I woke to the soft light that shinned through the curtains of my bedroom, yawning, I walked out into the kitchen to see Jason sitting at the table, on his laptop, he looked up at me after a moment and his mouth shifted into that crooked smile that I loved.
"Where's Roy and Kori?" I asked, noticing their apparent absence from the apartment, I sat opposite Jason, stealing a sip from the coffee cup that sat next to his laptop.
"They left for Star City, Roy has some important business with Green Arrow but they'll come back soon enough." I was curious about what type of relationship Roy had with Green Arrow but I decided not to ask.
"I don't suppose you have any good books around here?" I questioned him, I hadn't read one for months now and I was in need of a read. He looked up at me, raising his eyebrows,
"Nope, nothing that would really interest you," he pulled out a hundred dollar note from his nearby wallet and handed it to me, "go buy some." He smiled at me and I looked back at him astonished, I'd never really had this much money free to spend for myself.
"Thank you so much!" I said cheerfully and then ran around to him, kissing him, enjoying the softness of his lips before pulling away and running to get changed.
Within five minutes I was out the door, wearing jeans, knee high boots and a black leather coat on due to the cold weather. I walked over to where my motorbike was parked and climbed on, pulling on my helmet before speeding along the busy streets of Gotham City. I always loved the thrill and exhilaration a motorbike ride gave me and I could always be sure that I would never be pulled over for speeding as the GCPD have better things to worry about.
I was tapping my fingers on the handlebars of my bike, waiting for the streetlight to turn green when I looked around in a nearby park. Casually scanning the area, my eyes spotted a small figure and I gave a small smile. Soon, I had parked my bike alongside the park and walked towards where Damian Wayne was.
"Hey!" I called out to him when he was close enough to hear, I noticed he was playing with a massive great dane, Titus, I recalled. Damian looked at me with scrutinising eyes before a mischievous smile came across his face and he muttered something. I frowned and was just about to ask him to ask him to repeat himself when I saw Titus sprinting towards me, my eyes widened and was about to jump out of the way but I was too slow. The next thing I knew, I was sprawled on the ground with Titus on top of me, his large paws on my chest. Damian was next to him, grinning triumphantly.
"Your reflexes need work." He said and I groaned.
"Um well you need to learn not to sic your dog on people!" I exclaimed, finally managing to push Titus off me and got to my feet, trying to retain some shred of my dignity. I groaned as the wound on my shoulder began to ache again. Damian frowned,
"Shoulder?" he inquired and I merely nodded. "Well I guess that rules out any chance of us sparring." He muttered but I grinned at that.
"I'm not that weak, this small scratch won't stop me from a bit of fun." I said, itching for a good training session, I'd be fine if Damian just avoided the shoulder. Damian seemed to straighten up at my reply and surprisingly to me, a small genuine small crept across his face.
"I'll meet you at the bat-cave in five minutes." He said before running off, calling Titus to follow him. I stood there for a moment, wondering if he had actually driven himself here before simply shaking the thought away and returning to my bike.
I sped as fast as I could through the streets, heading straight for the manor, books could wait, I wanted a good fight. In exactly five minutes I had arrived in the bat-cave where Damian already was waiting, in his Robin outfit, minus the cape and mask. I quickly removed my leather jacket, leaving my plain black tank-top and walked with him to the training room. "Just careful of the shoulder", I said as we quickly took our combat positions
"Tt, please, I'm not an idiot." Damian said as began to circle me. I quickly took on the defensive, studying his movement, getting ready for him to strike. Suddenly he swept a kick at me but I jumped, dodging it and quickly attempted to kick him, mid-air but his forearm blocked it, I flipped back and had to hastily block his oncoming fist. Seeing an opening, I grabbed his arm, managing to flip him on the ground but before I could pin him, he kicked me back before jumping up again. He used a high arching kick on me but I ducked and it narrowly missed me, however, his fist followed and managed to connect with my cheek, disorientating me so I quickly back flipped from his range, using those crucial moments to recover. I swept my leg, aiming for his but he jumped out of the way in time and quickly swung a punch. We were almost backed against one of the walls and I fought to move away from it lest it affect my fighting room. Suddenly Damian darted past me and I turned to see him quickly run up the wall before flipping over and kicking me. I was sent sprawling but before I could regain my senses, Damian had me pinned.
"Wow, using the trick I used to beat you… nice." I said grinning as he let me go and I hopped up, wiping the sweat from my brow. Damian grinned, small beads of sweat appeared on his forehead, it had been a fairly short fight but extremely intense.
"It's nice to have someone decent to spar with once in a while, Father is always too busy and Grayson is always in Bludhaven, which is a pity, he was quite a good patrol partner." Although Damian would never show it, I knew he had to be a bit lonely in this huge manor. No-one but Alfred seemed to be home most of the time.
"Has there ever been anyone besides the previous Robin's around here for you to train with?" I inquired, even though I had been around the Bats for ages, I really hadn't learnt much about their histories.
Damian shrugged nonchalantly, "There is the current Batgirl, Gordon but she was out of action for years as Oracle so we've never had the chance. There was two others though, Cassandra Cain and Stephanie Brown. Cain was an excellent warrior, I only wished I could have sparred more with her before she left." He said walking from the training room and I tailed along after him.
"And the other girl? Stephanie?" I saw a small, almost non-existent smile appear on Damian's face.
"She was annoying and talked too much… but was pretty talented, I'll give her that." He sat down at the Bat computer and brought up two files. One of Stephanie Brown: Batgirl and Cassandra Cain: Black Bat. Both had the large red words 'MISSING' written across their images.
"Missing?" I questioned, "what happened."
Damian cast his eyes towards the ground. "We don't know, its as if they both disappeared off the face of the earth. After a long silence he looked back up at me. "Thanks for coming today." He said.
I was startled, this was the nicest Damian had ever been to me. "Uh… yea…. Any time Damian." I said quickly and he nodded. I walked over to my bike, pulling my jacket back on and looked back at Damian who was now staring at the computer screen. His face was grim and his figure was so small. I had to once again remind myself how old Damian was, he was a child and he was definitely a very lonely one.
"Hey Damian" I called and he looked at me, curious, "I mean it, any time, day or night, whenever you need me." He stared at me for ages, studying me before nodding again. There was a glimpse of something that shot through his eyes though, something happy.
I pulled on my helmet yet again, turning the engine on and sped out of the cave, towards the bookstore, however, I couldn't get the thought of Damian out of my head. How it must be for him to live in such an empty home with a father who is rarely home, except at night for patrols and knowing that his mother doesn't love him. Life was too cruel; I just hoped Damian's future would be brighter than the present.
AN: Decided I needed a chapter with Damian in it this time, due to the recent events I've been crying over from Batman Incorporated. Also I wanted to address the real loss I feel that the new 52 has completely forgotten about Steph and Cass, it's so stupid.