Disclaimer: I don't own Batman or DC

Chapter 7: Meeting in the Middle

The Batcave - 6 AM

Damian punched away at a heavy bag in the training area of the Wayne Manor Batcave. He was shirtless, wearing only a pair of black track pants. His focus was entirely on the bag as he threw several punches in various combinations. The tape around his fists had begun to tear from the force they had endured for hours on end. With every hook and jab, Damian thought back to the results of the previous night. His relationship with both Melanie and Jaiden proved to be exactly as he left it: nonexistent. To top it all off, he was no closer to finding Thorne's killer.

It was safe to say he was letting off a lot of steam.

Julia made her way into the training area with a cup of coffee in hand. She stopped at the open doorway and leaned against the frame while she watched Damian from behind.

"You were at this before I went to bed, I surely hope that doesn't mean you never stopped to sleep," she remarked before taking a sip of her coffee.

Damian fired a couple of kicks and knees mixed in with his punches. He turned his head briefly as if to acknowledge Julia's presence and soon returned to the heavy bag.

"I slept for two hours."

Julia scoffed and rolled her eyes with a shake of her head. "That's barely sleeping. More like an elongated nap."

"Isn't that what sleeping is?" he replied dryly as he threw another hard right hook at the bag.

Sighing, Julia took another sip of her coffee. Staring at Damian's scarred back, she began to put herself in the shoes of her father, and the conversations she imagined he had with Bruce in a similar situation.

"For someone who claims not to care much about the rest of your family, you sure seem to be letting them get to you. You're imagining that bag to be Melanie or Jaiden, aren't you?" she asked, not with snark, but genuine concern.

Damian paused for a brief moment to catch his breath and ponder her question.

"No, neither of them are of any concern right now. My focus is on Thorne's killer. It's not Todd, so we're back to square one," Damian said. He fired a hard punch to the bag with a crushing, loud impact that echoed through the cave. "I hate square one."

"Well…have you ever stopped to ask why the killer would've wanted you to believe he was Jaiden?" Julia asked.

Damian moved over to a wooden sword rack that sat not too far from the heavy bag. The rack held several swords, ranging from dummy swords for practice, to some of the finest blades from all over the world. He picked out a sword that was similar, but not quite the same as the sword he used when deemed necessary during his outings as Batman.

"He wanted to throw me off of his scent," Damian replied while eyeing the blade. He held the sword up in front of his face for a few seconds and stared at his reflection. He then took a step back, assumed a stance and began to practice several combinations of slashes and stabbing techniques.

Julia rolled her eyes. "That much is obvious, but think about the ramifications. Even if you don't believe him to be Jaiden, Falcone surely is of the mind that the Red Hood killed his men and stopped his weapons shipment."

Damian spun around and slashed diagonally with the sword before stopping. His eyes shifted around while he thought about the potential scenario.

"...Falcone goes to war with Todd. More than likely, Todd kills Falcone. Therefore the killer doesn't have to do it himself," Damian said. He lowered his sword at his side and turned around to face Julia. "It would leave him to focus purely on Maroni."

Julia placed a hand to her hip and raised both eyebrows in recognition of the theory.

"Well…that's bloody clever, isn't it?"

Damian placed his sword back into the rack and walked past Julia with his eyes full of focus. If this was the killer's game, he'd have to find a way to work around it and use it to his advantage.

"It's a play, but it won't work out for him in the long run," he replied.

"Shouldn't you warn Jaiden so that he knows what he's been roped into? And tell Montoya he isn't the killer as well?" Julia asked, turning around.

Damian came to a stop. He began to contemplate it, looking at both the advantages and disadvantages of doing so. "If you want to, be my guest. The chaos might serve well in our favor."

Gordon Residence - 7 AM

Although Melanie Gordon's house was nowhere near as extravagant or spacious as Wayne Manor, it was still a place to call home. It was two stories, with enough space that was ideal for a small family. That was the real reason behind its creation, to house a family that never came.

Currently, Melanie was seated at her dining table, scrolling through the news on her phone. While doing so, she was also conversing with Julia who was on the line.

"He's not gonna like being considered a distraction," Melanie said.

"I'm aware. He's just going to have to deal with it. It's better for him to be aware of it than blindly being used by some faceless coward, "Julia responded.

"Well if there's anything I know about Jaiden, it's that he hates being used more than anything."

"Speaking from experience there?"

Melanie opened her mouth to respond, but didn't. There wasn't much for her to say in response, not when it was the truth. All she could do was accept it.

"I'm sorry, that was a bit mean."

Melanie shook her head. "No, no it's fine. You're right. I made mistakes. That was one of them. Unlike Damian I can at least admit when I'm wrong."

"The two of you need to put an end to your issues. Meet in the middle. I often think about what my father would think of how the family ended up, and I know that disappointment wouldn't even begin to cover it."

Looking over at a picture of Barbara on the counter, Melanie sighed.

"Do you really think that's possible?" she asked.

"I do. One of these days Damian will find himself in need of his family, whether he wants to admit it or not. When that day comes, you all need to be in a place to help. Not just him, but help each other as well."

"No promises, Julia. I'll give it a try, but no promises," Melanie responded.

"Trying is all I could ever ask for. I'll talk to you later, I'm gonna try Jaiden again. He needs to pick up that bloody phone of his–"

"Yeah good luck with that one," Melanie said with a small chuckle. After ending the call, she crossed her arms and began to peer at different aspects of the kitchen rather absentmindedly. The walls, the pristine wooden countertops, even the appliances. The only thing that broke her out of her thoughts was the sounds of footsteps entering the kitchen, signifying that she was no longer alone.

Tabitha Drake, a young girl with blonde hair and shining blue eyes, walked into the kitchen. She wore a purple hoodie over a red Wonder Woman shirt and held a backpack tightly over her shoulder. Upon catching sight of her, Melanie's expression brightened.

"Good morning Tabby," she greeted with a soft smile.

Tabitha opened the refrigerator to grab a Gatorade bottle out, and would pause after closing it. She raised both eyebrows at Melanie and slowly maneuvered back through the kitchen. "Morning...why are you just sitting here?"

"Oh–I was just looking at the news," Melanie responded while holding her phone up for Tabitha to see. "Looking to see what all I missed while I was asleep."

The teenager squinted a bit while looking at the phone. "...Right. You know there's like two other guys who can take care of what you miss. Or maybe more than two, or less…you never tell me much about what's going on."

Tabitha shrugged and continued on out of the kitchen, but was stopped short by Melanie's hand briefly reaching out to grab hers as gently as possible. Tabitha stopped and looked back to Melanie with a confused and inquisitive look on her face.

Seeing that she had Tabitha's full attention, Melanie could finally ask her a question that lodged itself in her head almost immediately after her talk with Julia. "When's the last time you talked to your brother?"

Tabitha raised an eyebrow. "I texted him a few days ago, why?"

Melanie offered a small shrug. She didn't know how to best broach the subject without causing too much of a fuss. "He's all the way on the other side of the country. I just…think about him sometimes, is all. San Francisco's a big place."

"Gotham's bigger," Tabitha said with a laugh.

"I know but he's on his own out there. When it comes to the two of you, I–" Melanie paused. Her eyes drifted up to the ceiling as she attempted to find the perfect way to explain without getting too emotional in front of Tabitha. "Maria and I wanted kids more than anything, and obviously we never got there. When I took you and Seth in, I started to look at you two like my own kids…and I guess I'm not quite over the fact that I ran one of my kids away."

Tabitha's eyes softened as she saw the faintest tears swell up in Melanie's. She wasn't exactly the best with emotions, but seeing Melanie this way didn't exactly make her feel good. "You didn't run him away. Not alone, at least. You guys never really let me in on all that stuff, but I gotta imagine he didn't wanna deal with Damian either. Also he's super smart. I'm sure he's fine and happy living a normal, boring life now."

Melanie brought a hand up to swiftly wipe away any tears that attempted to escape her eyes. Though Tabitha was likely right, there was another part of her sentence that Melanie focused on. Ever since taking Tabitha in, she hadn't been involved in the family business. The normal life that Seth likely lived was one Tabitha had been forced into without choice. No amount of nagging caused Melanie to give in, but now she had begun to question that decision. It was as Julia said, there would come a time when the family would have to come together.

All of them.

"After school, once you've done everything you need to do...maybe I could start to show you the opposite of a boring, normal life," Melanie said with a small smile.

Tabitha's eyes widened. She opened her mouth, then closed it, and finally opened it again. "Shut up…"

Melanie chuckled at the reaction. "Fine, I guess I won't say anymore–"

"You're serious?!"

"I'm serious–"

"Say you swear."

"I swear, Tabitha. I've avoided it long enough," Melanie said.

Tabitha practically shook with excitement. She extended her arms, as if inviting Melanie for a hug, but stopped herself. It was quite a bit to process in a short amount of time. "I was so about to hug you, but I gotta go. I'll save the hug for when I get my own costume," she said before quickly dashing out of the kitchen and to the front door.

The smile on Melanie's face remained in place for a few moments after Tabitha had left. There was no doubting that this was bound to be a difficult task, but it was one that she would have to learn. Could she even be a good teacher? Would Tabitha even prove to be an adept learner? All of these questions ran through Melanie's head as she picked her phone backup and scrolled through the news. Before she could get too far into it, she stopped on a very specific headline. It was one from the Gotham Gazette website that read "Joseph Dent announces Mayoral Campaign".

A look of shock washed over Melanie's face as an instant reaction. She blinked a few times while trying to process the weight of the news. Leaning back in her chair, she held a hand up to her head and sighed. The shock began to subside and was soon replaced with pride. "Good for you Joe…I know Maria would be proud."

Falcone Penthouse, Gotham City - 9 AM

"I gotta say Tony, I was surprised when you made the call, and this early at that. I can tell you're serious."

Danilo Maroni sat in the office of Anthony Falcone, wearing a simple navy blue suit and matching tie. He glanced over to Falcone, who was standing in front of one of the large windows that allowed him a view of the city. He swirled around the glass of alcohol in his hand before taking a sip and turning around.

"I'm more serious than I've ever been, D. Things have gotten out of hand real quick, real fast," he said while walking back over to his desk. He took his seat behind the desk and began refilling his cup. "You sure you don't want some?"

Danilo raised both eyebrows while watching Tony. The look on his face was one of a man who felt sorry for another. "It's like 9 in the morning."

"Eh that whole thing about it being too early is bullshit," Tony said before taking another sip of his drink. Once the burning sensation settled in his throat, he gave an aggressive sigh. "You know what else is bullshit? The fact that I now gotta deal with the Red Hood up my ass."

"Is that right? How so?" Danilo asked.

Tony took a brief pause. There was a noticeable twitch under his right eye just at the thought. "I'm sure you heard about my guys being hit last night at the Freight Yards."

Danilo nodded. "Yeah, my condolences by the way."

"Well one of my boys in blue told me that a gun was left behind at the scene of the crime," Tony said before downing the rest of his drink. He looked down at the bottom of the now empty glass. "The gun was Red Hood's."

Danilo slowly nodded in understanding. His eyes drifted off to nothing in particular. "Well…can't imagine that's a good position to be in. That lunatic is an entirely different ballgame than the Bat."

Tony looked up and gave a chuckle, one that was laced with irony. "You don't have to imagine, because he's after you too."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Danilo asked, bringing his attention sharply back to Falcone.

"One of my guys got turned into swiss cheese, just like Thorne," Tony said. He leaned back in his chair and looked up at the ceiling. "Come to think of it, the proximity between Thorne getting whacked and my shipment being hit is interesting, don't you think? Both instances of things important to us, and hell he even told you on the phone he was looking to take you down."

Danilo shook his head. "I don't know that that was the same guy, don't try to rope me into your mess."

"Oh come on, use those brains of yours," Tony said. He sat up straight in his chair and leaned forward. "I know you think I sent an assassin after Thorne."

At this, Danilo's eyes briefly widened. He swiftly brought himself back to a neutral expression and shrugged. "I don't know what you're on about–"

Tony slammed his hand down on the desk. "Don't play me for a fool, D. The Bat told me. Now I'm telling you that I didn't, because the guy is on my ass too and that guy is Red Hood!"

The thought to keep his up accusation against Tony briefly crossed Danilo's mind, but it didn't add up. On some level, he would've rather Tony tried to double cross him than the Red Hood choose him as a target. Danilo sighed and raised his shoulders in an almost defeated fashion.

"Alright, let's say it is him. What the hell do you plan on doing?" he asked.

"It's simple, really. He can't take us both on, not with the manpower we have. We go to war with Red Hood," Tony said with a look of determination on his face.

Before Danilo could even respond, one of Falcone's men walked into the office, looking quite nervous. The two crime bosses turned their attention to him, both giving him a slightly annoyed stare.

"Uh…hey boss-"

"What the hell did I tell you? We're in the middle of something here!" Tony yelled.

The goon held both hands up in defense and almost cowered away from his boss' tone.

"I know, I know it's just uh…something happened that I thought you might wanna know about," he said.

"Well it better be important," Tony responded with impatience covering his words.

The goon nodded. "It's the D.A…uh, Dent. He's running for mayor."

Tony and Danilo shared a glance with one another. It was as if they both could read each other's minds. Their demeanors changed, now appearing to be a combination of worried and annoyed.

"Dent, huh? You know damn well he's not the puppet type," Danilo said.

"And he's popular, got that good reputation for all the guys he put in Blackgate. A lot of my guys too," Tony said with a slight scowl.

"I've already gotten in touch with Rose, she's the one…but if Dent were to win…" Danilo trailed off.

"His last name's Dent. No matter how clean he appears to be, there's no way none of Two-Face didn't rub off on him. He's gotta have some dirt, something to hold over him if he wins," Tony said.

Danilo shifted a bit in his chair. "How are you gonna go about getting it?"

Tony brought a hand up to his face and sighed in thought. Absent-mindedly, his eyes trailed the office. He passed over the goon, but quickly went back over to him.

"Is Sabrina here yet?" he asked.

The goon blinked a few times and gestured to the door. "Yeah…she just came in before I heard the news."

"Send her in here," Tony directed.

The goon nodded and turned to head out the door, bumping into it slightly on his way out. In a matter of moments, the sounds of heels clicking against the floor could be heard approaching the door.

A young woman, seemingly no older than 25 with pale skin and short black hair walked into the room. She wore a black crop top and a pair of black satin dress pants along with matching heels.

"You called for me boss?" she asked, standing with a straight and confident posture.

Danilo took one look at the woman and would glance back at Tony with a slight smirk. He gave the mob boss almost a nod of approval, which Tony responded with a slight chuckle.

"Yes I did Ms. Kyle," Tony said. He placed both of his elbows on his desk with his hands clasped together in front of his face. "I got a job for you."