuckles.

"Yes. It was very kind of Robin." said the Caped Crusader amusedly as he cast a glance at the other half of the Dynamic Duo who was looking at him with a deadly stare, which made him smile more.

"In my opinion, he just used the opportunity just to go get ice cream with the golden boy." Red Hood teased him.

"And he sure had a lot of fun too." Red Robin continued.

The Boy Wonder growled but did not deny it.

Going for ice cream with Grayson, his father figure, he enjoyed it much more than he would have liked to admit.

"What, jealous that you weren't invited?" chuckled Batman, getting a few disgruntled grumbles.

"I'm sorry to break up your fun" Oracle's voice intervened. "but there has been a murder. Scott Taylor, one of the members of the upper middle class society, has been murdered."

"Since when do we even deal with common murders?" came Batgirl's sarcastic question.

"It seems to be a different murder from the common ones. Gordon and Yin have requested your specific presence. I will forward you the coordinates." replied Barbara.

As Batman and Robin headed toward the location, the Dark Knight had only one thought.

I have a very bad feeling about this.

Commissioner Gordon took a puff of his cigarette and exhaled slowly as he frowned at the corpse in front of him.

"How long does it take Batman and the rest of them?" asked Detective Yin, looking away from the corpse.

James sympathized with her. She was quite young and to see such a murder...

He opened his mouth to answer her when a dark and low voice preceded him.

"What have we got?"

The two policemen gasped and turned their eyes toward the corner of the room where Batman emerged from the shadows. The Caped Crusader was not looking at them but his eyes were directed toward the scene of the crime with a frown.

"How the hell?" Yin stood practically open-mouthed as she brought a hand to her heart.

As did Gordon for that matter.

The commissioner caught a glimpse of an amused smirk appearing on the Dark Knight's gaze before it disappeared.

That sneaky...

Through the door came the rest of the vigilantes who stopped at the sight of the murder.

"And it's a good thing I was the crazy murderer." muttered sarcastic Red Hood as all the vigilantes moved closer to get a better look.

"Batman, should Robin also...?" Gordon left the question hanging, glancing sideways at the Boy Wonder who had assumed an indifferent facade.

"I'm not a child, Gordon. I can do this." objected Robin abruptly and Batman sighed heavily.

"What do we have?" he repeated his earlier question.

"Scott Taylor, 63 years old. Belonged to one of the wealthiest families in Gotham. Cause of murder: clean cut to the carotid artery. We can assume the killer is experienced, although you can very well see he has a twisted idea of fun." the commissioner frowned.

Batman continued to look at the victim.

The man was sitting against the wall, blood still gushing from the fatal wound.

The problem was that the arms were detached from the rest of the body, as was the left eye that was facing the corpse. It was evident that the murderer first killed him with a cut to the carotid artery and then detached his arms and one of the two eyeballs.

He wondered why the killer had bothered to commit such an act.

On the wall was a sentence, written in the victim's blood.

Gotham is ours.

Nothing good.

He cast a brief glance at the young detective and felt pity for her at the sickened look on her face.

But it was Gotham and she would get used to it someday.

Unfortunately for himself and the rest of the vigilantes, this was not even remotely the most horrible thing they had ever seen.

Batman stepped forward and Gordon absentmindedly noticed how the other vigilantes moved to the side to allow him to pass.

"We haven't touched anything yet. We thought that, given too much brutality and the suspicion that the killer has high training, we had better have called you. The writing indicates that something bad is going to happen in Gotham and only you are able to handle it. You are the only ones capable of stopping it, whatever it is." stated Yin.

Batman gave her an appreciative nod and looked carefully at the writing before his gaze landed on the murder weapon placed next to the corpse.

He picked it up and immediately felt his own limbs freeze. He felt cold in every part of his body.

He froze in place. He was unable to move any muscle.

A shiver of pure fear ran through his body and he could not suppress it, no matter how much he wanted to.

He would have recognized that knife even with his eyes closed, feeling only the weight and the blade.

And he wasn't kidding.

It was a knife he never wanted to see again in his entire life.

And that knife meant only one thing.

The Court of Owls had returned.