Damian was taken three hours ago, and Dick was losing his mind. The last time he saw Damian was well over a week ago. Damian had been giving him the cold shoulder for two weeks and avoided the penthouse like the plague ever since Dick canceled their trip to the zoo for the third time in a row. Damian was making oodles of progress since moving to Gotham, but his temper was still legendary. And when Dick flaked again, Damian had been furious. Hackles were raised, and harsh words were said on both sides.
Dick knew he let it stew for too long, but his plan to apologize took time to arrange. The Gotham City Zoo VIP day passes only just arrived that morning. He was going to surprise Damian after patrol. But now he couldn't.
Because Damian was gone, and in his place was a remorseful looking Tim and Damian's broken tracker.
Sending Damian and Tim out together was a stupid mistake on Bruce's part, but Bruce couldn't have known it would go tits up ten minutes after they left his side. Bruce should have been clued in that something was going on when his youngest sons seemed like they'd been getting along for the last few days—no fighting, no death threats, just blissful coexistence.
Dick could've told him from the start it was all a ploy, but Bruce hadn't asked him. So, when Tim's voice cut over the coms on the emergency line saying Robin had been taken, Dick knew that had Bruce had been played for a fool.
Tim stood before them now, his voice gave away that he knew how much shit he'd stepped in, but his face tried not to show it as he came clean. Apparently, he and Damian were working together on a case. Shocking. But Damian was only involved because the kid threatened to tell Bruce what Tim was up to if he wasn't included. Not Shocking.
Tim, in what Dick could only assume was a teenage act of rebellion, was working a case completely solo right under Bruce's nose. The body of a Gotham Port Authority agent was found in a shipping yard weeks ago, and Tim invited himself to the crime scene after the GCPD were finished. Tim insisted it was supposed to be a simple murder investigation.
According to Tim, he found parts of a shredded shipping log that reported an incredibly large shipment of bananas from Ecuador. Not inherently suspicious on its own, but Tim also found that the weight of the cargo had been heavier than reported. Tim had overheard dock workers complaining that a new crew and special forklift had been called in to move the supposed "bananas." Tim then spent the last month tracking down the mysterious crew and tracing off-book payments made to the dead man in complete secrecy.
Tim found out four days ago the payments came from an account linked to a shipping company with a newly leased office downtown. Three days ago, Damian found Tim's casefile under his bed and demanded to be involved. Three hours ago, Damian was captured by the Penguin during what was supposed to be a recon mission. One second ago, Dick ran a tired hand through his hair. His little brothers were some of the smartest morons he's ever met.
"I was going to come to you when I found the head of the smuggling ring, I swear," Tim said. Bruce remained stony faced. Dick could see Bruce's shoulders set in anger. His jaw clenched in an emotion Dick recognized as worry but to Tim, it probably looked like barely constrained rage.
"You should have come to me immediately." Bruce scolded. His voice was deep and flat. Tim winced at his tone.
"I'm sor—" Tim started, but Bruce raised his hand, silencing the apology.
"And turning off your trackers is inexcusable." Tim had no response for that, and silence fell over the rooftop. Tim and Bruce's argument could sit on the back burner until Damian was found. Without the tracker, Dick knew that task was easier said than done.
They were low on leads and even lower on time. Tim hadn't found the leader of the ring, and the site he had under surveillance was a decoy. He and Damian walked right into a trap. Tim said he didn't even know Damian was gone. They split up when they got to the warehouse, and Robin was quietly picked off. Whoever was behind it ran a tight enough ship that their crew managed to snatch the fourth Robin, leave no trace, and vanish. The operation was so clean, if a man hadn't been murdered, it might have gone undiscovered for months. The efficiency ruled out about half of the lesser Gotham villains but didn't narrow it down enough for the answer to be obvious.
Dick bit the inside of his cheek—a nervous trait he'd been trying to stop. Damian was a better Robin than he had ever been, but the situation was making him unwillingly think back to Jason's funeral. He couldn't bear another little brother's name on a stone in the Wayne family plot.
Dick was grateful when a new set of familiar footsteps pulled him from his thoughts. Jason's combat boots scrapped the roof as he approached, and he shoulder-checked Dick as he walked past. He heard him say "Sup Dickhead" under his breath as he went, and Dick fought the urge to flick the back of his helmet before he was out of range. If Damian were safe, Dick would relish the opportunity to annoy Jason, but not now. Not until Robin was home.
"What's this I hear about the Demon Brat going missing?" Jason asked. His head lazily swiveling between Tim and Bruce. Dick was glad to see him even if he was just here to watch the Tim versus Bruce showdown. Jason had a knack for both creating and cutting tension.
Tim ducked his head under Jason's scrutiny. Bruce took his eyes off Tim, his glare shifting to Jason. "Hood, if you are here to cause— "
"Whoa, B." Jason interrupted, holding his hands up. "I'm here to help."
Bruce must be really worried, because he accepted Jason's word at face-value and nodded, "Do you need to be briefed?"
"Nah, heard most of it on my way up," Jason said as he leaned back on an air-conditioning unit. "You really made a mess this time, Replacement."
Tim rounded on him, "Why don't you just—" Jason cut him off with a sharp laugh.
"Don't get your panties in a twist. I meant what I said about being here to help." Jason said as he threw a flash drive at Bruce. "The Red Hood is here to bail you out of deep shit."
Jason paused.
"Again."
Bruce ignored their bickering as he caught the drive and plugged it into his gauntlet computer. Dick joined Jason on the air conditioning unit, sliding up to sit next to Jason's shoulder, and kicking him a little while he settled. Jason flipped him off but didn't move.
Jay is being remarkably civil, Dick thought to himself. The four of them would always be a volatile combination, but Dick was impressed with their progress over the last year. Jason was slowly coming back into the fold. Even if it was through haphazard team-ups and the occasional family dinners Alfred insisted on.
Jason was coming home, and the proof was Jason letting Dick sit next to him. Dick was grateful; he needed to be close to his family while Damian's fate was up in the air, and Jason, as violent and crass as he is, helped Dick calm down. He needed his head in the game when they rescued Damian. Which was looking more like a when than an if since Jason's arrival.
"I've been tracking a new player in my territory the last two months," Jason reported. "Weapons, drugs, hell even foreign pharmaceuticals. Anything that turns into fast cash in Gotham has flooded into Crime Alley in numbers that have completely fucked the market."
Bruce scanned Jason's information, "A new player?"
"As it turns out, old," Jason responded, crossing his arms. "I've got a working girl that swears up and down she had a John tip her a grand. She told me only Penguin's guys ever have that much scratch and are willing to spend it on hookers."
"That's a weak connection." Dick pipped up. Penguin was known to pay his lieutenants heavily for their service and silence, but Jason's theory was still a stretch. They didn't have time for a wild goose chase. Or penguin chase as in this case.
"Knew you'd protest, Boy Blunder," Jason snarked. "That's why I already did some poking around."
Bruce looked up from his screen, "Nightwing, the information is good."
That was good enough for him.
"So, where do we start?" Dick asked. "Knowing its Penguin doesn't tell us where he is."
"No," Jason agreed, but Dick could practically see his brother's self-satisfied smirk under his helmet. "But persuading the lieutenant who came back for seconds with my girl will."
Every vigilante on the roof perked up. For the first time that night, the tension sagged out of Dick's shoulders.
Dick watched as Tim, eager to fix his mistake, took his spot at Bruce's side. He shed off the look of the brow-beaten son, and his expression became almost identical to Bruce's. Bruce's back straightened, and he closed his screen. Their full attention was on Jason. The two of them were like dogs with a bone when it came to leads.
Bruce rose to his full height, "Where is Penguin's man?"
"Bleeding out in an alley in Chinatown," Jason pushed himself off the air conditioning unit. "But we don't need him. I've already got the location."
Dick slid off his make-shift seat. It was time to go.
—-
Penguin's hideout was a typical abandoned Gotham shithole. In the 1980s, there was a series of cheap warehouses built too close to the waterfront that flooded so often they became practically abandoned by the 90s. Dick spent half his tenure as Robin chasing gangs out of warehouses just like it all around Gotham. Bruce even bought and demolished some of the more popular ones to cut down on the workload.
He and Jason parked their bikes in an alley just out of view of the decrepit building. Using a scope Jason handed him, Dick watched men carry boxes out of the warehouse and load them into flatbed trucks. They were moving like someone lit a fire under their ass. Either they were behind schedule, or they knew someone was onto them. Dick handed the scope back to Jason,
"What did you do to get the location out of Penguin's guy?" Dick asked.
Jason casually took a drag on a cigarette before answering, "Do you care?"
"No." Dick wasn't even surprised he meant it. If he had gotten his hands on the guy, he can't say he'd done anything differently.
"No more dead Robins," Jason said, putting his cigarette out on the brick wall of the alley.
"No more dead Robins." Dick echoed back. Before Jason could respond, the distinctive sound of a gunshot cut through the silence of the alley. They froze in place.
Dick took a deep breath, his mind racing to the worst-case scenario. His thoughts were filled with images of Damian bleeding out on a dirty warehouse floor. He'd seen people die that way. Hell, he'd been in that position before. It didn't take much for him to picture it.
He let out a breath slowly. He had to stay focused. That bullet wasn't for Damian. Damian was alive and waiting for them. The kid was probably going to be either pissed they took so long or mad they didn't trust him to escape by himself. Dick wasn't waiting for a second longer to find out.
"Fuck." Jason swore. "Do you think Bats and Replacement are in position?"
Dick didn't bother checking. Shots were fired, and he was going to get his brother.
"Doesn't matter. We have to move." He snapped. He knew Bruce would be annoyed, but the Batman would have to learn to deal. Yet, instead of joining him, Jason blocked his path, placing a hand on his chest.
"Easy, Big Bird. We need to confirm he's in there."
Dick grabbed his wrist and pushed him off. Dick moved to go around him, but Jason blocked his path. He knew Jason was right and was really off his game if Jason had to be his voice of reason. But if Jason didn't move, Dick was going to plow through him.
Luckily, Tim's voice crackled to life over the coms before Dick's impatience took command of his fists.
"Robin and Penguin confirmed inside, no visual." Tim's voice paused for a long second before saying Dick's new two favorite words.
"He's alive."
Dick let out a breath. Thank god.
He and Jason moved quickly. They entered through a side door guarded by a bored-looking man playing Tetris on his phone. Jason slammed his elbow into his nose, sending the man flailing backward where Dick waited with open arms. Before he could shout, Dick was on him, grabbing him in a sleeper hold. Fifteen seconds later and the man fell to the ground in a heap.
Jason shot him a thumbs up and moved to the door.
"Sneak in?" Jason asked, drawing a gun from its holster.
Dick shook his head, "Break it down."
Jason didn't question him and kicked the door with so much force it smacked into the wall and snapped a hinge. Shouts rang up immediately. Jason started firing a volley of bullets into the building. When he ducked back to reload, Dick braced himself for return fire. None came, but Penguin's men's shouting got even louder and even more panicked. Tim and Bruce had made their entrance a little earlier than planned. He and Jason shrugged at each other and threw themselves into the fray.
The first thing Dick noticed was that Damian and the Penguin were nowhere in sight. Fuck. Nothing is ever easy, Dick thought as he dodged haphazard punches from Penguin's men.
While strong in the way most Gotham criminals are, Penguin's men were disorganized and outmatched. Jason dropped men like flies with well-placed shots to their knees and shoulders. Any attempt the goons made to regroup was foiled by Tim dropping explosive ball bearings at their feet. Dick picked off the stragglers who edged around the corners of the fight. He'd shocked at least four guys with his escrima sticks before they started getting wise and watching the shadows
Bruce was a terror. Anyone foolish enough to approach him got thrown clean across the warehouse. The closer Bruce got to the stairs; the more men went straight for him. It didn't take the world's greatest detective to figure out why. The roof. They had to be on the roof.
Dick followed Bruce to the stairs with Jason right on his heels. The upper levels weren't guarded, but Dick could hear chopper blades whirring above his head. They were running out of time, but where were the rest of the guards? Dick wondered to himself.
Dick regretted wondering when they got to the roof and came face-to-face with a row of guards with assault rifles aimed at their chests. The only guard without a weapon was stationed close to the roof access door. Dick noted it was an odd choice, but idiocy did make their job easier.
The guard closest to the door hadn't noticed their arrival. He had his back to them, his eyes glued to a helicopter over the harbor. When Dick followed his gaze, and his stomach dropped. It was Penguin's and it was already well out of range for their grappling guns. Penguin was going to escape. And even more worrying, Dick could see faintly see a man dangling a small red clad form out of the helicopter door. Damian, and he was too far out for Batman to get to him before he drowned.
It was a threat to keep them from following. Son of a bitch.
Bruce didn't even bother entertaining Penguin's clear threat, and he grabbed for the oblivious guard with his back to them. The man rolled away just in the nick of time.
The guard looked young, but he reacted incredibly fast. His black hair was billowing wildly in the breeze as he rolled into a crouch. Facing them, Dick noticed a gray streak, in the same place as Jason's, in the man's hair. Dick catalogued it as an identifying mark. Another interesting feature were his eyes. The man's green eyes were exceptionally vivid even in the low visibility. With the gray streak and green eyes, he and Jason could've passed for brothers.
There was something different about him. He stood out from the guards they'd fought on the first floor or even the ones behind him. He was the only enemy there who felt dangerous.
"Jackson! Pull back!" A guard shouted from the other side of the roof. The man, Jackson, stood up but didn't make any effort to run away. He kept his eyes trained on them and raised his hands with his palms exposed. He didn't have a weapon as far as Dick could tell, but if Jackson thought he'd trick them with a fake surrender, he'd pay dearly for his miscalculation.
"Jackson you fucking idiot!" The guard shouted again. "Move or we'll shoot you too!"
Jackson winced and took a step back. Batman immediately took a step forward and across the rooftop all hell broke loose.
A guard shouted, "Drop him!" into his earpiece the moment Bruce set his boot down, and Dick watched in horror as Damian, just a dot on the horizon, was dropped out of the helicopter.
The guards on the roof opened fire, and Dick threw himself out of the line of fire. He was pinned and helpless to watch Damian's body hit the water.
To add insult to injury, when Damian vanished, Jackson finally made a run for it.
He turned his back on them, running full speed toward the rest of Penguin's security. They avoided him with their barrage and made a hole for him as he ran. They let him slide right through their line, but surprisingly he didn't join ranks. Hell, the guy didn't even slow down. He kept sprinting, and when he made it to the edge, in a move that shocked Penguin's crew and Dick, Jackson dived off the roof.
Dick heard the splash over the gunshots. Jackson, just like Damian, had just disappeared into the murky depths of the harbor.