Summary: The party couldn't have gone better, the aftermath... That's where things go South and Damian is kidnapped along with a girl from the party. Choosing to wait it out rather than run any risk of revealing he's Robin, he gets scolded by Batman, and it seems it's true what they say. You're damned if you do, and your damned if you don't.

CHAPTER 4
That Went Well

"Oh Mr. Wayne!"

Bruce turned at the sound of his name and saw a woman in a dark blue cocktail dress. Their was a slit in the dress extending all the way down to her bellybutton revealing the edges of her breast tastefully Her pearls fell almost as far down her front. She had next to her a girl about Damian's age dressed in a frilly blue dress with her hair a little over done in numerous curls. The woman extended her hand.

"I don't believe we've met," Bruce said politely prompting for her name.

"Angelica Kettering, this is my daughter Rebecca Kettering."

"Rebecca," he extended his hand to her as well.

"How can I—" Bruce was interrupted when Angelica turned to his right where Damian was standing not paying attention to the situation until his name was mentioned.

"Oh and this must be little Damian!" she smiled. "You little one are just as handsome as your Father."

Dick couldn't help but smile when he saw Bruce and Damian sigh in unison both have figured out the woman's motive at the same time.

"Thanks," he answered dully before he turned looking up at Bruce, he lightly shoved Jon ahead of him, "Father this is boring Jon and I are going to go find somewhere to play."

He purposely spoke like a spoiled child there to justify the rudeness of his walking abruptly away from the situation, and Angelica looked slightly panicked. "Uh... Rebecca sweetie, why don't you go with them."

She nodded to her Mother and went up to Jon and Damian. "Can I play with you guys?"

Jon and Damian both responded to her at the same time.

"No."

"Sure."

Damian threw a you're so stupid look at Jon.

"What?" Jon asked. His Father had always taught him that you don't exclude anyone who wanted to join in. Especially not girls. Rolling his eyes Damian walked off the other two following close behind him.

"Oh," Angelica fawned staring after them. "Don't you think they would make the cutest couple?"

"I tend to not think things like that about children," Bruce inputted as politely as he could.

"Damian isn't betrothed yet is he?" she inquired none too delicately. It was common at their station for parents to arrange marriages when their children were young. Bruce had been approached with similar proposals about all his adopted sons at one point or another. But ever since people had found out Damian was biologically his, the level of these sorts of situations had taken a drastic up turn. People seemed to have it in their head that his fortune would almost exclusively be given to his biological child and he had already had many people offer their daughters to him for Damian with the promises of stocks and companies to go with the arrangement. But as with his other sons, he had no intention of participating in what he considered a rather barbaric tradition.

"No," he answered.

"Well Rebecca would make an ideal wife for Damian, how about we have a marriage meeting next—"

"No thank you Mrs. Kettering," Bruce put his foot down immediately. "I think when the times right, Damian will be more than capable of choosing who he wishes to spend his life with on his own."

"Oh Mr. Wayne... I was told you weren't too fond of the idea of betrothals. But let me assure you my daughter—"

"Should also be more than capable of choosing who she wishes to spend her life with, on her own time and when she's old enough. If you'll excuse me," he inclined his head politely to her before bypassing her to head to another person he needed to greet.

She looked completely jilted staring at his back as he walked away. Dick, Jason and Tim were all grinning as they bypassed her as well to spread out across the party.

Thanks to the communication devices in their ears, Damian had heard their whole conversation even after they had walked away. Their was a small part of Damian that hadn't expected his father to stand up for him like that, and his respect for him grew, reluctantly...

First thing they noticed about the party. Their was so much press. Reporters and photographers were around taking pictures and asking questions, they were roped off away from the main party so they could only be so much of a bother. But it felt a little like being a fish in a fishbowl.

The boys had spread out across the party to cover more ground and get a wide range of angles when viewing the crowd.

"Anyone spotted Luthor yet?" Dick asked discreetly into their earpieces.

"He's the host, probably waiting to show up under some big reveal," Barbara whispered into hers.

"Where you at Babs?" Dick questioned only to feel a tap on his shoulder. He turned. Barbara was wearing a waitress outfit complete with heels and a serving tray.

"Care for a drink Sir?" she asked loudly holding the tray out.

"Don't mind if I do," Dick said.

Right on time. An announcer introduced Luthor's arrival at the party, he said a few boring words to the crowd and the press and then he made his way down to the party.

"Don't approach him right away," Bruce said over their communicators. "Dick, let him approach you first."

"Got it," he responded and giving a smile to Babs they moved on. She continued handing out drinks.

But oddly, the first member of the bat family that was approached by him was Jason.

"Mr. Todd? Is that right?"

Jason turned when Lex said his name.

"Yes Sir Mr. Luthor," he answered shaking his hand. "This is nice party you have here."

"Money make everything nice," he answered. "I hope you don't mind, but... may I ask you a few questions."

"Ask away," Jason answered.

"It's about... your Father. He's an exceedingly generous man all the work he does with taking in underprivileged children like he has. I hope you don't find this too intrusive, and feel free not to answer if you think it is so. But I found reasons for all the children he's adopted. But not... his newest one. Why exactly did Jon join your family?"

The answers to questions like this had been pre-prepared, so he answered as they had all planned.

"His health isn't the best. His parents passed and their was no one to pay his medical bills, and well... Bruce can't stand by when someone needs his help, that's... the sort of man he is."

"Interesting," Lex said frowning slightly looking in Bruce's direction. Bruce was purposely making sure to not look that way even though he could hear everything. It would have been too obvious if he did.

"Not really," Jason said. "He adopted three kid's prior to Jon. Bruce has the money so... Why not?"

"No," Lex said smiling. "No, I meant it's interesting that you don't call him Father."

"..." Jason frowned. "Excuse me?"

"Have you guys had a falling out?"

"No."

"Does it have anything to do with the years you went into hiding?"

That was the story Bruce had come up with, to explain why he proclaimed his adopted child dead and alive once again was that he had to have the child go into hiding due to threats on his life from the corporate enemies of Bruce Wayne.

"Uh-oh," Babs whispered glancing in Jason's direction.

"Don't look," Dick warned whispering as discreetly as he could. "You'll give us away."

"That's not important," Jason snapped.

"I mean... maybe not to you, but I feel like their might be another reason why Bruce is collecting all these children..."

"Just what are you implying Mr. Luthor?"

"Noting inappropriate, I just... It would help me to realize the why to my question if you told me what happened to you while you were," he made air quotes for the following word, "missing."

Jason was clearly struggling to not say what he was thinking.

"Stay calm," Bruce warned.

"Any chance he had you visit a lab, or a hospital. Did anyone run tests on you?"

"The investigation on that issue hasn't been resolved yet. So forgive me, but I can't go into too many details on the matter."

"I see not a problem," Lex seemed to spot someone he knew off in the distance and he tapped his shoulder, "We'll speak again sometime."

He went off waving to the next person he was trying to greet. Tim walked up to Jason afterwards to make sure he was alright. They had dangerously approached a topic that was sure to trigger him. Bruce frowned now that their conversation was over. He still hadn't turned his gaze in their direction, but having heard all that he couldn't help but wonder. Just what the hell did Lex think he was doing with his children?

It didn't take too long for Lex to make his way over to Dick but didn't question him as he had Jason. Dick was far more skilled in the art of conversation than Jason was. He was able to distract Lex long enough to take the kryptonite from his pocket and replace it with the fake. Both were encased in identical bags made of material necessary for keeping the kryptonite from harming anyone who may be affected by it. Damian made sure at that time to keep Jon as far as possible from the scene just in case. Lex and Dick parted ways in good spirits and Dick whispered. "The switch is done."

Rebecca was fawning over Damian. Jon found this very weird. Kids their age didn't do this sort of stuff. Heck when they had crushes they typically tended to avoid talking about it but this girl was all over him.

"What do you like to do?" she asked. It was her 400th question today.

"Nothing much," Damian responded dully.

"I like to dance," she said smiling. "Do you want to dance with me?"

"Not really," Damian answered. Damian was trying to listen on the communicators and it was very difficult with this chatty girl in his opposite ear.

"I can teach you if you don't know how," she pointed out.

"I know how," Damian answered.

"...Oh..." she frowned and her eyes glanced away. Jon followed her gaze and saw she was looking at her Mother who sat her drink down and began walking over.

"Oh isn't this music wonderful," Angelica said when the music started on the next song. She rushed forward in between Damian and Rebecca placing an arm around each of their shoulders she led them out towards the dance floor. "Come now, you two should dance."

"Damian... dance..." Tim laughed on the other end of his earpiece.

"Careful not to step on her feet," Dick teased.

"Guys don't be mean... if Damian can't dance, don't make him," Babs whispered. She made her way over to Jon when Damian got pulled away.

Sighing Damian held his hand out to Rebecca, her face lit up and she excitedly took it. He paused for a moment, waiting for the proper beat to start on and then he pulled her onto the floor. It was clear in an instant, that not only could Damian dance, but he had clearly had formal dance training. Far more than the girl. One thing Dick noticed was he also knew enough to compensate for her shortcomings. If she sidestepped wrong or leaned too far in one direction he was able to pull her back to not only correct her stance but make it appear as though she hadn't missteped in the first place.

"Damn, I don't have my phone when I need it," Jason whispered having purposely left it in the limo.

"On it," Tim said taking out his phone, he aimed it and pressed record.

"I didn't know Damian could dance," Babs commented.

"Well... it's not like he wanted to," Jon commented looking slightly upset.

Barbara smiled. "You feeling left out? I'll dance with you if you want."

"No thanks..."

When the song ended, Damian returned to Jon. The girl had run off with her mother, both of them whispering happily.

"That should keep her out of my hair awhile," Damian sighed frowning and whispering discreetly into their communication device he added. "Where are we on the plan?"

"It's my part," Bruce whispered.

He approached Luthor smiling. They made small talk. Typical rich people discussions of trades and stocks. Then...

"Oh, my labs were able to correct Jon's problem, we developed a pair of glasses that auto corrects the light filtering that causes him to collapse upon seeing various shades of bright lights," Bruce explained.

"I see..." Lex said frowning. "You wouldn't mind if... we test that?"

"Not at all," Bruce said scanning the party until he saw Jon and Damian. "Jon!"

Jon looked up and Bruce motioned for him to come over.

"Show time," Damian said. "Go."

Feeling nervous he walked over to him. "Yes Sir?"

"I was just telling Mr. Luthor here about how we were able to correct you problem," Bruce said. Jon looked up at Luthor and immediately felt scared remembering what happened the last time they had seen each other and he recoiled slightly backing into Bruce who put a hand on his head in reassurance.

"Hello again, Jon I'm so glad to see you're doing better."

"Thanks," Jon said timidly.

"Shall we go to the lab and get some of that kryptonite to test?"

"No need, I happen to have some here," Lex said taking it out of his pocket, he slid it out of the casing, and the glowing rock was visible.

Bruce could feel Jon stiffen upon seeing it, looking scared. But after a moment when nothing happened he relaxed. "It does work!" Jon said touching his glasses and smiling.

"Yes... well. That is good news," Lex said looking down at his piece. Clearly doubting it's authenticity.

"Well, you and Damian should head over to the buffet table, I think I see some chocolate cake that looks like it has your name on it," Bruce said and Jon hurried off not wanting to be any closer to Luthor than he had to be.

Bruce quickly steered the question to other topics and even entertained an idea from Lex to work together on a project. Everyone listening on the devices knew Bruce wouldn't even consider it, but he was trying to get Luthor's concentration elsewhere so he didn't dwell on the kryptonite too much. The switch back would need to take place now, and Dick handed the piece off to Barbara who waited for the right moment to...

"WHA!" Barbara called out purposely tripping into Luthor spilling the drinks on her tray all over both of them. "Oh my gawd, I'm sooo sorry."

She was sounding very valley girl in her whine. "Ugh, I'm gonna lose my job! I'm so sorry Mr. Luthor."

She made the switch in all the commotion and then started picking up the broken wine glasses that was now strewn across the floor. Lex looked furious, and in a normal situation he would have fired her then and there. But with the press watching, and the influential guests looking on. He choose to play up the good boss angle.

"Don't worry about it," he said frowning as he got to his feet attempting to wipe the wine off him.

"Really... I'm just so... sorry. I don't know how..."

"It's fine," he said rather rudely before heading off to go get changed.

Jason folded his arms watching the scene from afar. Had one of Bruce's employees tripped on him like that, and been so enthusiastically apologetic. Bruce would have made sure they were okay and even helped them up off the floor. Lex did neither of those things, and it was little things like this that would tell you the kind of person bosses were.

"That's it then," Damian said discreetly changing his earpiece. You could change whose earpiece you were listening in on, but he still wanted to be able to gather information so rather than tune into anyone's earpiece in particular he set it to listen to everyone's earpiece. Everyone else was likely setting their to listen to only one person at a time, but he found that way inefficient. Doing it his way sometimes meant people were talking over one another but Damian could still distinguish between the different audios.

He turned to Jon, "Just avoid Luthor for the rest of the party, and we should be fine."

"Right..." Jon agreed frowning slightly. Luthor's kryptonite was back to being the real thing

"Damian!"

He turned to Rebecca frowning. "What?"

"Damian... I was thinking... Maybe we could take a walk by the pond outside. It's really pretty and their are swans and—"

"No thanks," Damian answered. Jon hadn't even noticed her mother who had crept up behind them placing a hand on Damian's head.

"Now now, Damian. That's rather rude. A nice girl has asked you to go on a walk with her. The least you could do is—"

Damian pushed her hand off his hair. "If I go on a walk with your daughter, will you leave me alone?"

"Of course," she replied.

Sighing he grabbed her hand leading her towards the party's back exit.

Angelica smiled widely and Jon stared after Damian looking confused. Then he felt her hand touch the top of his head. "You were an obvious second choice, and you seem like the nicer of the two," she said mistaking his confusion for jealousy at not being the one her daughter had picked. "But Damian is the blood son, so he'll get most if not all of the Wayne fortune upon your Father's passing."

Jon was at first confused as to why she was referring to him as Bruce's son. But quickly recalled their whole backstory. "Uh... sure..." Jon answered.

The hand was pulled of his head and forced into a shake when Dick approached. They were all tuned into Jon's earpiece being the one they were most concerned with, so when they heard this lady come up to him, Dick had hurried over to his side.

"Dick Grayson, ma'am, how do you do?" he asked flashing his classic smile at her and she blushed. "Oh you're one of Bruce's boys aren't you?"

"That I am," he answered smiling laying on the charm and Jon felt a tug on his arm to Tim was steering him away from her. Tim handed Jon a handheld video came and was encouraging him to play it. Jon couldn't help but feel like they were distracting him for some reason, but at the same time video games were fun so he didn't mind being led away to shoot alien bag guys on Tim's controller.

"I don't know what you think is supposed to happen between us," Damian lied to her after their walk around the pond was almost over. "But you're mother is crazy, and you shouldn't listen to her."

"My... my Mother said you would be a good match for me."

"Well she's wrong, and I have no intention of being a match for anyone right now..."

"So... you don't like me?" she asked pouting pitifully.

"It's not about liking or disliking you," Damian explained. "Your Mother is only trying to set us up to increase her net worth. She's using you for her own gain. Are you even okay with her treating you, her child, like that?"

This conversation was hitting a little close to home for him and his own thoughts were drifting towards his mother and how she had used him for selfish reasons before she had met her end.

"Mother says I will learn to love you," she pointed out.

"Yeah? Well... I don't think love exists."

Her expression fell at that. "Of course it exists... That's why people get sad when others die."

"No they're sad because they can no longer benefit from the other person's existence. Regardless on the form that benefit comes in be it monetary, emotional or physical."

"...you're really pessimistic huh?"

"...I'm realistic," he corrected.

*click*

Damian heard something in the woods behind her. He scanned the woodline for movement. It had already started getting pretty dark out so it was hard to see.

"I just think that—" she began again.

Damian brought a finger to his mouth to motion for her to be quiet. She too started glancing around in concern and then someone jumped out from the bushes grabbing her around the waist. He covered her mouth so she wouldn't scream. Knowing they were on Luthor's property and their were probably hundreds of camera's everywhere, his rushing over and attacking would be more than a little suspicious, and Luthor was already suspicious enough of their family already.

A few other men came out two pointing a gun on Damian. He frowned raising his arms into the air.

"Look how they're dressed! These kids have to mean something to the people at that party," one of the guys laughed while she struggled to get free.

"What family do you belong to?" asked one of them with a gun aimed on Damian.

Damian opened his mouth to speak, intending to try to pass off as being one of the servant's kids, just helping out for the party. He may have been wearing an expensive suit, but even poor people wore suits, and people out of the caste system typically couldn't tell the difference. So, he could probably make them believe it if he was convincing enough. The girl however finally freed herself from the mouth preventing her from speaking. "My Mother is Angelica Kettering, and his Father is Bruce Wayne! They're going to be very upset if—"

Damian closed his eyes in disappointment. He had to deal with stupid on a daily basic, but he never thought he would have to deal with someone who was worse off than that. She was clearly to used to getting out of issues by dropping her parent's names, and now it was going to bring them both nothing but trouble.

"A Wayne brat!" the one guy sneered. "Come with us Wayne..."

One of the men put a gun to the back of his head and physically started moving him to their awaiting car.

They were leaving the party, and his boys had already left waiting by the limo.

Bruce was busy saying his goodbyes.

"WHAT!?" screeched Angelica. "My daughter is missing. She was in the garden with Damian. They're both gone!"

Bruce went up to her trying to help her calm down, "I'm sure they didn't go far. We'll find them.

Luthor who had long since returned from changing out of his alcohol covered suit took out his phone open his own security feed of the garden. When he spotted what camera had caught it he double clicked on that screen to enlarge it. He played it with Angelica and Bruce watching. Their was no audio, but it showed them both get taken away.

Angelica promptly fainted.

"I have to go speak with my family, someone call the cops!" Bruce insisted. He had to say that part. It would have been to suspicious if he hadn't. He hurried outside changing his earpiece to pick up Damian's audio.

It had been a long time since he was hancuffed and thrown in the back of a trunk. It was clearly the girl's first time. She had been making so much noise that they had gagged her, which Damian was partly grateful for, but he also couldn't help but feel guilty about it. As Robin, he could have already stopped these guys by now. But as Damian... he was supposed to sit back and be the meek little rich kid.

They drove for quite a ways. Damian who had closed his eyes and memorized the car turns put them at an abandoned factory. When the trunk opened and they were pulled out, he saw they were at the pier. He hadn't been far off though, the factory was just a half mile south of there.

"So," said a new guy who hadn't been there initially. He was tall, losing his hair and wearing a grey suit that (while it may have fit him at one time) was threatening to tear at the seems from how much weight he had clearly gained since it's purchase. "We actually got Wayne's brat!"

Damian heard them pull the gag off the girl, and she started crying behind him.

"So kid, How much do you think your Father would be willing to pay to get you back in once piece?"

"I don't know... twenty, thirty bucks. It'll really depend on how much is in his pocket at the—"

One of the guys kicked him rather hard in the gut and he lurched froward, but was spared falling to the ground by the other two men who were holding him just under his shoulders.

"I see what this is. You think I'm playing. You think this is a joke," the large man seethed pulling a switch blade from inside his jacket and with a click a sharp silver blade popped out. "I don't play around when it comes to money kid."

The girl wouldn't stop crying and one of the men nearest to her back handed her to get her to get her to stop.

"Do we even still need the girl?" One of them asked. "The Ketterings are not even half as rich as the Waynes."

"Money is money right?" Damian spat some of the build up of blood in his mouth onto the ground. "Why get one ransom when you can get two?"

"Now you're speaking my language," the thug reached into Damian's jacket and pulled out his phone. "So, you're going to give your Daddy a call and tell him I want a million dollars delivered to the West Coast Pier immediately."

He scrolled through Damian's contacts his face falling slightly. His contacts had no names or identifying markers. It was all just a series of numbers.

"Seriously, what the hell?" he snapped. "Which one of these numbers belongs to your Father?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," Damian shrugged.

He grabbed his knife pulling it up to Damian's throat. Damian attempted to back away from it, but merely backed into the other guys holding him preventing his retreat. The burning tear through the skin at his neck caused a vehement gasp that still escaped him despite his effort to hide it. It was partly surprise to. He hadn't expected the man to lose his patience that quickly and Damian took care to keep still at that point. Already bleeding, it wouldn't have taken more than a flick of the man's wrist to do serious, and possibly irreversible damage.

"Do you think I'm playing now?" he seethed.

"No," Damian snapped.

"Sorry, I can't hear you."

"No," Damian answered a little louder.

"Damian's been kidnapped," Bruce whispered in a hushed voice after placing a hand on Grayson's shoulder to get their attention. They were all gathered together saying their goodbyes near their limo at the end of the party.

"Kidnapped? Damian?" Jason raised an eyebrow at the news.

Tim's expression seemed to slip into a does not compute status. "How!?"

Damian was probably the last kid in the world one would expect to get kidnapped. Which one of their hundreds of enemies would have even had the skill to pull that off?

Bruce pointed to his ear, and in unison they all turned to Damian's frequency listening in on what he could hear.

"So kid, How much do you think your Father would be willing to pay to get you back in once piece?"

"I don't know... twenty, thirty bucks. It'll really depend on how much is in his pocket at the—"

They heard shuffling, and a pained gasp and cough on Damian's part. The expressions of his brothers flipped to homicidal in an instant upon hearing their littlest bat in obvious pain. Tim immediately pulled a small computer form his pocket, he began typing away on the keyboard.

Jon was looking between them all, why weren't they going to find them? Why were they still standing here?

"I see what this is. You think I'm playing," the voice said. "You think this is a joke. I don't play around when it comes to money kid."

They could hear a girl crying in the background. A loud crack and then.

"Do we even still need the girl? The Ketterings are not even half as rich as the Waynes."

"Money is money right?" Damian snapped back. "Why get one ransom when you can get two?"

He was clearly trying instill value in the other captive. Otherwise, they might have just offed her then and there.

"Now you're speaking my language. So, you're going to give your Daddy a call and tell him I want a million dollars delivered to the West Coast Pier immediately."

Silence followed, and then...

"Seriously, what the hell? Which one of these numbers belongs to your Father?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," Damian answered.

Damian suddenly gasped in pain yet again, Barbara clutched her arms around herself nervously. Jason closed his eyes, as though trying to memorize the voice so he knew exactly whose ass he needed to kick the most. Tim hadn't stopped typing but his expression tightened, it was hard to hear this and not be there. Jon looked scared. Seriously why were none of them moving? Grayson turned to Bruce imploring with his gaze alone for him to give the call to have them move out. But just because he wanted money delivered to the Pier, didn't mean that was where Damian was now. They had to wait and Bruce knew it. When the man spoke again, it was much louder, telling them that he had moved very close to Damian seeing as it almost sounded as though the other man was wearing his communication piece.

"Do you think I'm playing now?"

"No," Damian answered.

"Sorry, I can't hear you."

"No," Damian responded louder that time.

Tim flipped his computer around so the others could see. He had used the earpiece Damian wore, and tracked it with one of Batman's satellites. Damian was also at the pier.

"Let's go," Bruce demanded.

"Babs, stay and watch Jon," Grayson called as the rest of them took off summoning their own various rides once out of site of the manor.

They could hear clear sounds of Damian being battered and hit repeatedly and Grayson couldn't help but notice how fast and rather recklessly Jason started driving when the the sounds of that started.

He endured a beating for his cheek, sitting in the back of the car with his hands cuffed behind his back he sat still feeling every place that had been hit, kicked and cut. It wasn't the first time he had been beat and it wouldn't be the last. But he knew his father and the others had heard him via his earpiece. Might as well just wait for them to show up. After they had beat him and texted his father they threw him and the girl in the back seat of the car that they had parked on the pier. This wouldn't be horribly terrible if the girl next to him would just stop crying.

"Calm down," Damian snapped somewhat rudely.

"They're going to kill us," She cried. Shaking.

Damian rolled his eyes leaning back on the seat, a bit of blood dripping down his neck where the knife had cut him, though it hadn't been deep, so it was nothing to worry about.

"I want my Mom," she cried gasping. "I want... I..."

"You'll see your Mom again, so calm down..."

One of the men outside was yelling, he approached the car and Damian turned his head to listen to what he was so angry about.

"I gave Bruce Wayne ten minutes in the text, he hasn't so much as responded!"

"It can take time to gather that much money, boss," one of the henchmen explained. "Just wait. I'm sure he..."

"He's probably calling for help. A man that rich probably has people like Batman and Superman on speed dial! I'm not dealing with that. Fuck it, we're calling it off!"

"Sir..."

"Push them in the water, and let's get out of here."

Damian turned upon hearing that, the girl hadn't been paying attention and she only started panicking when the car started being pushed forward. The car was in neutral so it wasn't hard for them to move.

"Shit," Damian snapped moving around until he could pull his legs through his bound hands. Being on the small side this wasn't hard fro him to do. His cuffed hands now in front he moved them to hold the the door handle beside the girl, and propped up his leg as a brace, he wanted to prevent her falling forward. This could end badly depending on how the car hit the water. The front tires went over the pier's edge, then the back.

She screamed the most bloodcurdling scream he had heard in some time. Gravity did the rest. The front windshield cracked, but luckily didn't shatter. When he stopped bracing her, she fell forward against the back of the driver seat and Damian hit the back of the passenger's. He felt a surge of pain in his chest from where he had been kicked earlier. Damian reached in his jacket grabbing a pick he unlocked the cuffs on his own hands, and then unlocked hers.

"Can you swim?" he asked.

"No!" she gasped crying.

"Of course not," Damian sighed.

She gasped at the water pouring in from every crevice it could. She started banging on the windows with her hand. "Help! Mommy! Help!'

The water was freezing. Damian could already feel himself starting to shake from it. Damian cursed under his breath and then he unhinged the head rest from the passenger seat, the two spikes on it was great for busting open windows.

"Listen to me," Damian demanded. She wasn't. She kept banging on the windows desperately screaming for help.

"HEY!" he spat finally calling her attention.

"Calm down, listen to me. I'm going to break this window."

"Are you crazy!" she gasped.

"That's debatable," Damian said offhandedly. "But look, you need to take one last breath, I'll break this, and then we're going to swim up. Okay."

"No! No it's going to make the water come in quicker!"

"I mean, we can wait for the car to fill up but that's only going to make you more panicked and anxious. We need to move now."

"No I don't want to... Someone will help us!"

"We're helping ourselves," Damian snapped as he removed his coat. "Take your dress off."

"What!?"

"It'll only weigh you down while you're swimming," he explained. The water was already up to his knees.

"No way! I'm not—"

Damian had lost the last bit of patience he had left. "Take it off, or I'm ripping it off you!"

They got to the scene just as the criminals were preparing to depart and they could still hear Damian's side of the conversation and knew they were under water.

"I got Damian," Nightwing explained heading straight to the pier.

"I got that fucker," Red hood was making a beeline for the criminals who were rushing to get into their van. Batman grabbed his collar stopping him.

"You help Nightwing with Damian," he demanded. "Red Robin, you're with me!'

Batman headed towards the bad guys and feeling rather upset, Red Hood followed Nightwing.

"He still doesn't trust me," Jason said with a rather strong tone of resentment.

It hadn't been long since Jason had rejoined the team after... a series of extremely unfortunate events. But Nightwing was pretty sure he knew why Batman had directed him to rescue rather than offense and admittedly, he agreed. Though he probably wasn't going to tell Jason that, and especially not right now. They both jumped over the pier sending a grappling hook out to the edge letting it clamp on. They entered the water pulling out small air containers. Good for three hours of air while under water. They had extra for Damian and the girl as soon as they got them out of the car. It didn't take them long to spot it.

Swimming towards the window they could see him arguing with the girl, he had already removed her dress and she was stuck in a slip shivering and crying. The water was up to their chests. Nightwing got to the window letting Damian know he was there. He pulled out an extra air container. Pointing to it, he pointed to the girl, and Damian knew what he wanted immediately.

"They're going to break the window," Damian explained. "Once they do they're going to put something in your mouth, it'll be an air tank, so you'll be able to breath after that. Okay."

"No... I don't..."

Nightwing counted down on his hands. 5... 4... 3...

"Hold your breath," Damian told her.

"No... wait I—"

2...

"Just do it!"

1...

Red Hood used a device that went placed against the window it shattered instantly. The water poured in, they wasted no time. Hood grabbed the girl pulling her forward he put the breathing container in her mouth, and Nightwing pulled Damian out handing the air container to him. At the same time, Nightwing and Red Hood hit retract on their grappling guns and they were pulled from the water up to the pier's edge. Damian climbed up first, Dick had to assist him with that as he didn't appear to have his usual strength. Damian then helped Hood get the girl up on the pier safely.

She took the air container out of her mouth and immediately burst into tears, shaking.

Damian got to his feet.

"I take it Batman's here too," Damian asked. Keeping up with the code names cause you never knew who was listening.

"He sure is," Nightwing answered.

In a lower tone Damian added, "He's mad at me isn't he."

"I... I'm staying out of it," Nightwing said.

"Are you hurt badly?" Red Hood asked Damian walking up to him. He had bruises on his face and his neck was bleeding slightly.

"I'm fine," Damian said stepping forward because Batman was approaching. Him and Red Robin had apprehended the men and Damian knew he was going to get told off.

"Take the girl to get medical attention," Batman ordered, and Red Robin helped her up walking her away and out of ear shot.

"What the hell happened?" Batman demanded of Damian.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Damian snapped back folding his arms.

"How did you get in this mess?" he was angry. "Those guys were nothing you couldn't handle. So why did you let it get his far?"

"Sorry, but last time I checked, when you're not there, I'm not a crime fighter, and when you are there, I'm just backup," Damian snapped throwing his own words back at him.

"So what? You put yourself and an innocent girl at risk, for... revenge? A petty act of malicious compliance to teach me a lesson? If anything this just proves to me even more that you're not prepared to work in this field!"

"Tsk, I don't get you?! I disobey you and I get yelled at. I do exactly what you ask and I get yelled at. What the hell did you expect from me? I don't know who hired those guys, and in all likelihood it could have been Luthor himself testing us. If I just beat them down it would have been very obvious that I'm a trained fighter, and it would only take a quick movement analization scan to link me with Robin and then it could link to you. I refrained from smacking the shit out of them and took a beating to keep your identity safe. You're welcome!" he snapped.

Nightwing folded his arms frowning. In a way... Damian had a good point.

"You should have—"

"I should have what. Explain to me exactly what I should have done."

"You should have notified us with a panic signal before you were even taken off the property," Batman snapped. Each of them had a way of notifying each other if they were in trouble, it was a hidden button on their person. "You couldn't have known where they were taking you, and for all you know it could have been straight into the hands of our more formidable enemies! You and that girl could have been seriously injured or you could have been killed!"

"Which would have been even more of a reason to not fight back and let people make that connection. Ugh! I can't fucking win when it comes to you! And seriously, I wasn't going to let anything happen to that girl," Damian sneered defiantly.

"Is that why her face has that bruise on it?" he asked frowning.

"Jeez, I meant anything serious!" Damian was borderline yelling now. Red Hood walked over placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Damian, calm down."

"And for you information, Father, the panic signal I had was on the suit that you decided I didn't need anymore," he snapped walking past him.

Their was a moments pause when all that could be heard was Damian's footsteps walking away and then Batman sighed storming up to Nightwing. "You didn't give him a panic signal?"

Even Alfred had one on his person.

"Don't look at me," Nightwing said frowning. "We all took ours off our suits, I thought he did the same."

Batman scowled and turned around. "We're heading back. The girl's mother has probably been notified and I'm going to have to come up with a story as to why I disappeared."

"You unbelievable asshole!"

Batman turned to Jason his eyes narrowing.

"Maybe the first thing you should ask after your kid gets taken, and beaten is: Are you okay?" he glared furiously.

"He was standing, he's fine," Batman answered.

"Think for a second about how much you could take and still be standing. We don't know how hurt he is unless we examine him."

"I don't have time for a lecture Hood," Batman snapped angrily.

"Yeah, not having time is a specialty of yours," he seethed.

"Damian would have said something if he was hurt," Batman pointed out.

"Yeah, cause the Wayne bloodline are such open books."

"Seriously not now," Batman was officially putting his foot down now. Speaking any further would make him angrier than he already was. Jason almost didn't care.

"Fine. I'm going to go check on your kid. And then I'll bring him back to the party after. It should give you enough time to play up the concerned Father role for the public," he snapped walking up to him almost right up to his face he added in a scathing tone. "Dig deep, it's going to take all your acting skills to pull that off."

With that said he rushed after Damian who was walking rather slowly favoring his side.

"Think you can ride?" he asked indicating his motorcycle.

"I'm all wet," Damian explained.

"So am I," he replied. "The ride will dry us both of. C'mon."

"Yeah, but your clothes are made of materials that will dry quickly," Damian admitted.

"Just get on," Hood ordered and Damian climbed on behind him, with effort, due to very clearly being hurt.

"I knew it," Hood whispered turning his motorcycle on.

"All in all," Damian said softly. "I think that went well."

He was clearly referring to the party and not the recent kidnapping.

Author's Note: Hope you all are enjoying.