Bringing My Children Home

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Disclaimer: I am only borrowing the Bat family to practice my art.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Jason

The armor in the Phoenix suit felt heavier than normal. Cass was the first one in her suit, adding the clawed gloves she only brought out for the worst fights. When Dick and Jason were dressed, Dick went searching for the black and gold hooded cape he and Stephanie had prepared for Damian's Christmas present. Damian already had an armored suit, but not a mask, as Bruce was not ready to let him on the streets.

"Has anyone turned Ra's down?" Tim asked softly, unaware Jason could hear him.

"Yes, but few live to tell," Damian answered, just as quietly. "I'm… sorry, Drake."

"Is Talia right about my parents?"

"I… don't know. It is possible."

"If I can't get out of this, Damian, Bruce might not be able to deal with it. I've left messages for everyone else, but I never made one for you. I need to tell you now, in case. Don't let your dad fall. I know it may not make sense to you, but if he acts in vengeance and kills, it will break him. It's his only sacred rule. Death cannot come at his hand. He tried to break it when Jason was lost, and it almost destroyed him," Tim took a deep breath.

"Are you giving up?" Damian demanded.

"I've never given up," Tim answered harshly. "But no matter what Bruce says, you can't have a plan for everything that might happen. I'm not without options, but Ra's is centuries old, and half insane because of the Lazarus Pit. I can't calculate everything he can do. If I can't, if I, if we can't stop Ra's, then you need to know Bruce will need help."

There was silence, and Jason was ready to march into the changing corner and make sure Damian had not attacked Tim, when Damian sucked in a deep breath. "I promise, Drake."

Playing with the flash bombs Tim and Jason had invented and called Phoenix bombs, Jason wanted to grab Tim and shake him. Of course, Robin had a plan for if he died, ready to force Bruce to move on no matter what.

"They're coming," Spoiler said, rolling the face mask down to her nose to show her domino.

"Here," Nightwing said, tossing her a pair of his eskrima sticks. "You're good enough to use these."

Alfred chambered a round in his shotgun.

Seven superhero vigilantes and their butler stood in their home base, shifting, stretching, preparing. Phoenix flicked the elector shocks in his gloves on. Robin rested the end of his bo staff on the floor, deceptively at rest. Spoiler swung the sticks around experimentally.

When the first wave of ninjas broke into the cave, they fell without one of the defenders needing to move. Two more groups attempted and failed before one of them figured out how to disarm the security system tasering them. Oracle was offline, probably jammed. Two swarms of ninjas made it into the cave from the stairs leading into the house, and by way of the vehicle exit.

Phoenix tossed his first handful of bombs towards the nearest groups feet.

Damian

Drake had never once shown Damian behind his mask on purpose. Not until tonight, when the Family stood together against the League of Assassins, when the variety of roles Drake played to trick the world fell away, and Damian Wayne met Timothy Drake. It was shocking to discover the person behind Robin, behind the teenage genius, behind the charming rich boy, was so earnest. It was terrifying and exalting to receive the request to keep Father sane in the event of Drake's death.

Guilt ate at Damian's stomach.

Gripping both the knife Todd had handed him earlier and the katana he still practiced with, Damian stood between Nightwing and Spoiler. Batman and Robin were already meeting the first wave of Grandfather's ninjas, while Phoenix was blinding the other group, and Batgirl had vanished into the smoke caused by the flash bombs.

Spoiler and Nightwing leapt forward side by side and Damian swung around to guard their backs. Despite the difference in length between the two blades, he discovered that the defensive training Grayson had ran Damian and Stephanie through was paying off. Certainly, there were differences in the weight, but as he blocked the variety of blades of their attackers with his two blades, he discovered that some of what Grayson taught could be translated into defense with the blades as well. He could not use all of it, since Spoiler and Nightwing were behind him.

"Damian!" Mother shouted, shoving her way through the fight. "Come on Damian! This isn't your fight!"

Damian ignored her, ducking as Nightwing spun around to slam the tenacious ninja determined to get at their backs. The slender person dropped to the ground out cold.

"We've got to find how they're jamming us," Nightwing told Spoiler and Damian. The three of them held the easiest position to defend, but also the hardest to escape from.

"Right," Spoiler replied, as they had a moment to breathe. Batgirl and Phoenix were clearing the stairs, while Batman and Robin seemed intent to get to the vehicle bay. Alfred had taken refuge in the door of the command room, and the ninjas ignored him, despite how his occasional shot never missed.

"Do you have a breather?" Nightwing demanded, as he grabbed Damian's shoulder.

"I stuck one in his pouch," Spoiler answered for him.

"We'll need it as soon as Batman or Robin hit the vehicle bay," Nightwing answered. "You two get to Phoenix and Batgirl. I'm going to get Alfred."

Nightwing lunged high towards the black garbed ninjas between him and Alfred, and they all braced to take him on. At the last second the acrobat dropped into a roll, slamming into locked knees. Spoiler swung the sticks again and nudged Damian.

"Think you can do the Robin special?" She said.

"Of course, but can you do your part?" Damian demanded. Spoiler snorted.

"Do you even weigh eighty pounds?" She laughed.

Damian flushed in irritation, but had to acknowledge his shorter, lighter stature was a positive thing here. Dick had invented the move, Todd's heavier, stockier build had forced him to modify it, while Drake had completely revamped it taking out the summersault Grayson loved, but still managing to pull the leap off. Batgirl would occasionally complete the leap as well, usually from behind Batman or Phoenix. While Spoiler had managed it in training, she had yet to try the Robin portion in a real fight. Since Damian was the only one smaller than her, she had never even tried to be the launching pad.

Spoiler laughed and leapt forward, striking out with the sticks as she planted her feet. Damian swung behind her as if to protect her back, but with enough room to instead completely turn around and grab her shoulders. He planted his foot on her backward extended shin, leapt up to rest his feet on the joints of her armor at her hips. Then he leapt, the armored cape Nightwing had attached to his shoulder's flaring out as he flew over her head. He did not use the flourishes of Grayson, so as gravity pulled him down again, he used his feet, and not his entire body, to collide with the surprised pair of ninjas.

They fell backwards, tripping another pair behind them, and he rolled forward, biting their shins with his blades. Pride filled his chest. He had done it. He had completed the signatory move of Robin.

"Let's go," Spoiler interrupted his moment of exultation, leaping forward to knock the next set aside. He leapt to his feet behind her, parrying the ninja who tried to get her back, hamstringing him effectually.

"BREACH PROTOCOL ENACTED," The cave's security system announced.

"Breather, now," Nightwing shouted.

Damian obeyed. As the small canister's mouth piece settled into place the vehicle bay doors slammed shut. By the time Spoiler and Damian reached Phoenix and Batgirl they had closed off the manor/cave entry. Batgirl grabbed Damian and shoved a pair of goggles over his eyes just before the vent above their heads shot out its spray of tear gas. Within seconds the ninjas were stumbling back, coughing, and rubbing their eyes desperately.

"Go," Phoenix commanded.

"This looks fun," Spoiler said and leapt back down the stairs. Batgirl followed, and the two girls slammed into the compromised ninjas.

"Hold this door," Phoenix ordered, then leapt after their sisters. "Here, Spoilsport! One spray of this, and they will be out for hours."

With the heavy blast door in place again, Damian really did not need to stay at the door, but he did anyway, watching in amazement as Nightwing and Alfred entered the main Cave area as well, joining the other three in spraying the sedative into the ninja's faces. It was not the first time he had seen them in action, but Damian had spent most of his life training alongside ninjas like these. There were forty or fifty in the cave, all taken down by a mere eight individuals. Admittedly it was the Bat's home base, prepared for invasions, but it still stunned Damian.

Not one Ninja was dead.

Suddenly Grandfather's caution in dealing with Father and his desire for Drake's loyalty made sense. There were legends of Grandfather's centuries, of the men and women who had stood against the League, who Grandfather had respected. Grandfather had triumphed over some, but not all. Some had fought their whole lives, only ended by illness, accident, or even age. Some Grandfather had won to his side. Each of them held a title in Grandfather's stories. The Blade, the Pirate, the General, the Sheik, the Inventor, and now, the Detective.

Drake was not the first one offered the Demon's Hand. Those Grandfather called by a title, were often invited to his side. Some had refused, and outwitted Grandfather, and became a challenge for Ra's. If Drake proved powerful, intelligent enough to get out of this, Grandfather would not order his death. He would never give up the desire to have Drake, but a man who had lived through medieval to modern times craved the unexpected.

"Alright, they're down. Bruce and Tim are holding the vehicle bay for now, but we have to get the jammer shut down," Nightwing said. "Spoiler, Batgirl, Damian, you three can fit through the crawlspace Tim put in, to get into the vehicle bay and give Batman and Robin back up. Phoenix, the security cameras in the manor show the ninjas have left to go around to the vehicle entrance. They might have left the jammer there."

"Why did Tim make the crawlspace so small?" Spoiler asked as Batgirl headed for Drake's workstation.

"Bruce was being overprotective for the first two months after we got Tim away from the Drakes. He tricked Bruce into locking down the cave, escaped through the crawlspace and kept Bruce shut down for four whole hours before Bruce realized why Tim was doing it," Jason answered. "Bruce kept it there both as a reminder that Tim is intelligent enough to outwit Bruce on occasion and because Tim began to use it to escape Dick and I when we got too clingy."

Drake's favored workstation was against the wall between the main cave and the vehicle bay. Batgirl opened the side of the cabinet to show the narrow passage. Both Batgirl and Damian fit with no problem, although it was a little tight for Spoiler, who was a couple inches taller than Cass and of a stockier build. Batgirl went first, since she had knowledge of where they were coming out.

Father and Drake were at the blast doors between the vehicle bay and the main cave, but they were not alone. Mother was fighting with them, cursing Father in five separate languages, but standing against the ninjas. None of the ninjas were confident enough to harm the Demon's Daughter, so Batman and Robin were using her as a partial shield.

"Grab the kid!" One of the ninja commanders shouted. "The Daughter will leave with the kid."

"Dang," Spoiler sighed. "I guess this was a mistake."

"Damian, go back," Batgirl snapped, but there was not time since twenty of Grandfather's men turned towards the three.

"Robin, get to the Redbird," Batman ordered quietly through the comms. "Spoiler, Batgirl, take Nightwing and Phoenix's bikes and go with him. Get out of Gotham and onto some back roads. Once you are free of the jammer, get the Justice League involved."

"Ok," Robin replied, though both Batgirl and Spoiler gave angry curses.

"B," Cass said. "Phoenix and Nightwing are looking for the jammer now."

"He's right, Batgirl," Robin replied. "We can't be sure they can find it before we are overwhelmed."

They were all speaking quietly amid the clatter of the hand to hand battle, only able to hear each other through the comms.

"Someone needs to get out and get a wider alert going," Nightwing interrupted Spoiler's attempt to argue using Drake as bait.

Damian and the girls were almost to the others, and as Robin broke the hands of a ninja who got too close he kicked out at another, sending the man stumbling back into the couple who stood in Damian's way. With a few seconds before the next attack, Robin grabbed Damian and pulled him into the group with Father and Mother. Batgirl and Spoiler took advantage of the moment and they all stood watching the ninjas back up for a few minutes to reevaluate and pull their wounded out of the way.

Father pulled Drake close to him.

"You are not to give yourself up, understand?" He said.

"Yes," Drake replied, but father did not let him go, uncertain he could trust the answer. Robin smiled cheekily at Batman. "I got it, B."

"Father," Damian grabbed his father's arm. "I should go to. Mother will try to take me away and leave you alone, but if I go with them, she'll have to keep fighting with you."

"Of course, I am going to take you away," Mother said. "This isn't your fight."

"I'm part of Father's Family," Damian Wayne replied simply. "Their fight is my fight."

Before Talia's rage at her son's choice could break over their heads, Robin threw out a handful of flash bombs, leaping forward into the smoke with his bo staff moving rapidly. Batgirl and Spoiler leapt after him, while Damian and Father followed to protect their backs. They were almost to the bikes when Damian glanced back at his mother. Talia had a gun in hand, pointed over Damian's shoulder at Drake.

Damian Al Ghul stumbled to a stop as he saw the opening approaching. In two more breaths Spoiler would be stepping to the side to get to Nightwing's bike. Talia would have the clear shot over Damian's shoulder. It was not a disarming shot. She aimed for the back of Robin's head.

Assassin and child had a second for the most important mental battle of his life. His rights as the blood son of the Bat and the Demon's daughter warred with the importance of Dick's hugs and Stephanie's promises. The jealousy of Drake's strengths warred with the knowledge that Drake's death could cause Father and family to break apart. Damian Al Ghul told Damian Wayne he would never have a rightful place in Father's Family. Damian Wayne told Al Ghul he already had a place.

When the twelve-year-old child leapt forward in the same second that Spoiler moved out of the way, the same nanosecond Talia pulled the trigger, it was the death of Damian Al Ghul. The promise to Drake that Father would not fall, meant only to come into play if Robin died, made Damian Wayne leap onto Robin's shoulders, covering the older boy's head. He made it up in time. The bullet hit him in the back as Drake stumbled and started to fall.

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