AN: Welcome back! We're going to be introducing some familiar faces here :) As a reminder, this story is a collaboration with my partner, Jack, who doesn't have an account. Each segment within chapter is from the perspective of a different Batkid. As a disclaimer, I don't own any of the DC characters that you see, or the Young Justice universe, which this is set in. Thanks for reading; all feedback is appreciated.

Chapter 2

It was going to be a long night. Tim could already feel it. He checked his watch with as much stealth as he could manage. He knew that Cass had seen him anyway, and she nodded at him. Dick and Barbara had already been outside for more than seven minutes. These days, anytime their private conversations lasted more than two minutes, Tim started fearing for Dick's life. Ever since he had come home, a year and a half ago, things had gotten infinitely more complicated. It wasn't just that Dick had some how managed to bring Jason, who should have been dead, back with him either. Jason had actually probably helped to ease some of the tension. It wasn't that Tim hadn't missed Dick, because he had. He had missed both of his brothers. Even though he had no reason to believe that Dick was dead, Tim had mourned him. In truth, he had felt slightly abandoned. So he did pretty much the only thing he could – he had turned to Barbara – because she knew what it felt like to be left behind.

Tim had just gotten used to the fact that Dick was gone, and that he probably wasn't going to be coming back home. He had gotten used to having Barbara in charge when Bruce was away. Barbara was who he went to Wonder Girl had decided they'd worked better as just friends (he had pretty much agreed with her anyway). He'd gone to her when he started trying to figure out how he felt about Steph (he still really wasn't completely sure what was going on there). And she was who he would talk to when Damian showed up and became the most annoying thing to happen since… since ever.

"Tim, come back to us," Steph half sang, interrupting his thoughts. Tim looked around, noticing that three pairs of eyes were trained on him; Damian was too busy scowling at his pancakes.

"What's going on in that head of yours?" Jason asked, reaching over and stealing the rest of his coffee, adding in way more sugar than was truly necessary. Tim shrugged.

"They've been out there a long time," he said with a sigh.

"Seven minutes," Cass added solemnly. Tim noticed that she was not wearing any type of watch.

"You think we need to send out a peacemaker?" Steph offered, but Jason shook his head.

"They're big kids, guys. They can handle it on their own. And if Dick does end up putting his foot in his mouth, Babs will have no trouble leaving him bleeding." Tim watched as Jason's eyes shifted, squinting as though he could see through the wall and outside the diner, before traveling back to land on the youngest member of their table.

"How you doing, Kid?" he asked. Damian didn't even bother looking up.

"Fine," he said, stabbing his fork into a helpless strawberry. Oh yeah, Tim thought dismally, this was about the Demon Child.

"I'm sure everything is going to be fine," Steph said with a smile as bright as the sun. "No one's going to be able to touch you with all of us around."

"Tt," Damian scoffed, finally raising his eyes with a sneer. "Like I need your protection, Brown. Besides, knowing you – you'd try to hug these would be kidnapper's to death."

Tim tensed his body waiting for the verbal argument to start, his own ammunition waiting on the tip of his tongue, but Steph only laughed.

"Aww, Baby Bird, is that you saying you want a hug?"

"If you so much as touch me, so help me, I will-"

"It will be okay," Cass interrupted, pointing towards the door. Barbara was already half way to them as Dick came through the door, his hand moving over his face. When Tim managed to catch his eye, Dick smiled. Tim knew with out a doubt it was one of the fakest smiles Dick had ever given.

"As I was saying," Barbara announced, as though she had only paused to breathe. "There is a threat. And it is credible." She turned her eyes easily towards Damian. "You," she said, "Are to have someone with you at all times, is that clear?" Damian just continued to eat his pancakes with out any indication he'd heard her. Tim was pretty sure this was going to end badly.

"Damian Wayne," Barbara hissed low, "I know that you heard me, and I know that you think your tougher than any group of thugs out there, but until we know more, you're going to find yourself with a shadow everywhere you go."

Tim could feel the anger rolling off of Damian in waves of heat. The smaller boy would have fought him tooth and nail if Tim had dared to use that tone of voice with him – but there was something in Barbara's voice that spoke of finality. She was the only one who could even come close to Bruce's power when it came to that voice.

"I understand," Damian bit out.

"Good."

Everyone went back to their 11:18 PM breakfasts without a word. Tim shivered at the way the mood had changed. Dick sat rigidly in his seat, coffee mug pressed to his temple and his cereal ignored. Barbara was trying not to make it obvious that she was checking her phone, probably looking for any more updates into the kidnapping plot. Even Steph was silent, biting her lip as she looked into the bottom of her coffee cup. But what made Tim the most nervous was Damian. Damian had let his anger slip away; he was on his absolute best behavior, something Tim never trusted. The kid was already up to something, and Tim had a feeling that something was only going to cause him more stress. He was grateful when Jason finally broke the oppressive stillness.

"So, who wants to go let off some steam?" He asked, but his eyes were fixed on Dick. "There's bound to be a few baddies still up at this hour."

"Perfect!" Steph said with a smile, and an unnecessarily loud thunk of her empty coffee mug on the table. "Tim and I can take the kid out – find things to break." Tim was about to inform Steph that this was the worst possible idea unless the "things" she was looking for them to be breaking were each other, when Damian surprised him.

"I suppose I could," he said. "I might be able to teach you how to do it properly, and you'll find Drake's new…shoes… as helplessly flamboyant as I did."

Both of them were already sliding and shifting out of their seats, when Dick quickly on his feet, placed a hand on Damian's shoulder.

"Maybe I should come along," he offered, but everyone knew it wasn't a question. Damian pulled back from him, the anger back, flashing across his face. Tim was shocked. Normally, that look was reserved for him.

"Oh?" Damian said, his voice scathing. "So you can filter the information I'm allowed to hear? I'm pretty sure you can do that better from back home, Grayson." Dick flinched, taking a step back as though he'd been hit. Tim quickly got up from the table, moving to stand beside Dick, waiting.

"Damian… I…" but the boy had already turned his back, moving to stand beside Stephanie.

Tim wanted to say something, but he didn't know what. Dick wasn't used to being on the end of that kind of Damian Rage, and it was more than obvious it had hurt.

"Maybe you can help Barb- " Tim tried to say but the redhead in question cut him off quickly.

"No. Cass is already helping me."

Tim didn't miss the slight surprise that flitted through Cass's eyes, but she said nothing. Once again, it was Jason who stepped up to settle the mood, sliding effortlessly out of his seat and shoving Dick almost playfully in the arm. That too was an absolute role reversal. Tim was pretty sure every one of them was now completely out of their comfort zone.

"Looks like you're stuck with me for the rest of the night then, Dickie."

"Yeah," Dick said dryly, eyes still trained on Damian's back.

Barbara smiled at Tim as she pushed herself back from the table. She nodded to Jason, and ignored Dick completely.

"I'll be in touch," she promised, Cass by her side. The younger girl held back a second as Barbara headed towards the door. She leaned in towards Tim with a grim look on her face.

"Watch him," she warned. "He's up to something." Tim nodded, not needing her to tell him which him she was referring to. Damian was without a doubt concocting something in that devious little head of his – something that would be nothing but trouble.

Tim waited until the last second to follow after Steph and Damian, confused and thoroughly curious as to how this night had changed so quickly. He checked his watch again: 11:29 PM. Not for the first time in the year and a half since Jason had been back, Tim wished he hadn't let him take so much of his coffee. He knew his night was about to get a lot longer.

Things were not going exactly as planed. Damian wasn't sure when, exactly, he had lost control of the situation, but there was no denying that he had screwed up. Two hours ago, he had been sitting with his eclectic hodgepodge of a family in some shabby diner the rest of them all seemed to like. Two hours ago, he had learned that there was some group of imbecilic meatheads who had hatched a plan to kidnap him. Him, Damian Wayne, of all people; the very idea was ridiculous.

Thirty minutes ago, he had been able to give his babysitters the slip. It really had been foolish for everyone to agree to let him go with Brown and Drake. Brown was too busy believing in the best of him to know when he was planning on abusing that trust, and Drake trusted him so little it was far too easy to distract him long enough to run. All it had taken was one mugging. The very first one they'd come to. He'd had taken charge, told them to go at the group of three thugs from the front while he'd circle in from the back. He wondered blandly how long it would take them to realize he had deceived them.

As he struggled with the rope currently binding his hands and elbows together, Damian was willing to admit that he had made a mistake; but probably because there was no one around to hear of his failure. He knew that when Dick or Barbara or Alfred got a hold of him, he was going to be read the riot act. Not to mention the lecture his father was sure to give him when he finally got home. Damian figured it wouldn't be long until they realized he was missing, and Barbara would send them back out to find him and bring him back – if only so that she could kill him herself.

It hadn't been hard to find the men who were after him. Damian had made his way to the dirtiest bar he could find, picked an unlucky scumbag relieving himself behind a dumpster, and interrogated him. With his Robin costume firmly in place, boots, cape, gloves, mask, everything, the thug had spilled his guts. What Damian hadn't been expecting, was that there was apparently a hit out for him, for Robin, out as well. He hadn't even had time to let go of the guy's shirt before another group was on him. Damian normally would have been able to fight off a group of five men. He would have had to work at it, but with his speed and intelligence, it shouldn't have been a problem. And it hadn't been, until he'd felt the prick of a needle, and the slow mind numbing, infuriating, haze that came over him.

"Uh-uh, niño. We can't have you all scratched up."

Damian had struggled at the time to place the voice, but now, crammed into a slightly too small storage unit, he was beginning to remember. Bane. Damian felt like he wanted to scream. His gloves and his boots had been taken, along with his utility belt. He felt it a small, somewhat useless victory that he could still feel the mask plastered to his face. He cursed himself over and over again in several different languages for allowing this to happen.

As he struggled, banging his body against the unyielding metal of his crate, an icy ball of dread began to materialize in his stomach. If they had been after Damian Wayne, and they had gotten a hold of Robin, who could possibly be behind this? How did they know, and what other information did they have?

He had no idea how long he had been under the effects of the sedative, nor how long they had been traveling for, but it was still dark when they opened the hatch of his crate. Right away, Bane's hand was wrapped around his throat.

"Now," the man crooned. "We can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way." The man lifted him from the box by his neck. Instantly, Damian began to struggle, kicking out his legs and trying to twist his shoulder. The hand only tightened.

"Careful Little Bird. It'd be a shame for your brothers to find nothing but a corpse." Damian stilled glaring up at Bane through his mask. The icy in his stomach began to spread, snaking its way up his limbs. Bane was smart, and often underestimated, he knew, but there was no logical explanation he could find for why Bane would know who he was beneath the mask.

"Oh, Mr. Bane, please," came a new voice from somewhere behind Damian and just off to the left. "You need to treat our guest a bit more, how do I put this, gently." A man in a worn out suit and sunken eyes slid into Damian's line of sight, just as Bane released his grip on his throat and settled him onto the ground, a firm hand still locking itself onto his arms.

"Allow me to introduce myself," the man said with a twisted smile. "My name is Dr. Jonathan Crane."

"Scarecrow," Damian retorted with a sneer. The man rolled his eyes before lowering himself to Damian's level.

"I really do prefer Dr. Crane," he said. "Regardless, your grandfather and some of his…associates have placed a good deal of money into some of my newest research. And your grandfather suggested that if I were to acquire you, some wonderful new test subjects might appear on this island, which Mr. Bane has graciously agreed to share with me."

Of course, Damian thought. Of course his grandfather would be involved.

"Well clearly you've been misinformed, Doctor," Damian spat. "With Batman away I hardly think anyone will be coming by to be your lab rat." The man shot out a hand, taking hold of his hair.

"You know, Damian," he hissed, his mouth pressed too close to Damian's ear. "I don't think that's quite right. Haven't you always wondered what Nightwing feared most? Or the Hood? Isn't he recently back from the dead? I bet his nightmares would be beautiful to watch." Damian began to struggle again, his body thrashing almost without giving his brain long enough to give it permission, but Dr. Crane only laughed.

"Or what about the girls? I'd love to know why the quiet one doesn't talk. I bet that's tied to her fears. But, I must say, I wouldn't mind the smiley one either. You have to watch out for them. Sometimes, it's the ones who smile that have the most stunning terror lurking just behind those sparkling eyes."

Damian allowed his body to still, trying hard to focus on his breathing, trying to find a way out of this. Preferably a way that kept the others far, far away from this damned island.

"Don't worry," Dr. Crane promised, pulling a syringe. "I won't be using any of my new nightmare toxin on you." He slid the needle into the exposed skin at Damian's wrist. "This is just a sedative, to help keep you…shall we say…docile, while we lure in the rest of you Bat brats."

The fire was back, chasing the ice from his veins. Damian tried to fight it off. He tried uselessly to keep his eyes open and his body alert. As his eyes betrayed him, fluttering shut against his will, he knew. He knew without a doubt, that this, this wasn't going to end well.

Things were not going exactly as planned. Stephanie bit down on her bottom lip hard as she made her way back towards the Clock Tower. Literally, they had left the little stinker alone for five minutes. Five. And somehow, he still managed to vanish without any trace. She and Tim had spent the better part of an hour scouring the streets for the littlest bird, but nothing, not even a whisper of information was left. Admittedly, Stephanie knew that they should have called it in right away. As soon as they had realized he wasn't where he was supposed to be, she and Tim should have called the others. But Tim hadn't wanted to. He had been nervous. Stephanie figured he didn't want to have to face the others, and admit to loosing the kid.

She could understand that, honestly, she could, but now she was the one who was going back to face Barbara. And Oracle was going to be pissed.

"Look, you head back to the Clock Tower and tell Babs and Cass. I'll find the guys, we'll regroup and then we'll find him," Tim had said. That plan had sounded all right at the time, but the closer she got to the tower, the less faith in it Stephanie had. Tim had told her to wait, not to call it in, to wait until she was physically there, but now without him, she knew that plan was a load of crap.

"Oracle?" she called into her communicator, still flying high over the rooftops of Gotham.

"I read you, Steph. What's up?"

Stephanie cringed at how tired Barbara sounded. She knew that the older woman had not been sleeping very much. She also knew that this news would more than likely push her saint like patience passed the breaking point.

"There was a problem," Steph blurted out, already picking up her speed. "D tricked us, Babs. He got away. And we can't find him."

The quiet that followed hurt more than any amount of yelling ever could. "I'm almost back," she added in, timidly.

"This isn't your fault," Barbara soothed, the sound of her fingers on the keys of her computer clicking frantically. "Is Red Robin with you or…"

"No, he went to find Nightwing and Hood. He said we'd regroup, and then figure this out, together." The steady stream of curses that blew out of Barbara's mouth made Steph trip in surprise. "Babs, he said we'd do it together," she said once she'd regained her footing.

Stephanie landed on the roof of the Clock Tower, swinging her body in through an open window and on to Bab's computer platform. She took in everything as quickly as possible, already whipping her cowl up and off of her face. Cassandra was standing just inside the shadows, already suited up with her mask in her hands. Barbara sat her eyes glued to one of her four monitors, her hands resting a toped her head.

"Their communicators are off line," she said quietly.

Stephanie shook her head vehemently. "No," she said. "Try again. Tim said that we would do this together. He wouldn't lie to me. Not to me."

"Probably no choice," Cass offered solemnly.

"They aren't that stupid," Stephanie insisted. "They wouldn't go off without a plan, without…"

Barbara cut her off with a wave of her hand as she turned to face them both. "Tim alone wouldn't," she clarified. "Jason would."

"But Dick…?" Stephanie tried to reason, her hands balled into tight fists.

"He's upset," Barbara says with a shrug. "He'll be mad because he didn't take me seriously. He'll be mad because they went after family."

"So he's going to be reckless?" Stephanie almost shouted before forcing herself to choke back her fear.

"If you thought it was your fault," Cass says, coming to stand beside her, "Wouldn't you?" Both girls turn their eyes towards Barbara, waiting for instructions.

"We can find them?" Cass asks hesitantly. But Barbara just shakes her head.

"It'll be a few minutes still, Dick scrambled the password to get into their GPS tracking. I can crack it, but I'll need a little bit of time. He's stressed so it's sloppy. It won't take long."

Stephanie can feel her body staring to tremble, unable to shake her growing guilt. She watches intently as Barbara types away at her computer, the redhead's eyes darting back and forth from screen to screen. After another minute, she lets out another four-letter word, scrubbing her hands over her face.

"12,008," Barbara sighs with a bitter smile. "When we do find them, there's a good chance I'm going to kill him – or all of them. I haven't decided yet."

"Not as sloppy as you thought?" Steph asked, her eyes trying to follow the number sequences on the screen.

"Either that, or he made Timmy do it," Barbara confirmed, quickly minimizing one of her open windows. She whirled her chair around to face the pair of them. "I need you to go find someone," she said.

Twenty minutes later, Stephanie found herself and Cass fully suited up in one of the less pleasant neighborhood of Gotham. It wasn't Crime Alley, but it certainly wasn't much better.

"You're sure this was where Oracle said she'd…" she ccouldn;t help but trail off as she looks around. The inside of the apartment they were currently breaking into was bare at best. Stephanie managed to get one foot through the now open window before being greeted with two paws firmly pressed against her calf.

With its tongue hanging out, the gray bulldog was hardly what Steph would call intimidating.

"Hey, boy," she whispered, lowering her body onto the floor before Cass slipped in behind her. "Where's your mama?" The dog may have waged his tail happily, but if it hadn't been for Cass knocking her flat to the ground, the rather unfriendly arrow would have likely nailed her in the shoulder.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" came a very angry voice. Stephanie sat up slowly, her hands held out in front of her as a woman dressed in orange and black came forward from the shadows, crossbow already reloaded and aiming at her.

"Check the logo," she called. "We come in peace." She threw her shoulders back, just to make sure the Bat symbol was plenty visible. Both the blonde woman and Cass stayed tense, even as Artemis shifted her way out of the shadows to see them properly.

"Oracle sent us to find you," Cass stated firmly, still not backing down from her protective crouch.

"Did she now?" Artemis asked, eyebrow cocked as she lowered her weapon. "And why didn't the mighty Oracle just hack her way into my comm system if she needed me?"

Stephanie couldn't help the snort that found its way out of her mouth. "Artemis, you haven't worn a comm in over six months." The older woman returned her laugh.

"I keep forgetting that I like you, blondie."

Stephanie smiled. Despite everything, she couldn't help but hope that the night was going to start getting a bit better.