AN: So... This chapter is basically a random plot twist that happened because I got bored. Bit of a rocky spot, but not too bad.
They made it back to the Bat-Cave some time around four a.m., happily reporting to the others that their patrol had been a success. They told Batman everything that had happened. With the exception of the code phrases. That was for their ears alone.
Batman agreed that Ruby would be allowed to patrol with them on a regular basis under the condition that she wait until her arm was healed. She was more than happy to help Alfred back at the Cave in the mean time.
Dick protested by saying that Batman had once tried to patrol with a broken leg before. To which Bruce replied that the key word in that sentence was tried.
Ruby just laughed and told both of them that she was fine with the arrangement Bruce had suggested. Though she pacified Dick by telling him that it was sweet of him to try to help.
She also suggested that they switch groups and/or partners weekly. When the boys protested she explained that her idea was intended to ensure that any two or three of them could work together long enough to get the others out of a tight situation.
The boys were hesitant, but Bruce agreed wholeheartedly. He told them that Ruby's plan would be implemented as soon as she was healed and patrolling with them.
Now there was just the matter of her healing.
"Richard, I'm bored." Ruby was hanging off of the edge of one of the couches in Wayne Manor's main living room. Her injured arm was bound to her side.
Upon further inspection what she had initially thought to be just a graze had turned out to be much more serious. The bullet had ripped through a part of her bicep. If she moved the arm too much she risked losing the use of it. So Bruce had bound it to her side with bandages and forbidden leaving the manor.
Jason shot Dick a look that said you get to deal with this one, and left the area.
Dick looked down at the upside-down girl on the couch and held back a laugh and a sigh. The laugh was because she was upside-down. The sigh because this was going to be a challenge to deal with, to say the least.
He never got the chance. Moments later a smoke bomb exploded right next to him and he grabbed Ruby and ran for it.
They were joined by Tim, Jason, and Damien as they ran through the gardens; weaving around shrubbery and jumping over walls.
"What's going on?" Tim asked.
"This looks like League work," Damien told him. "The League of Assassins, that is. They're most likely targeting me. Mother must want me back. If I go with them, they should leave all of you alone."
"No," Dick told him. "I won't let them take you."
They reached a clearing in the forest around the manor and Ruby stopped running to seize Damien's shoulders. "Look me in the eyes and answer one question." Her voice and posture were tense, her gaze searching. "Do you want to go back with your mother?"
"No."
She squeezed a pressure point on his shoulder and he collapsed against her. She lowered him to the ground and looked up at Dick. "I'm sorry. For what is about to transpire I apologize with all of my heart."
Talia al-Ghul stepped out of the shadows. "Give me my son."
Ruby stood and faced her defiantly. "No. He belongs with his father now. You cannot take him back. I will not allow it."
"What can you do to stop me?"
"Nothing... Except offer myself up in his stead. I am older, stronger, faster, and more experienced. And my blood is just as noble as his. Albeit, from a different line."
"You are also injured."
"One drop of salt water and it will be as though I was never so much as scratched."
"Why should I not just kill you all and take Damien back? Give me one good reason."
"He will not go willingly. I will. He will never serve you knowing that you killed those he considers family. I will serve you no matter what." Ruby place a fist over her heart and bowed. "My lady."
"Ruby, no!" Dick yelled as loudly as he could, but the two ignored him. Jason and Timothy stood frozen.
Talia looked her over and nodded approvingly. Like lightning she threw a flash grenade at Dick, Tim, and Jason who were knocked unconscious by the blinding light. She turned back to Ruby who was still bowing. "Come. I have what I came for." She strode off into the shadows with Ruby on her heels.