This time when Damian woke up, the colors were so bright they made his eyes water, but he fought to keep them open.
"Oh, hey" he turns at the voice to look at girl Grayson. Just like his Grayson, she was disgustingly bright and sunny in normal circumstances, to look at her now was almost vomit inducing "You're awake! Sorta…"
"Yes, sort of…" he rubbed his aching eyes.
She had her hair up in a ponytail that swayed from side to side when she walked "How are you feeling?"
"Lovely. Thank you for asking."
She sat by the foot of the bed "You're really calm. It's kinda creeping me out. I thought you'd be at my throat by now."
"Yes, I would be" he lifts both hands and the chains that are holding him to the headboard clink "but as It happens, I'm held up by something."
"Ooooh, we spend time together, don't we? You and other me, I mean." Grayson smiled knowingly and crossed her legs in a way that made Damian want to strangle her with the chains from his cuffs "'Cause that really sounds like something I'd say. Sure you added your own snide and snobbish undertone, but I can tell."
"Why keep me here?" he asked too frustrated to hide the slight growl in his voice "You must know what I'll do once I get out of these cuffs, I will not stand by the three of you desecrating Batman's legacy."
"Three of us?"
"You mean to tell me Drake is not in with your and Todd's scheme?" he arched a disbelieving eyebrow "That one would follow you to hell without any request."
"Wow!" Grayson barely managed to hold back her snickers "What did she ever do to you?"
The question left Damian fuming "Not the point. Once Mr. Wayne finds out what you've been up to-"
Grayson snorted loudly "Bruce knows."
She watched Damian intently in the silence that followed, but he gave nothing away "Then I'll have to take down all four of you."
"Big words for someone tied to a bed." Todd said as she walked into the bedroom.
With the colors still burning Damian's eyes even behind his eyelids, Todd's eyes looked sea green – just as Grayson's were sky blue. Rarely seeing Todd unmasked, Damian had never realized how much green there was in his eyes – her eyes –, it reminded Damian of someone though he couldn't really put a face to the memory. He blamed it on whatever drugs that almost drove him insane the day before.
Had it only been a day since he collapsed?
"That won't be an obstacle for long." he replied calmly for that always seemed to piss Todd off more than any fit of anger could.
And just as he had hoped, her eyes narrowed instantly.
"How is it where you came from?" Grayson asked, bringing the attention back to her.
"Well, I don't usually get nearly get drugged to death for starters."
"What a fucking baby, we all get constantly drugged!"
Grayson's eyebrows shot up at Todd's hissy fit "And what are you so pissy about?"
Todd didn't answer; she crossed her arms over her chest and averted her eyes, eyebrows knitted together in an irritated frown.
"Anyway…" Grayson turned her attention back to Damian "I'm 99% sure that there's been some misunderstanding."
"Is that so?" Damian folded his hands over his lap "Do tell."
"Why would you tell him shit, Grayson?" Todd asked through gritted teeth, but then exploded "Who the hell is this guy? Why tell him anything about us? He should know all that stuff is he is who he says he is! Which I doubt."
Grayson seemed thoroughly unimpressed "You done?"
"You fucking suck! And you?" she stared at Damian, her piercing sea green eyes shooting daggers at him – and still looking insanely familiar in a way that was driving Damian nuts – "How's the leg?"
Before he could answer, she stormed off.
Damian did his best to look concerned "Shouldn't you go check on her?"
Apparently his best wasn't enough if the look on Grayson's face told him anything.
"Look, doll. Bruce knows because this is a Batman operation."
"What?"
She stood, looking kind of conflicted "Don't run away, I'm gonna bring Diana back here and we'll explain everything, I swear! But you can't go anywhere."
He smiled "I wouldn't dream of it."
Grayson narrowed her eyes and took a deep breath, as if she was about to say something, but then gave up and left the room.
Damian couldn't remember a time when he got out of handcuffs faster. He didn't even try the door, knowing that even if they weren't around at the moment, they would be back soon.
He stood on the window ledge, leaning his upper body outside; it was a two story drop and even if it was only a minor disturbance, he still had a bullet wound on his thigh. There was a tree not too far, but maybe just far enough for him not to reach it. He had to risk it.
"What are you doing?" he turned to find Drake. Damian wished he had something to throw at her, but the only thing he could think of doing was flipping her off – which he did – before throwing himself out of the window.
His fingers closed around the closest branch, but he completely misjudged how well his body handled the effect of the drugs and for a moment, he felt his arms giving out.
"Oh my God!" he heard Drake shouting from behind him "How did you do that?!"
Now there would be no way in hell that Damian would let Drake of all people see him fail. With a barely contained pain filled groan, he managed to hoist himself up, but just that left his muscles shaking and his breathing hard.
Pathetic.
He dived down with a roll and took off running the second his feet touched the ground. His head was spinning, but the sounds from the house were getting louder and he wouldn't be caught.
It seemed like all he did since he got to this God forsaken place was run.
He didn't like to hide, it wasn't part of his character; Damian stood and fought back, like mother taught him.
But as he sat shaking in his hideout, Damian could only hope mother would never find out about this appalling behavior. The wound on his leg pulsed in time with his heart and the walls around him were either closing in or spinning, he couldn't quite tell anymore.
He hated drugs. He hated Todd too, all versions possible.
Damian wiped his sweat soaked forehead and wondered how long it would take father to find him; his real father, not the mockery he was stuck with here.
Because he had to be searching. It had been days.
He missed Titus.
It took immense effort to get his teeth to stop chattering, but Damian managed it in favor of trying to listen to whatever those she-devils were up to.
He was either paranoid or the drug made him hyper aware of everything, he swore there were steps walking directly to him, getting closer and closer. He closed his eyes, the leaves around him had and acid green look to them and he couldn't focus.
They couldn't have found him, could they? He hid well, he hadn't moved in hours. He was so fucking thirsty.
Still with his eyes closed, Damian pulled his knees closer to his chest and felt the tree bark digging into the soles of his feet, making him feel especially ridiculous. Running away in a party mask and pajamas? Not his brightest moment.
He was just considering either climbing up higher or just gouging his eyes out with a branch or something when they finally spoke.
"Ah, there you are…" of course it was Todd.
His eyes opened, only to sigh as he looked to the heavens for help, couldn't they just leave him alone?
"I am barefooted!" he knew he sounded bitchy, he didn't care "There is nothing I could do against you." for now "Leave me be, will you?"
"Yeah… Why did you leave your shoes behind?"
Damian would rather have Drake at that point. He turned on his heel to face Todd – who was wearing that ridiculous helmet – "What now? Are you dragging me back and chaining me to the foot of your bed so you can drug me at will and I can never walk away?"
"If that's your thing" she shrugged "sure!"
Not being able to see her expression was unnerving "What does that even mean?!" he barked and even though he couldn't see her face, Damian was sure she was smirking.
Todd jumped clinging on to a lower branch and began acting like she was on a stupid fucking trapeze. Damian closed his eyes again.
"No one knows you're here yet, I just wanna talk."
Her tone was calm, soothing almost. Damian was sure it was some sort of trap.
Damian rubbed his face with both hands and closed his fingers into a fist to minimize the spasms; this was not a time to show weakness.
"How did you find me? You can't even see anything with that stupid helmet."
She sat in a different tree, but was still close enough for Damian to see when her head turned just the slightest in his direction "You wanna talk about stupid? Dude. You're up a tree, still on Wayne grounds, in borrowed jammies that don't even fit I might add."
"Not by choice." Damian tried to defend but she waved a hand to cut him off.
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever, you little shit." Her tone was bored but there was a little smile in it. Almost as if she actually liked him.
The next time Damian's shoulders shook, there was just a little bit of disgust in the action.
"Where you came from… Am I dead?" Todd asked suddenly enough to startle Damian into hitting his head in the trunk behind him.
"Oh no…" he rubbed his aching head, sounding maybe just a little bit too discontent "You are very much alive."
She shot him a quick glance – possibly a glare at his tone – "And I… don't live in the manor, do I?"
"No."
"Why?"
The question is so earnest that would leave Damian feeling uncomfortable even if he did have a good answer.
"You chose to kill" he said after a few silent thoughtful seconds "You chose murder over family." Damian averted his eyes when he realized his odd choice of words.
Damian was pretty sure that Todd kicked him, though he wasn't quite sure what just happened, and if he had just a little bit less presence of mind, he would've fallen from his perch flat on his face.
"How do you know?! How do you know that he didn't choose his own fucked up justice system over me?"
Damian rubbed both hands over his face again "What the fuck are you talking about? You're here! He obviously chose you. And you're still killing, so my guess is that you fared off better in this… world."
They sat in silence for a couple of moments, Todd's shoulders were tense and Damian's were starting to shake a little bit too violently for his comfort.
He was pretty sure she wouldn't kill him; Todd – in any place, shape or form – wouldn't need to get this close if she wanted to finish him off, so even if the silence wasn't exactly comfortable, he wasn't all that worried.
"It's an assignment." she declared out of the blue and Damian might've been swaying slightly, because when Todd spoke, he had to sit up straight "When I first got back I wanted to show him that I could do better, that his way was wrong. So I began hoarding all the drug dealing business in Gotham, made them fear me, set new rules and killed whoever didn't agree."
"I know, mother helped you with your training." Damian said in between a yawn.
Todd's head snapped to him "What?"
"What?" he echoed as soon as his words downed on him. He surely was feeling lightheaded "I'm sorry, you became a hoarder, continue please."
He could swear the lenses on her mask narrowed. He needed to sleep.
"I thought I'd done it. That I'd proven myself, that he'd finally start seeing things my way, turns out he realized a new game play. I still run all Gotham's drug operations, under the Bat's ever watchful eye…" she took off her helmet and stared at her own reflection gleaming on the red metal.
"I saw you kill someone."
"I have a drug empire to rule." she told him all no nonsense "That cannot be done without some casualties."
"That is ridiculous!"
She shrugged "It is what it is."
"No." knew that he was leaning forward, but he couldn't help it. shaking or not, if he got his hands close to her, he'd wring her fucking neck "You don't get it. That is ridiculous. Do you really believe I am so stupid as to believe such a thing? I am offended."
"Dude, what are you?" Damian paused and saw that she was smiling "I know I'm laughing, but I'm kinda freaked out. You look like death warmed over and somehow you're still standing, I just…" she stripped of her domino – which Damian always found funny that she would wear it under the helmet – and her eyes still looked like headlights on her face "I'm awed that you haven't dropped dead yet. Seriously."
After all he'd been through, first these girls. Just girls everywhere, pretty and eye-catching and making him feel things and that bitch – with the fucking familiar eyes – drugged him to hell and back to then try to feed him that bullshit about Batman wanting her to have control over all of drug dealing in Gotham. Damian was so done.
His eye twitched "I am going to kill you."
He threw himself on her and both tumbled down landing heavily, his ribs scream but somehow he manages to get his hands around her throat.
"Wow, dude!" Todd shouts, but it only takes a second for her to react.
They rolled around on the dirt wrestling and Damian tried to compensate for being jittery with violence. His throat was achingly dry, his muscles were tense, his reaction time slower and the bullet hole on his leg was acting up. Maybe bleeding.
Todd rolled them until she was on top, legs on either side of his hip "Goddamn it! Down boy!" Damian's chest was heaving, he was sure his situation was pathetic, but he kept his murderous expression the best he could "God, you are freakishly strong!" he tried to squirm his way out, but she leaned forward, grabbed his wrists tighter and stared him down "Cut it out!"
Bright sea green eyes.
"Your eyes are driving me mad!" there was no disguising the desperation in his voice.
Todd leaned back a bit "Shhhh. It's the drugs." she whispered soothingly "Ride it out."
"No, not the drugs!" she arched a disbelieving brow "Perhaps the drugs, but I know you."
"Yeah, dipshit. From the other world, where I'm Jordan, Jaeden, Jensen... Something with a J, I bet. Mom kept obsessing over the fact that she was sure I'd be a boy."
"You're Jason-" he cut himself short with a low gasp. She noticed, of course.
"What?"
"You were a boy. I think- I think I remember."
She scrunched up her nose in a way that was definitely not attractive at all "Remember what?"
"You found him!" both Damian and Todd turned their heads to see Grayson approaching in full Nightwing gear "Where was he?"
Todd sat back on Damian's thighs and pointed up. Damian was too busy with his reeling mind to try to stand or even sit up.
"Oh, you're fucking kidding me!" Grayson threw her hands up "He never even left the grounds?! You little rascal."
Damian was too far gone to answer. He had never really connected the dots – actually tried really hard not to think about it –, but… Todd was helped by mother after his return from the dead, Damian had just assumed they had never been on the same League hide out at the same time, but those eyes…
"You couldn't move." it's out of Damian's mouth before he even thought about it. Fucking drugs, worked like a damn truth serum or something "I thought you couldn't move, you never spoke to me."
"What?" Todd was about to get off of Damian but hesitated "What did you just say?"
This time Damian managed to choose his words "I told you to move. Grayson get her off of me."
A/N.: Took forever and it's not even long enough and I'm sorry (I think I'm always sorry on these author's notes)
This has like a billion of my own particular headcannons (about all the Robins' looks for instance) and I guess this story is pretty much that, a whole bunch of my headcannons disguised in a okay plot. I don't even know anymore, I'm tired and I have a lot of other stuff to uptade so yeah! Hope you guys enjoy it!
Thanks for the support and sorry for taking forever to update!
Reviews are always awesome!