A Family

by BaconYourFace

What happens when two girls enter the Bat Family? Follow Christine Carter and Autumn Cross on their experiences as part of the family. Yes, Tim, Damian and Alfred are in this too (major characters, yes) Warnings: contains some gory scenes, swearing, and NO SLASHES. There are a few funny and fluffy chapters later on. Sucky summary but you get the point. Please read and review!

31. The True Son

Chapter 31: The True Son

Jason's POV

I sit up in my bed and hold my side.

The sun is shining in my eyes. I look at the digital clock on my side table. 10:12 am.

Alfred didn't wake me up to go to college. I don't think anyone left the house since this morning.

I move my legs over the side of the bed. I cringe, feeling the pain on my side. I remove the covers and pull up my shirt, looking at the fresh bandages on my side.

I pull down my shirt when I hear the door open. I look up and find Bruce standing by the door.

I frown.

"What?" I growl.

"Listen Jason. I don't want things to back to the way things were before."

I look down.

I remember how it all went downhill.

Everything was fine the first few weeks. But then, as Robin, I became reckless and disobedient. I started to talk back. Then because of my recklessness, I died. I became Red Hood for revenge, and everything went from bad to worse after it all.

"This was how it all went. I don't want history to repeat itself." He says.

"Me neither." I don't wanna die again.

"You were reckless, and impulsive, so brash and fearless."

"So, you're gonna point out my flaws, now?"

"No, that's not my point. Listen. You were getting out of hand. So I took you off duty and put you on monitor duty."

"...That was how I found my mom. I was off duty."

"Yes, and you went after her and…"

"I know…"

"I don't wanna make the same mistakes again, Jason. I'm sorry. I want to fix things. You coming back to this house is just a start."

"So, what are you gonna do?" I ask, still not looking at him.

"I'm sorry. You need to heal. Maybe, the best way to do that is by giving back to you what you own…"

I look up and see Bruce holding my crimson red helmet. He walks to me and hands the helmet to me. I look down at my helmet.

"It's a bit risky, but you're my son. I am willing to make risks." He says.

I just stare at it. "Just. No firearms, no killing."

"Got it." I look up and smile. I put the helmet beside me and I frown as something enters my mind.

"Bruce. Why do you still have that case? I'm here now, you should take it down. Why is it still here?"

He sighs and sits beside me. "That memorial is a reminder of my mistake…"

I look down. "So I guess I was just your biggest mistake." I mumble.

"No Jason. That memorial is a reminder that tells me to never make the same mistake again. As a father, as a mentor, as a teacher. It reminds me to do everything I can to fix you Jason."

"But...I'm not broken."

"No. But you need to heal. That's why Hood is back."

"Take down the memorial."

A silence clings to the air.

"Alright." He smiles at me. "No more reminders. No more pain."

He stands up and heads for the door. "Start next week."

"Thanks...Dad."

Dick's POV

I limp down the hallway. I need to talk to Bruce. What he did last night was...just...stupid…

Autumn was freaking out this morning, just two seconds after she calmed down. Bruce got her angry! Who does that!? He was talking about trying to fix her then he suddenly scolds her!?

I limp down the hall, holding my arm, and then the door to Jason's room swings open. Bruce steps out, and he just looks at me.

"What are you doing out of bed?"

"Trying to talk to you."

"About what?"

"This morning. Bruce! That was horrible!"

He sighs and rubs his head. "Let's talk about this later."

"Yeah, sure, but go talk to Autumn now!"

"I'll talk to her later."

"But, Bruce-"

"She needs to rest, she needs time alone."

"Fine, go give her time alone. Then later on, you'll find her dead body on the ground! Bruce, you're a hero. When you try to save someone, do you think that you'll save that person 'later'? She needs help, she needs help now."

I point to her room.

He furrows his eyebrows.

Then a loud thud comes from the direction of her room.

We pace towards her room and open the door.

The room is messy, papers on the floor, the blanket already falling off the bed and the pillows all over the bed, and they seem like they were punched.

Autumn is lying on the floor by the open window. She's facing the ceiling. Her hair is tied into a ponytail, and she's wearing a black spandex tank top with jeans and muddy rubber shoes.

Her hands are spread out on the floor, and her knuckles are mixed with blood and dirt. The bandages on her shoulders are already dirty and are partially ripped off, showing off the open wound and the blood.

Blood is dripping down her hands and her knees, and her jeans are ripped and tattered at the knees, blood seeping out of the white bandages and down her shoulders.

She's sweating and breathing heavily.

"Autumn?" I walk to her, forgetting the pain on my rib and arm.

"Autumn, what were you doing?" Bruce commands her to answer.

She looks at him with wide eyes. Her cheeks are mixed with blood and dirt.

"I was fighting...for eight hours…"

"Training with what?" I ask

"None of your business!" She growls.

"It kinda is."

"No it isn't! You don't care! You shouldn't care!"

"You'll hurt yourself!" I yell.

"Who cares!" She sits up and yells back.

"We all do, Autumn!"

"Stop lying!"

"I am not!"

"THAT'S NOT WHAT THEY SAY!" I can hear even more footsteps behind me.

"Who's they?"

"Nobody!" She says, sounding frustrated. "Just go away! I hate people!"

"But Autumn. We need to help you." Tim says from behind me.

"I don't need help! What makes you think that I need help?"

"Well, for one thing, the scars on your arms." Bruce says.

"What scars?" She shows us her arms, and there's nothing on it. But it looks like there's make up on it. I can feel Bruce glare at her from behind me.

"SEE! NOTHING'S WRONG! NOW GO AWAY!"

She stands up and pushes me towards the door.

"Not until we get your shoulders patched up again." Bruce says.

"No need!"

"It's bleeding."

"It doesn't matter!"

"If you leave that wound open, then it will bleed. At least wash it." Tim says as Autumn continues to push me out the door. She's actually strong for a girl her age. Or a girl as thin as her.

Finally, I get to the door. She lets go of me.

"Timothy, get out!" She yells and Tim walks out the doorway as I stay in my spot.

She looks at Bruce and glares. They both glare at each other intensely.

"We need to talk." Bruce says.

"There's no reason to talk."

"Yes, there is."

"Uh, Bruce. I think it's best we get out of here." Tim says, making it sound more like a demand.

Autumn clenches her fists, and fire starts to light around her fists.

"Fine. I'll call Alfred instead."

She pushes Bruce out and slams the door in our faces.

Well, this is gonna be tough.

Damian's POV

I scoff. Cross is simply being too...emotional. Doesn't she know how to hide her feelings?

I walk away from the door and to my room.

My room is simple, I'm no slob, so my room is quite neat. A simple classic book is placed on top of my bed over the covers for me to read. The sunlight comes in from the window and nearly blinds me as I walk towards my bed.

As I get closer to the bed, a bright silver blade reflects bright light onto my eyes and so I squint. I take the sword, my favorite sword, long, sharp, an amazing weapon. Too bad it is no longer used to slice human's heads off.

Mother and Grandfather taught me to kill. Told me to kill, and show no mercy or any pity. But ever since I came home, I have given up killing to become Robin and Father's partner.

And my father's son.

But even so, I am amazed by this sword. I sit down and place it on my lap, admiring the blade as it reflects sunlight coming in from the window.

Grandfather gave me this sword when I was ten years old. He passed it down to me and I kept it. Of course, I am no longer the heir of The League of Assassins, but I am still keeping the sword grandfather gave.

I place my sword on my lap, and I start sharpening the blade of the sword.

My room completely silent, but the wound of the blade getting sharper.

Once it is sharp enough, I raise it again and continue admiring it. The bright light still shinning. But I can take a better look at my own reflection on the shiny blade. I look at myself in the blade, my small frown turns into a smirk as I raise an eyebrow.

I am Father's true son.

"Huh. Maybe I can kill Todd, Grayson and Drake with this. Cross, definitely." I chuckle. I take my phone and start playing a random song Daly introduced me with.

"Awake at night you focus

On everyone who's hurt you,

Then write a list of targets,

Your violence lack of virtue."

My life has been bitter.

"Leave us alone!

You're on your own!

Watch out!"

It sucks and I hate it.

"We are breathin'

While you're sleepin'. Go (go!)

And leave us alone.

The liars cheatin',

Our hearts beatin'. Go (go!)

And now you're on your own."

But I'm still here and I am not giving up, not today or tomorrow. I won't be weak unlike Autumn.

"Here's to your perfect weapon,

Crack bones with blind aggression,

Like birds whose wings are broken,

You live without direction.

Leave us alone!"

I may have been born to become a weapon. But I'm not breaking. I am going to stay strong...

"You're on your own!

We are breathin'

While you're sleepin'. Go (go!)

And leave us alone."

I won't give up.

I am Father's true son. Batman doesn't give up, Batman doesn't break. And neither should his son.

So leave me alone. I don't care. Go away. Hurt me, choke me, destroy me, kill me. I will still be standing. Holding this sword.

I put the sword back down and continue sharpening it with a bigger smirk on my mouth.

Autumn's POV

I just sit here on the floor staring into space.

Then the door quietly swings open. I turn my head to see Alfred closing the door, holding a first aid kit.

He sits on the bed and gestures for me to sit beside him. I stand up and sit beside him. He takes a look at my reopened wounds.

"You have reopened the stitches." He takes out a probably sterilized needle and thread and he removes the dirty bandages and starts restitching my shoulder wounds.

"You have to be more careful next time Miss Autumn."

"Sorry Alfred." I mumble.

"How did you pull these stitches?" He asks gently.

"I wasn't lying when I said I was training."

"Training where? No one has seen you in the cave."

"I was fighting, Alfred."

There's a silence.

"Would you like to come down for breakfast after this?" He starts to wrap my shoulders in bandages. I shake my head. "Miss haven't been eating, you have been skipping too many meals." He scolds.

"Mister Wayne skips meals!"

"Now, I don't want you to be like him."

"It's a little too late for that." I mumble. I'm like a girl version of a mix of Batman and his sons. I also come in red and with my own accessories! Like insanity and my crave to burn people.

"You are too young to be like him." I furrow my eyebrows.

"Come on Alfred. All of Sir's sons are already becoming like him, and so is Christine! I can't be exactly like him cause I'm not his child, but I am like Batman!"

He sighs. "Just come down for breakfast when you want to." He says. He packs up and stands. He walks out of my room without another word.

I sigh and look down. A whole stack of papers catch my eye. I don't remember throwing this stuff on the floor. I look up at my messy room. In fact, I don't remember messing up my room at all.

I look to my left. By the window is an imaginary me. Well, one of me. "Did you do this?" I glare at the invisible ghost. She shrugs. I roll my eyes and start picking the stuff up.

As I clean my room, I find a few pieces of old papers. I flip them over and look at them.

"Dad's criminal records."

I hold onto the papers as I jump on my seat and type on my laptop. I hack into Ryan's data files.

I read through his entire criminal record.

Taken in for murder, assault, arson, drunk diving.

It says here he was taken to a rehab center and was diagnosed as a homicidal maniac, but not as severe.

I look at my dad's picture. He's holding a plate number with a huge frown on his face. He was taken to jail. So that's why he was missing for two whole weeks that one time. I'm guessing he escaped and didn't say anything about it.

It says that he hasn't only committed crimes in Gotham. He's wanted in Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Canada, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, and in Taiwan. Dad wasn't just a mercenary that killed for money. He was a maniac. Well, a serious (not laughing his ass off) maniac.

Dad was a criminal. He killed and committed crimes while I was training and even before I was born.

He stole s*** from a lot of rich ass people, not just in Gotham. The only person he never stole from was Bruce Wayne. He stole from people like Harvey Dent and Cobblepot.

Dad was taken to rehab centers all over the world, almost in every country he committed crimes in. But he never harmed an innocent life. He worked with other people, who are either dead right now or are in some kind of rehab center or maybe a lab for dissection because apparently they had special abilities.

I guess he wasn't lying about the whole "I'm going to do whatever I can to contribute to this war" thing.

I close my laptop. "Huh, I guess insanity really does run in the genes."

I smile. "Haha. Heredity." I grab my ipod and my earphones and I jump back onto my unmade bed.

I plug in my earphones and stick them in my ears. I play the music. I grin at the song. Oh wow. I can relate to this song. It's just blowing in my ears.

"The liars cheatin',

Our hearts beatin'. Go (go!)

And now you're on your own.

Go!

Go!

Go!

Go!

And now you're on your own!

Go!

Go!

And leave us alone! We are breathin'
While you're sleepin'. Go (go!)
And leave us alone.
The liars cheatin',
Our hearts beatin'. Go (go!)
And now you're on your own!"

I play the song on repeat. People that are made into weapons. People like me. Should be left alone. We should stay strong, even if we stand alone.

Other people are horrible. I hate them all. Liars, cheaters, killers. The world is a horrible place. But they should leave us alone. We're on our own, and we're good on our own.

I just lay here in bed as I stare at the window. There's hardly any light seeping in from the day. The curtains are closed and the window is shut tight. No birds tweeting, no sunlight. Nothing. Just me and a dark room, and my demons. I hover my hand over my head and fire blazes across my face.

I close my eyes as my hand falls to my side.

At first it's dark, and then there's light at the end of the tunnel. It's all sunny and warm. There's sand on the ground and as I take a good look at the place, I see a lot of malnourished people. There's obviously poverty here. I know exactly where I am, I've been here before on a mission. I look to my left and find a shack. Something in this shack pulls me towards it. I hear yelling and breaking of glass.

Then the crying of a baby.

I walk in through the front door. I find a woman with short curly blonde hair and glasses yelling at a man with messy short jet black hair. A crib is in the middle of the living room. The two parents scream at each other as the baby cries.

"I don't want her! She's not my responsibility! I'm leaving whether you like it or not!"

"If you're going to leave then take her with you! I can't be stuck with a child!"

"I can't keep her! She will disrupt my job and reputation!" The woman yells.

"You think you're the only one with great responsibilities!"

"I never asked for a child! Much less a freak! She was a mistake!"

"Then why didn't you just abort!?"

"I couldn't! There are no drugs in this country that will kill her and spare me! There's no doctor either that is cheap enough!"

"Well, that's your fault! I don't want her!"

I've seen movies where the parents divorce and fight each other for who gets to keep the child. But I don't remember a movie where the parents fight for who gets to throw the child away.

"Why not just throw her away!?" Ryan says.

"And sacrifice my reputation!? People would obviously know since I was the only one who had a child within the month in this tiny town!"

I hear the child's wail. I walk to the crib and look at myself. "I feel ya."

"I DON'T WANT HER! KEEP HER!" Sheila storms out the house with her bag.

I look towards Ryan. His face is grim. "It was a mistake. A mistake to have you and to love your mother."

A long silence and Ryan stands there. He looks up and closes his eyes. Then he opens them again. He smiles. He touches the baby's cheek and puts his hand on her hair. The child calms down.

"You will never be my daughter. But I'll train you. Turns out you will end the war. You will be the perfect weapon." Then the whole world shakes.

I wake up.

I furrow my brow. "Wow, thanks dad!" I sit up. I look out the window.

It's night time.

"Ughhhh!" It's night!

That's right.

Go away!

Nah. We like it here.

IT'S ALREADY SO CROWDED IN HERE! I just wanna sleep and never wake up! Ever!

Then pictures start to come up in front of me. I'm not even closing my eyes, but the visions just come up.

First I see a castle on top of a mountain.

I see a lab, full of scientists. There's a pod, filled with green liquid and wires. I can't see whatever's in the pod. But I can see there's woman standing in front of the pod. She seems proud, judging by the way she's standing, with her hands on her hips as she looks up at whatever is in the pod.

The woman is wearing a black suit and a gun is by her side. She has long, dark brown hair, but I can't see her face.

Then there's another flash like lightning.

The woman talks to a tall man...Ra's? They're talking. Then they both walk away from the pod, and I get a clear look of the pod.

My eyes widen. "Dami?" He just floats in the water, the wires connected to him. He looks asleep but then, the light flashes and I can see his face up close. His eyes open.

****Break****

Damian's POV

"Some of Blackgate's inmates were able to escape despite our efforts to keep them all in. I've been keeping tabs on them throughout the entire day. There are five escapees." Father pulls up five mug shots onto the BatComputer. "I want all of you to continue following them. You will each be assigned a escapee to follow and bring back to Blackgate. Dick, you have Montoya and Fairfield. Jason, Harker." Father gives Todd a warning look. Apparently he's allowed to go out on the field now. "Chris, Smith. Tim, Waters. Damian, you're coming with me."

"Yes, Father."

I want to ask him why I haven't been assigned to a criminal, but I think better of it. I should not question my Father's judgement.

"I expect all of you to be back here once you have caught your assigned criminal." He gives Todd another warning look. Todd nods in response, and so does everyone else. Everyone hops onto their personal cycle as Father and I make our way to the Batmobile.

"Father, what about Cross? Is she not going to be pursuing Phoenix like Todd is back to being Red Hood?" I ask once we are fully in the Batmobile.

"No." I do not question any further.

We wait for Grayson, Todd, Drake, and Carter to exit the cave before Father starts the car and drives towards Gotham.

Where are we going? What are we going to do? Who shall we put behind bars this time?

When we reach the city limits of Gotham, Father speaks, as if he was reading my mind.

"Your mother was spotted in Wayne Tower with some members of the League of Assassins. I don't know her reason for being back in Gotham, but whenever she's here, there's trouble. We're going to investigate."

I nod my head in response. Mother...in Gotham? The last time she was here was when she abandoned me to mess with my Father. What could she possibly want now?

We drive in silence until we reach Wayne Tower. I look out the window and watch as people and children pass by us with gaping looks, as if they wish they were us.

Tt. They don't know what it's like to live my life. If they got a taste of it, they wouldn't want it anymore. They'd probably be too dead to even have time to think about it.

The car stops in front of the entrance to Father's work. We hop out, and I hear gunshots, grunts, and slices faintly coming from the top of the building.

Simultaneously, Father and I pull out our grapples and shoot them up to the top floor. Once I feel the familiar tug, signaling that the grapple is secure, I quickly rise past every floor in the building. When we reach the rooftop, I retract the grapple and quickly put it into my utility belt.

"Talia." Mother is standing next to the rooftop pool as her minions take out the guards shooting at them. Mother smirks at us.

"Beloved. Damian." Is all she says.

"What are you doing here?" Father asks.

"Is it a crime to want to see my beloved and son?"

"For you, it is."

"Why are you here, Mother?" I repeat, making sure that my voice sounds harsh enough.

"I told you. I want to see you. And so does someone else." She smiles. "But we can't have your Father get in the way of your little reunion. Sadly, he's not invited."

Talia looks at Father and nods her head. On signal, the assassins charge at us. I watch as five attack Father and three come charging at me. I unsheath my sword and charge at the one in the middle. Our swords clash and the one on my right tries to kick me, but I jump and do a split kick, hitting both him and the one on my left in the face while still keeping the swords clashed together. I glare at the assassin across from me, and we jump back at the same time. Our swords keep clashing until I manage to cut his right arm. I hear him hiss, and in the corner of my eye I spot the man on my left charging at me, nunchucks in hand. He swings at me, and I dodge every hit and punch him in the stomach. I backflip while kicking him in the face, then I kick backwards and hit the guy who was about to attack me with some Escrima sticks.

I look up and find more assassins headed this way, but they aren't coming to me. They're headed towards Father.

I run towards the man who is now at the edge of the pool and roundhouse kick him, sending him flying into the pool and splashing Mother, who is on the other end of the pool, and I.

Mother doesn't even look at me. She's focused on Father, smiling. I give her a disgusted look and turn around to find him overwhelmed with ten assassins.

Suddenly, a crack in the ground appears somewhere next to me, and I'm blown back as something...wait, someone...crashes through the floor.

A large man, wearing a weird cloth outfit, crashes through the hole in the floor. His feet are wrapped in bandages, and he has a sword at his side. He has ears like a bat's coming from the cloth covering his head, and he has a metal mask on.

The man pushes some of the assassins out of the way and starts punching and throwing Father around.

"Father!"

After maybe a minute, the man stops pounding Father and throwing items at him while he tries to fight back. The man picks up Father's unconscious and bloody figure and brings him over to Mother.

I rush over to help him, but the assassins keep me back. There's too many to fight off now surrounding me.

"Now that your father's out of the way, Damian, I'd like you to meet someone." Mother gestures to the giant.

"You're Damian? You're a puny, weak human being. I will enjoy destroying you and relieving Mother of her tainted family line." His voice is muffled by the metal, but it sounds vaguely familiar.

Wait, did he just call her Mother? She did say that this is a family reunion, so who is this?

"Damian! I challenge you! The winner shall be Mother's true son, and the loser shall be brought shame through his death."

What the hell is he talking about?

He turns to Mother. "May I?"

"Go ahead, my son." Now I'm really confused.

But I don't have time to think it over because the metal giant charges at me. In my shock, he punches me in the face, and I stumble into the hole in the floor made by him crashing in earlier.

The last thing I hear: "Damian. Meet your brother. The Heretic."

Autumn's POV

I run down the stairs, passing Alfred. "Miss Autumn, please no running. Where are you off to in such a hurry?"

I stop running. My eyes are wide and I face Alfred. "Sorry Alfred!"

"Must you be in such a hurry?"

"Yes! Is anyone in the cave?"

"You know you aren't allowed in there."

"But Dami's in trouble!"

He furrows his brow at me.

"I can't explain, sorry. But is anyone down there?"

"Only Miss Christine."

I sigh. "Okay fine. I have to go!"

I dash passed Alfred, then to the study and down the cave.

I hear typing on the keyboard.

"What are you doing down here?" She scowls, turning to me on the seat.

There's no time for this!

"Where are Batman and Robin?"

"I don't know, probably out on patrol or something."

"Dammit."

Okay, I don't know how to handle this. Christine's obnoxiousness, this anxiety, these demons plus one hell of a headache! Gah.

"Listen, Damian's in trouble." She narrows her eyes at me and stands up.

"How do you know?"

"I don't know. I just..."

Then I hear the smashing of glass upstairs.

We look at each other for a while then we run up the stairs.

We get to the study. There are bunch of people in black suits with masks covering their mouths.

"Great. The League of Shadows is here."

"I thought they were called The League of Assassins?"

"Shadows, Assassins, same thing!"

One of them holds onto Alfred's arm and the rest of them are getting ready to attack.

Christine and I get into our fighting stances.

They run towards us.

I know how this works. I've trained with these people before.

I jump up and elbow one of them in the neck. I land and look to the right and roundhouse kick, then I knee the other guy in the gut and punch the other guy's nose.

He falls backwards onto the bookshelf. I turn around and grab the guy behind me and throw him across the room.

On the other side of the room Christine is fighting around six guys.

She jumps up and kicks and punches and ducks and elbows, her cape flying right behind her.

I punch the assassin behind me, fire blazing at my arms. Oh God.

I turn and duck, then I punch his jaw and kick his face as I jump.

I flip backwards and land on my two feet.

I glance at Alfred, who is holding a lighted candle stick and standing above an unconscious man. Where did he even get the- nevermind.

I turn around and kick the leg of the guy behind me. He falls on the ground and I step on him and jump up, but an assassin jumps along with me. She punches in the air, but I block. We hit the ground and she hits my shoulder, right on my wound. But I just smirk. "Don't you see? I can't feel pain you stupid bastard." I bend my knees and kick her chest and get her off of me.

A man points a gun at me. My eyelids lower and I roll my eyes. I grab his arm and twist it, the gun pointing at the ground. He shoots the ground.

I cartwheel in the air and use my legs to pin his head down and pin him to the floor. I hold his arm down and break it. He yells and I get up.

I hear shooting and I turn to Christine who's only an inch away from a bullet to her back.

I glare at the bullet and it burns, and what's left of it falls to the floor.

I backflip and my hands land on the assassin's shoulders. I grab his shoulders and throw him across the room. Alfred dodges the body.

I stay in my fighting stance as more assassins run in through the doors. My feet slide backwards as my open hands stay right in front of me. I end up back to back with Christine.

"There's too many."

"This would be easier if we could kill them." I mutter.

"No." She says firmly.

We end up surrounded by them. They seem to ignore Alfred, which is good.

Well, okay, they don't ignore Alfred. Forget I said that.

An assassin holds him by the neck with a gun pointed to his head.

I miss my guns, especially my AMTs.

"Surrender or he dies." The assassin holding Alfred says.

"Talia would be surprised to find you, Cross." One of them says.

"Yes. Yes she would."

"You know these guys?"

"Some of them, yes."

I turn my hands into fists as the man holding Alfred points his gun to me. Stupid move.

"From what I've learned, The League of Shadows are full of humans." Not like the ones I trained with in The All-Caste, unlike Ducra. She wasn't a human. Not like Essence.

I kick the gun out of the man's hand and jump high enough to let both my feet kick that guy's face.

He lets go of Alfred as he falls back.

I jump up and kick the faces of the two men at both my sides.

"Behind you." Christine warns.

I turn around after I land and punch him in the face.

I roundhouse kick behind me and I backflip, my hands landing on the ground, and I push off and kick the woman about to shoot at me. Her gun falls to the ground.

An assassin slides in front of me and grabs the gun. "Didn't I take you out already?"

He shoots at me and I slide on the ground and kick his feet. I jump up and punch his face. I duck as assassins punch me. I kick the man behind me and elbow the other one beside me.

I knee the other one in the gut and kick her face.

I roll over the table and grab the pistol on it.

I jump up and point the gun at the heads of the assassins.

"Miss Autumn!" Alfred scolds.

My gun points to the arm of one of them and shoots.

I keep the gun in my pocket and I jump over the table and kick one of them. I throw the woman at the others as I duck and roll on the floor and stand up, taking out my gun and pointing it at an assassin. I don't hesitate to pull the trigger, but the bullet hits his leg.

Then it's all over.

There's blood on the floor, but hey, they're not dead! I wish they were though.

Books are all over the floor.

"What is wrong with you?!" Christine yells at me as she comes up to me.

I push her out of my way. "Grab one of them. Before they disappear."

I take the arm of one of them, and she takes the other arm.

"Got any torturing tools?"

"More like interrogation methods, but yeah."

I smile as we pull him towards the cave.

This is gonna be fun. Make sure to kill him later.

Okay.

****Break***

Chris' POV

We chain him to the chair. The rest of the assassins upstairs have already disappeared like they always do.

The lights are off except for one light.

He's still unconscious but we've pulled his mask down. Okay, well, actually he's just wearing a white shirt and boxers. Courtesy of muwa.

Autumn slaps his face so hard that he wakes up. The chair topples but I hold it down with my foot.

I step back.

Autumn moves forward at the man, who's glaring at her direction. She leans forward, putting her hands on the arm rest.

"You know, I'm not really sure who I trained with exactly and who I fought back then. But you must remember me. So tell me, have we trained before?"

"I am not here to answer questions."

Autumn stands up. "Well, then. I hope you're comfortable there. I won't stop until you talk."

She takes the gun out of her pocket.

My eyes slightly widen. But then she throws the gun behind her. "Nah, guns are too quick." The gun slides on the floor.

She walks to the table and takes a knife.

"Let's get started. Nightingale. Why not ask first?"

I walk forward and glare at the man in front of me as I tower above him. "Why did you attack us?"

He doesn't say anything. He just glares.

Autumn smirks, flipping the knife in the air and catching it.

"Don't wanna answer. Okay."

She grabs the chair and drags the chair and the man, then she throws the chair across the room. He crashes into the wall. The chair is steel so it won't break.

The man grunts, his face is on the floor and the weight of the steel chair on his back. I smirk.

He tries to get up, but we tied his feet to the legs of the chair.

Autumn grabs the chair and pins the back of the chair to the wall.

She raises the knife and looks at the blade. She shoves it right through his shoulder and he gets stuck to the wall. He yells.

"Hmph. Weak." I smirk.

She takes the knife and pulls it out without cringing at his yells. She stabs his shoulder over and over again.

Blood gets to her hand.

I move forward.

"You know what's the thing about shoulder wounds? One, they hurt a lot. Two, you'll bleed to death. Three they hurt a lot."

She takes his neck, the blood getting on his neck, he chokes.

"Are you gonna talk yet?" I ask, sounding annoyed.

"Oh no, Nightingale. They're trained not to break that easily. Besides, this is fun." She grins.

I can see blood from her bare hands dripping down the man's fat neck.

She punches his ribs over and over again, blood getting on his top. He chokes on blood as I listen to bones breaking behind her fists.

She throws him across the room.

He yells as he bleeds on the floor.

Alfred doesn't like cleaning blood.

The man struggles in his seat, trying to loosen the chains. I can see the chains slowly loosening.

I head for it but then Autumn stops me by putting a hand in front of me. The same bloody hand she used to stab the man.

I sigh. I walk towards him and grab his shirt and yell at him. "WHY WERE YOU HERE?"

"Distraction…" he mumbles.

"Distraction for what!?"

I can hear a sigh from behind me. "Oh no, don't go to bed yet." She tells him.

I can hear a hissing from the chains. I see the chains heating up. "What are you doing!?" I stand up and look at her.

She moves past me. "He can't do anything." She doesn't even bother to wipe the blood off of her hands while she shrugs.

She grabs his hair and throws him back to the wall, blood dripping down his back as he slides on the floor and grunts.

She gets the chains and puts the chains over his arm, then she burns the chains to the wall. She does the same with his other arm and his legs.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Relax. I'm just having a little fun." She smiles.

I look at the man who already seems to be passing out. "You better talk or she'll kill you." Not exactly true. I have to stop her if it gets too far.

"I...I'm not afraid of Death!" He yells.

"You don't need to be afraid of Death." She says. "You just need to be afraid of me." She says casually.

She moves back, and I take a look at the man.

He's pinned to the wall, his arms and legs spread and stretched. There's blood dripping down his arm and neck, and his white shirt is tainted with crimson red blood.

She turns around, and when she turns back facing him, a knife flies and goes through his ankle.

"You gotta talk. Now." I command, glaring at him even more.

"Listen to this hero. I don't miss." She gestures to me. "And I'm not really one for mercy."

The man yells in agony.

She throws another knife at his thigh, then another one at his left wrist and another right through his foot.

"Talk." I say.

He coughs up blood. But he doesn't talk.

She takes a whip from the table and whips his chest and face. "Ah!" She just smiles.

She continue to whip him until wounds cover up his face. She drops the whip and looks back at the table. "What other toys do you have?"

"I...I won't…"

She takes the simple lighter.

"Hurry up and talk. Or I'll roast you."

She lights it up right in front of his face. His eyes widen and he lifts his head.

"I don't think she's bluffing anymore." She better be.

"Alright! Alright! I'll talk! JUST DON'T BURN ME! I'LL TALK!"

She and I smirk.

I move forward. "Now, why were you sent as a distraction?"

"Talia...she sent us...she made a clone...a clone of Damian Wayne! Now there's a reunion!"

"What!?" I yell in his face.

"The Heretic! They're gonna battle! Then The Heretic will kill Damian Wayne!"

Autumn narrows her eyes.

"Where are they!?" I yell.

"W...Wayne...Tower…"

"Makes sense." Autumn mumbles. "Give me a sec to suit up. Call the others."

"If you mean your "friends," they're busy. They're probably distracted! You won't save him! He'll die! You'll be too late!"

She throws the lighter at his feet behind her and he catches fire. His entire body goes up in flames. "AAAAAAAAAH!" He yells. My eyes widen.

The water sprinklers go off and water showers down from the ceiling. The fire goes out but every inch of his body is now burned.

He moans as he bleeds on the wall. Blood drips down behind him as he moans.

"AUTUMN!" I yell in her direction.

She just continues to walk away. "Call an ambulance or something. Send him to Gotham General or whatever. Then get the jet ready." She says, walking away, not caring about the moans of this man.

I clench my fists and grit my teeth. Since when does she tell me what to do?! And the idiot. If we called an ambulance we would ruin the secrecy of the Bat Cave.

She nearly killed the dude! Ugh we just had to have another crazy killing assassin in the family.

****Break****

Bruce's POV

Where am I?

My hands are chained behind my back. Well actually my entire body is covered in chains. I'm in a cramped space. Metal.

"Hello, Beloved." Talia's voice echoes around this tiny space. She isn't in here, so there must be a radio around here somewhere.

"Where am I? Where's Damian?" I demand.

"You're the detective. Deduce."

I look around. I know I'm in some sort of safe, but where the safe is, I don't know. I look down at one of the corners and notice some water. It's leaking in.

I'm underwater. In the pool.

"Where's Damian?" I persist, an obvious harshness in my voice.

"Playing with his brother."

"What are you talking about?" I couldn't have had another son, could I?

I rattle the chains and find the lock behind my back.

"Our son is fighting the Heretic."

"Is the Heretic our son?" I bend down as best as I can and bring my feet up as best as I can. I get the lockpick in my boot with my mouth.

"Not exactly. He is Damian. An exact copy, just better in every way. And he won't be disloyal to me like our son was. And I've made sure that by the end, there will only be one son left to serve me."

I crane my neck sideways and drop the lockpick behind me. I catch it with my left hand and start picking the lock.

"Damian won't die. He's tough. But if you do kill him, I will come after you, Talia. We will all come after you." I narrow my eyes, even though there's no one to narrow them at.

"We? You mean all of your other children? Beloved, how can you be so stupid? If we can kill Damian, and we can, what's going to stop us from killing the rest of them. What's going to stop us from killing you?"

I get the lock undone, and I shrug the chains off me. "You've tried before, and both you and your father have failed."

"But we can kill your weak children. Richard is like you, but he has too many weaknesses. Timothy has brains, but even his intelligence can't match my father's, and he is frail. Christine has been your protege for three years, and yet you recline to teach her how much Richard new at her age. She is also weak like Timothy. Your determination to try and give her a somewhat normal life will result in her destruction. Your lack of trust in Timothy will result in his abomination. And Richard's weakness toward the people he loves, introduced to him by you, will be his undoing. So you see, their destruction will be on your hands. Your family is destined for failure."

I push against the walls of the safe, trying to get them to budge. I can feel them move, but very slowly. I'm starting to struggle with my breathing. I'm losing oxygen.

Talking will only use up more of it.

"Have I hit a weak spot?" Talia says, triumph in her voice. "Or are you only trying to preserve your oxygen? I say that you only have three minutes of air left."

Three minutes. More than enough time.

"I'd love to stay and watch you break out of your prison and fight off all my minions, but there is a more interesting show going on. I would like my face to be the last thing my son sees before he perishes."

The radio turns off.

I push harder against the walls. I have to save Damian.

I have to save my son.

I have faith in him, but the League of Assassins is very dangerous. And this Heretic is unpredictable. And if everything Talia said is true, then he can predict Damian's moves, and he can outsmart him.

The walls break down and water floods in.

I swim up and break out onto the surface. Assassins are lined around the pool. I count eight of them.

I swim quickly and jump out of the pool in one of the gaps between two assassins. They all charge at me. This better not take too long.

Damian's POV

I flip backwards and watch The Heretic as he stands right in front of me. He's much bigger than me. Around Father's size, may be larger. He is wearing clothing made of cloth, which is covering the armor underneath.

He walks towards me as he holds the sword, and the clanking of his armor echoes. I can hear Father grunting on the roof right above me.

I am already breathless and my mask and cape are already torn. He hardly even looks breathless.

I grip my sword and run towards him. We fight, our swords clang as I slash at him. He steps forward and punches me with his free hand. I fall back but I charge again.

I punch and kick and duck and flip. But he punches me and kicks me and I fly backwards and collapse on the ground, my sword sliding away from me. He kicks it off the balcony.

He steps on my hand. I grunt, but I move my legs up and kick his chest and I stand up.

"Give up. You won't win."

I charge towards him. "I will never give in!" I punch his jaw and kick his chest, and he moves back.

But then he charges towards me and grabs my neck before I can move. He's too fast.

I choke, struggling to make him let go. He squeezes my neck until I spit out blood and gasp for air.

Above me I can hear even more fighting and grunting.

I place my feet on his chest and kick as I move back.

I hold my side and grunt, but then I run towards him.

I jump on his chest and place three devices on his chest. I move away from him and the devices blow him off the building.

I stand up, thinking it's over. But then a hand holds onto the edge of the building and he comes back up.

I return to my fighting stance and wipe the blood out of my mouth.

He runs towards me and grabs my foot and throws me at the concrete wall. I hear a crack as I hit it. I collapse onto the floor and look up, seeing a large crack where I collided with the wall. He charges at me, but I quickly recover and charge at him.

I kick his face and punch his jaw. I elbow his chest, but then he punches my right cheek and I fly to the left, hitting the pole at the edge of the balcony.

My arms feel weak. I spit out blood. I try and stand up, but I've already broken a lot of bones.

I jump back up and kick his face and flip backwards. Then I run towards him and punch his face.

The fight becomes even.

We stand right across each other in our fighting stances.

I run towards him, but at that moment a flaming arrow shoots past my face.

I dodge it just in time.

He charges with his sword at his side.

He slashes and I dodge, but I feel a few arrows go through my cape, almost catching it on fire. It's a good thing my uniform is fireproof, for the most part.

Another arrow comes flying at me, but I lean back. The arrow still manages to scratch my sleeve. My arm catches on fire. I put it out quickly with my fireproof glove while trying to avoid The Heretic's hits. Once the fire is out, I notice a small burn on my skin, which is now showing.

He continues to slash at me until his blade slashes at my chest, and now there's a wound across my chest. My R insignia is now sliced in half.

I look back at him and kick his face while dodging the arrows.

But one of the arrows embeds onto my torso and my leg. I take the arrow out of my torso. Luckily the wound isn't too deep.

I run towards him as he stands two feet away from me. I jump up, getting ready to punch his face. I fly towards him as I jump.

But at that moment, his sword points right at my chest.

"ROBIN!" I hear Batman yell.

The world slows down as my life flashes before my eyes.

My eyes widen as the tip of the blade comes closer. It's over.

But before the blade hits my chest, I feet something tug at my ankle and pull me down and away from the blade.

My back hits the ground. I sit up and the next thing I know…

I see Nightingale at the edge of the building. She's holding the grappling hook. Both Heretic and I look at her.

Nightingale ducks, and from behind her, Phoenix jumps up.

They both look angry.

There's a sword at Phoenix's side. She unsheathes it as she runs towards him.

Carter flips up and kicks Heretic's face while Phoenix slashes at his chest.

Carter kicks his sword away while Cross jumps up and kicks his face.

Carter elbows his gut and jumps up while punching his face.

Heretic moves back as he tries to block the punches, kicks, and slashes Cross and Carter throw at him.

The flaming arrows continue to fly, coming from the group of assassins.

An arrow flies past Cross' cheek, making a burn mark on her cheek, but she continues slashing at Heretic like she didn't feel anything.

Nightingale dodges the arrows and stands beside Cross. Carter punches him and side kicks while Cross uses the butt of her sword to hit him in the head.

I look down, watching the blood drip down my bare chest. I grunt in pain.

The back of my head is bleeding, my arm is twisted, I've broken a few ribs, and there's a wound on my abdomen plus an arrow through my leg.

The arrows continue to shoot. I spot an arrow heading towards my head with enough force to penetrate my skull, pierce through my brain, and come out on the other side.

My eyes widen, but then the flaming red arrow burns to ashes in mid air.

I look forward and see Phoenix still fighting Heretic. She didn't have to look here to burn that arrow.

I continue to grunt as blood continues to drip down.

"HELP ROBIN! THEN BATMAN!" I can hear Phoenix yell.

"Wait a minute-" NIghtingale says as she punches Heretic's jaw.

"You want them to die!"

Carter runs towards me and she carefully half drags half supports me to the edge of the building. I look down and find the Bat plane floating by the side of the building.

She jumps down with me at her side.

Chris' POV

I jump out of the jet. I throw a batarang at the men holding arrows as I jump across the gap between the plane and the roof. The batarang hits all five men who are shooting arrows in their hands. I land gracefully onto the roof and take out the two guys next to me.

I hope Autumn dies trying to take Heretic down on her own.

I kick the assassin about to throw a knife at me, and he falls into the pool, unconscious. They shoot at me, but I dodge. I grunt quietly as an arrow cuts my arm and leaves a tiny burn mark. Meh.

I mentally shrug it off.

I elbow the man behind me and roundhouse kick the man who was behind him. I duck and punch the woman next to me twice in the stomach, then cause her to lose her balance. She falls into the pool.

Damian better hold on there in the jet. I already sent the jet home on autopilot.

An archer sends an arrow in my direction, but I do a backflip, put my hands on the shoulders of the assassin behind me, and push off. The arrow hits his arm, and I land on another woman who was going to attack me. I'm at the edge of the pool, but I don't stumble. I kick behind me and hit a guy's crotch. Then I do a back roundhouse, and he goes flying into the pool. Right after my foot collides with the guy's face, a woman sidekicks my stomach just as I turn to face her. I fly backwards, but I take some exploding and knockout gas pellets and throw them at the assassins' feet. I hear the hiss of the knockout gas pellets and the loud cracks of the exploding ones as I collide with the water.

I swim up and break the surface, gasping for air.

In a matter of seconds, they're all either in the pool or unconscious.

I turn around to see Batman already being beaten by assassins and Talia. I count thirty assassins, not including Talia.

Quickly, I hoist myself out of the pool. I narrow my eyes and run towards them, attacking any assassin in my way. I punch the assassin next to Batman as I approach him. I flip up and land on the other man behind me.

I kick the other dude's leg, and he falls and hits his head on the concrete.

I see Batman's bloody and bruised face as he fights the other assassins.

I dodge as I hear gunshots. I look at Talia, who is shooting at me. I elbow the assassin behind me and grab his collar, using all my strength to throw him at Talia. She moves out of the way and continues shooting at me.

I kick the other man next to me. I side step, dodging the bullet. Then I flip up and split kick. I land on my feet, my cape landing behind me.

I cartwheel to Talia and kick her gun out of her hand in the process. I kick it away, and it falls off the ledge. I punch, but she blocks, moving backwards. I kick, she blocks, her eyes right on me.

"You know, Nightingale, of all of your father's brats, you are my least favorite."

"Well of all of the girls my father's hooked up with, you're one of my least favorites."

She blocks every punch and kick I throw at her with a smirk on her face. I clench my fist and punch, and my fist collides with her face. She moves backwards, then she looks at me and smiles. She quickly gets back to her stance.

I charge and punch, but she always blocks. She kicks my rib and I hold it, moving backwards.

"Who is your friend?"

I narrow my eyes and continue to punch her.

"Why should I answer that."

"Isn't that Phoenix? I thought she was dead."

"I wish." I kick her, but she moves back and dodges.

"Foolish girl, you cannot match up to me. Only a few people can match up to me, and one of them is already dead." She says, smirking.

I narrow my eyes and try to prevent my smirk from showing. This "foolish girl" just saved your son's butt from you.

"Even from a far, your friend over there looks awfully familiar to me."

"SHE'S NOT MY FRIEND!"

I punch and I flip up and kick her face.

She stumbles backwards, covering her face. I notice a streak of blood trailing down from behind her hand.

I jump up just as two men charge at me. They collide with each other, and I put one foot on each head. I push off, do a slow backflip in the air, and land right behind Batman.

"You take everyone you see in front of you, I have everyone else." I get ten guys and he gets twenty.

"Got it." I sidekick to my right and kick the guy in the stomach. He stumbles backwards and crashes into the girl behind him. Nice, two in one.

I punch the guy in front of me, but he grabs my fist. I try to hit him with my other fist, but he grabs that one, too. He starts to squeeze my tiny fists compared to his hands. In the corner of my eye, I see two assassins running at me, one from each direction. I jump up, kick both of them in the groin, and headbutt the guy in front of me.

Ignoring the intense pain in my head, I turn to my left, punch the guy a few times in the face, kick backwards and hit the guy behind me in the chest, and kick the guy in front of me. I hear a splash behind me, and I watch as the assassin in front of me trips over the ledge. Eh, he'll survive.

Two down. Eight to go.

A bullet grazes my left arm in the same spot where I have that burn mark. Oh yea, there's Talia.

I slowly run forward, do a backflip, arms at my side, while kicking the guy I headbutted in the face, and land on my feet. Seven left.

I take a quick glance behind me. Batman's taken out ten of the assassins. I sense an assassin about to attack me, so I punch next to me, and my fist collides with bone. I turn my head back and find that I punched a guy in the ribs. He grunts and bends down slightly. I kick him in the same spot I punched him and send him stumbling backward. He bumps into Talia, her gun pointed at my head, and she shoves him into the pool with a disgusted look on her face.

Thanks Talia. Six left.

I step back and hit Batman's back. "Maneuver 21B." He orders.

"Gotcha." I smirk. I take out smoke pellets, and I Batman takes his out, too. We throw them to the ground and engulf everyone in smoke. I hold my breath, careful not to inhale too much smoke. Around me, I hear coughing and the familiar sound of portable oxygen "masks."

But I only hear a few before the first grunt somewhere behind me.

I hear the breathing sound the oxygen mask enhances next somewhere to my right.

Sucker.

I jump to my right and elbow the guy right in the neck. Five.

I hear the next one a few steps in front of me. I knee him in the back, put my arm tightly around his neck, pull him down a bit, then place some harmless explosive batarangs on his chest.

I backflip and do a push off. I land on another guy just as the sound of the explosive fills my ears. I hear the surprised yelp of the guy travel from inside the smoke cloud to somewhere outside. Four.

I hear gunshots. Talia's probably trying to fire at me. The League's been trained to fight with clouded vision, but the smoke also affects their breathing. Talia's aim is probably a little off, especially since she can't hear me. Only sense me. And I'm no where near her.

I punch the next person in the stomach, then knee him in the groin. He falls to the ground in pain. Three.

I step on his face then jump kick the girl in front of me. I hear her soft screams as she falls off the edge of the building. Two.

I hear the clatter of nunchucks northeast of me. I throw my batarang, based on where I sense the nunchucks, and next thing I hear is a hiss and a clattering on the floor. Yes! Better aim! The smoke starts to clear a bit. I watch the guy turn, spot me, and take a step toward me. He punches me, but I grab his fist, kinda slipping a bit, then grab his arm with my other hand. Using all my strength, I lift him by his arm, bend backwards and send him flying straight into the ground. Once he hits the ground, I do a backflip and land at his feet. One.

I run over to where the last guy is. The smoke clears up, and I am standing right in front of him.

"Would you like to meet my fist?" I make a motion to punch his stomach with my left hand, and he flinches to block that punch. Idiot. Instead, I kick his face while his head is slightly bowed. Zero.

"Too bad. My foot wanted to meet you more." I smirk at him, and mentally punch myself since I feel stupid saying that.

I notice that Talia isn't where she was when she was shooting at us.

Suddenly, I hear a gunshot behind me.

"Nightingale!" I hear Batman shout. Not in fear, but in warning...huh, that's new.

I duck, the bullet missing my head, and take out a batarang. I turn around and throw the batarang at Talia. The tip of the batarang lands perfectly in the hole of the gun, and it explodes in her hand. Talia grunts as she holds her bloody hand.

Batman throws those restraining ropes with heavy balls at the end of them - I don't really know what they're called, I didn't bother remembering - and they wrap themselves around Talia.

I look at Bruce, who nods at me in approval. I return his nod with a small smile. I look at the unconscious and limp bodies around us as Batman approaches Talia.

"Is that the only reason you're here? To kill your son using his clone?" He sounds calm. I guess he knows Damian's back at the cave.

"My family line will no longer be tainted. I will have a new son. A better son." Is all she says.

I notice the background noises coming from the balcony below. A lot of metal-on-metal sounds and grunts and thuds. They're still at it. That means Autumn's still alive...

Batman swiftly turns around, his cape turning behind him. "Let's go." It's not like we can take her in to the police department. So we usually just leave her and let her get picked up by Ra's and his minions.

I look down at Talia, glare at her, then swiftly turn around, my cape also flowing behind me.

Batman jumps over the ledge, and I'm about to follow when Talia's voice stops me.

"You are a lot more like your father than you think. One day, all of this will cause you much more pain and suffering. It will kill you. Just like it will kill my Beloved."

I move my head slightly to the side so I can just see her in the corner of my eye. I frown, then I turn back around and jump off the ledge.

Autumn's POV

I flip in the air and take out two light bombs (they don't kill but they injure). I throw the bombs at him and they explode. He gets thrown around by the force.

My clothes are on fire because of the flaming arrows, so I'm forced to ditch my belts or the bombs will go off on them. I throw them off the building. If only Christine was quicker in taking the archers down.

"Who the hell are you?" He says breathlessly as he holds his chest. Both his clothing and his armor are slashed through. The kind of metal this sword is made from isn't from Earth.

How'd I get my hands on it? I stole it years ago from a base of The Unknown. I kept it, and only now did I figure I could turn it into a weapon. I have a lot of free time in my hands. I made this sword, in the forest last night. I used my abilities as lave, and water is easy to get my hands on. And a mallet? Not a problem. This sword was kept in the back of my closet, in a bag.

I'm not really a huge fan of swords, so I'm a bit rusty, but whatever.

I run towards him. "I don't know. But why not just. Sit. Down!" I kick him and he sits down like I tell him to.

I kick his face and he falls to the ground.

He gets up with his sword and runs towards me. Why didn't he just stay down? I ignore this killer migraine. I can hardly feel pain anyways. But my vision is starting to blur.

He looks down at my leg and smiles. "What the hell are you smiling at?"

"You are injured. You would hardly be able to fight. I believe the outcome of this battle is obvious."

I look down at my leg. There's a flaming arrow dugged deep into my thigh. I roll my eyes under my mask.

I simply pull the arrow out, blood dripping down my leg and down the tip of the arrow. I look back at him. "Don't you see? I can't feel pain anymore." I smirk.

He runs towards me, holding his sword. I grip my sword tighter. My knuckles are probably white under my leather gloves.

He slashes with his sword, but I block with my sword. I hear him clench his teeth as our swords collide and we come face to face, trying to unbalance this stand off.

"What's wrong?" I ask. "You pissed we ruined your plan to destroy Damian? Clone."

He just continues to clench his teeth. My feet are sliding back, towards the ledge of the building.

"You know what, you're just a cheap copy of Talia's real son. You will never be the true son, you copy." I smile as I say this, still gripping my sword.

He pushes forward. I side step and move my sword back as he moves forward, but he turns to me and slashes. I block and dodge.

"You're just a cheap copy of the real deal. You say you are better than the original. But how can a copy be better than the original?" He clenches his sword as he grits his teeth.

"Shut up! I will destroy Damian! Then I will be the true son!"

"How can you destroy someone you can't touch?"

He moves forward and slashes.

I charge towards him and flip up, and both my feet end up hitting his face as I flip. I land on my feet as he falls off the ledge.

I run forward and jump down the balcony and down onto the balcony below where he landed. I stand right in front of him as he gets up.

"I will destroy him. I will be Talia's only son."

"Was that jealousy I heard? You jealous of the original?"

He picks his sword up and wipes his mouth. "Who are you to him anyway? A friend? You going to protect someone you don't even know?"

"I know him alright. Like I said, you're just his clone. You don't have his memories and whatnot. You're a copy. You're just trying to be like the original."

He slashes and I try to dodge, but his sword lands on my chest as my back hits the banister of the balcony.

"You care about Damian. I will make sure that you will watch him suffer before I kill you and win."

Heroes don't deserve to die young. I can die. I'm no hero. But heroes never die. Well, they shouldn't anyways.

"How can you make him suffer when you're dead?"

"Are you not a hero?" He asks, but only out of curiosity.

He slashes and hits my cheek, and blood starts dripping down my face.

"No." I smirk and slash at his hand. He lets go of his sword and it slides on the floor. I burn his sword by looking at it. It turns into a puddle of hot metal.

I punch and kick him, and flames blaze with every move I make.

I slash at him, and fire starts to blaze on the silver as well.

I kick his face and slash at his arm. I move towards Heretic and head butt him and kick his chest. He punches my chest and slides his foot on the ground. I have the advantage actually, his armor is slowing him down. I jump up and punch his jaw, fire blazing behind my arm. His jaw has a new burn mark on it, but he returns with a kick to my rib and a punch to my jaw. I hold my bruised jaw as I glare at him and punch his face. He blocks, and as I kick I burn his armor. He grunts. I punch, but he quickly dodges. I land a hit on his face and knee his gut. I see a new burn hole right on his armor. He grabs my head and knees my head. I stumble backwards, but I move towards him again. I punch his jaw then jump up and roundhouse kick in the air. He grunts as I listen to his skin burn.

He grabs my arm and he throws me across the balcony, my back hitting the banister. I end up in a sitting position with my sword right beside me. I grind my teeth, blood dripping down my mouth, too much blood. I grip my sword and jump back up.

Stupid ass. I already told him, I feel no pain.

I try to punch him, but he catches my fist. Before I can do anything, he crushes my fist with his hand. I grunt, but I lift up my legs and kick his face to the left with both my legs. He lets go of my hand. I punch him with that same hand and slash at him. I manage to cut his mask. Half of it falls off, revealing some of his face. He looks just like Dami.

I slash at him again, but he dodges and sidesteps. He hits my shoulder, and I grimace. But I continue to fight.

I jump up, taking that tiny knife in my boot and as I get closer to him. As I am about to land on the ground again, I stab his eye. I shove the knife right at his eye and he yells. "Arghhh!"

I take the knife out and land on my feet. He holds his eye as I look at the knife. Awww, the eyeball didn't stick to the blade. I would have kept that as a souvenir. Maybe keep it in a ziplock and place it in the freezer. But I have seen an eyeball before, and it was awesomely gross. Ah yes, there are times when I love my imagination.

I smile.

He looks back at me as he rips off the other side of his mask. He glares at me as he lets go of his eye and lets me see the wound. His eyelid is closed now, and there's thick red wetness oozing out of his eye. The blood is dripping down to his armor as he glares with one eye.

He runs towards me and he suddenly grabs my neck and lifts me up.

He glares daggers at me. "You aren't normal." Uh, no? "I see why you were sent to fight me." Um...okay? Now, let me go. "You will pay for what you have done."

Well, he can't exactly fight Damian again with one eye. That is, if he lives through this fight.

"Let me go you bastard." I choke.

He narrows his eye. "I will destroy him. I will be the true son. Too bad you won't be around to watch the show." I drop the knife in my hand.

"You...won't get away." He expects me to let go of my sword like what I did with the knife, but instead I grip the sword and jab it right through his stomach.

He gasps as he holds my neck. I see the shiny tip of the blade right through his back, filled with thick crimson red blood.

I take the sword out of his stomach, blood stained on the silver metal. I look at the tip of the blade. I see my reflection on the silver as blood drips down and starts to cover my face. I smile and my stiff arm falls right to my side.

He spits out blood and falls on his knees. I hold onto my sword as I stand above him.

I narrow my eyes at him. He chokes in blood, but he starts to get up again, slowly. One knee after the other. He glares in my direction, blood dripping down his forehead from the headbutt I gave him earlier. The blood reaches his eye, but he doesn't blink as he glares at me.

The wind blows at my hair and dries the blood on my neck that came from a burn from the flaming arrow earlier.

I spit out blood onto the floor, then I look back at him and wipe my mouth with the back of my hand.

"I'm no hero. But I do care. And I will make sure that you can never touch Damian again, or anyone in the Bat clan ever again."

He just glares at me, then he gets up as he holds his stomach.

"They say that when you die, your life flashes before your eyes. Tell me, what does it feel like?"

"Why don't you find out?"

He runs towards me with so much force and so much speed, my brain doesn't process it.

In a matter of seconds, he tackles me. My back crashes through the banister and we fall down the tallest building here in Gotham.

My back is gonna hit the ground and I'll be dead. Oh, well. At least the voices would finally stop. It's not like anyone would miss me anyways. They're all just waiting for me to commit suicide or something. Meh, the world would be better off without me anyways. My death wouldn't change anything.

The wind blows up as we fall. He grips me tightly, and I try to struggle out of his grasp. I can see blood flying up as we fall.

My sword is falling right next to me, but too far for me to reach.

"THIS IS YOUR FAULT! I was to destroy him! But you ruined it all! If I'm going down, I'm taking you down with me! If Damian cares about you, and you die, then he will suffer with regret!"

I doubt Damian cares, but Heretic can think what he wants to.

"Get off!" I headbutt him and burn right through his armor. He grunts and lets go.

I punch his jaw and kick his stomach. He hits my shoulder and punches my nose. Blood flies up my nose and mouth as we fall. The wind screams in my ear, as if warning me of my upcoming death.

I punch his cheek, and I burn his cheek while I'm at it. All I can see now is muscle and blood.

I would take my grappling gun, but with the speed of our fall plus heavy gravity, the grapple would just end up falling down. It would never reach up to the roof. Whatever my gun would reach for has to be nearer, or the hook would just end up hitting my face.

He wraps his arms around my arms and I struggle.

I grunt as I feel my back crash through the floor of another balcony. Wow, we're falling, fast.

Dammit.

I hear a crack on my rib as we got through another floor. We continue falling and punching.

My dim fire blazes behind me and at my bangs and probably at the tip of my hair, too, as we fall.

I clench my teeth, tasting copper in my mouth. He's on top of me as we fall. The blood from his eye falls on my cheek. Ha. Blood.

We crash through another balcony and another one.

I'd take out my grappling gun, but I can't. I'm a bit busy!

I punch his cheek, and he punches my face. He grabs my neck, but I scratch at his hand this time.

He yells as we fall. Only twenty feet left until we hit the ground. I can't even see the roof anymore.

I choke. Nineteen feet. Eighteen feet. Seventeen feet.

I look behind him and I see my sword falling.

I grunt and burn his arm. "Ah." I grunt. The migraine gets heavier. Whatever.

I have a plan, but I need a distraction.

I have an idea!

I reach into my jacket and pull out a tiny stick. I click at it and a tiny light brightens, I throw it at him, but only his arm catches fire. Stupid armor. Eh, I just need a distraction.

Fourteen feet. Twelve feet.

I kick his face and take my grappling gun and shoot at my sword. The sword is nearer than the roof; my grappling gun should reach the sword and tie around it. Right? Aw man. I hate this!

This better work. I don't care about saving myself. But if Heretic somehow leaves this fall alive...if he gets saved by Talia or something...he'll attack Damian. Then Damian will die. We don't want that, now do we?

I'm still thinking if I should save myself. Maybe I shouldn't anymore. I just need to end this. Or he'll kill Damian.

The sword flies towards my hand. I grab the sword with my left hand. Woah...Spider-man...hehe...

I look into his eye as he tries to punch me. "No more. S***head. You can't hurt Dami, now. You'll be eating s*** in hell! I'll see you soon!" I scream.

His eyes widen. I grip my sword and slash the blade right through his neck.

His head falls next to me,and it hits the car below us because I push it down.

The body is still right in front of me, blood spilling out of the neck and getting to my face.

I grip the grappling gun and my sword. I look down and aim at the lamppost.

Don't save yourself. You're not needed anyways.

She's got a point.

Ten feet.

Don't yourself. Don't. Just go home...go back to hell. You're the Devil's Daughter anyways. At least in hell, you'll be accepted.

No one needs you.

No one wants you.

Don't need to save yourself.

You killed the dude. Damian's not in trouble anymore. It's cool. Just die.

Yeah. Aren't you tired? Of everything?

Yes...yes I am.

My hand lands to my side and I begin falling even faster and I stop aiming the grappling gun.

WAIT! YOU HAVE A PROMISE TO KEEP REMEMBER?

What promise?

You said you wouldn't leave Jason!

Nine feet.

You said you'd come back to the orphanage! Autumn! You have to stay alive to keep your promise!

But...I am tired.

Would you really wanna die with guilt in your heart?

FINE. I shoot at the lamppost and throw pellets at the ground.

Eight feet.

The pellets erupt into foam. I grip the grapple gun with one hand and swing on the post.

I land feet first on the foam as I hold the grapple gun in one hand and my sword in the other. The wind blows my hair behind me, sparks flying off of the tips of my hair and off into the wind.

Good.

No. I wish you didn't remind me of my promises. I wish that it all ended.

You're Phoenix right now, not Autumn. Phoenix doesn't feel anything but rage. Phoenix doesn't feel guilt. Phoenix feels nothing.

The fire dies down and my scowl erases. I retract the grapple and let my arm fall to my side. I jump off the fluffy foam and my sword collides with the ground.

The people that watch me clear a path with open mouths and wide eyes.

I see someone about to take a picture, but I glare at his phone and burn it.

I walk towards the car where the head is. A second after, a body comes down from the sky and crashes the car's hood. The car's siren turns on as I stare at the body.

The head rolls down the roof of the car.

"AAAAAH!" I hear a woman scream and running from behind me. Hmph. Wusses.

My foot stops the head as it rolls. Looks like Talia's goons couldn't save him, and neither did Talia. Well, I still had to make sure he died. Can't let him live. He'll attack Damian. Or he'll attack the Family. He needed to die. The only way I could make sure that he would truly die was with my hands.

I look at the face.

It's funny. How he died with his eyes and mouth opened.

His one eye is still blue, but not bright anymore. It's empty and soulless. Blood drips down the mouth and forehead. But the thing that disturbs me is that Heretic looks exactly like Damian.

Shush now. This is Damian's clone. You would never do that to the real Damian.

Unless...I take over.

Shut up! Go away! I'LL FIGHT YOU LATER!

I glance up and see two shadows at the roof, looking down at me. One shadow is smaller than the other one, but the wind is pushing their capes forward. It looks as if their dark black capes are going to engulf them in any second.

I frown and look forward.

I walk, the sound of screams and the sirens becoming distant.

I walk into the alley.

Get ready for a full blown lecture. Maybe you'll get sent to Blackgate. You're nothing but trouble Autumn.

I don't care about the damn lecture. I'll be too busy staring at Sir's face blankly and pretending to listen when in reality, I'll be fighting this war. Because, I know by the time things calm down. THEY will break loose.