After Damian's shower, he emerged from his room to find the mansion completely quiet. Deciding to take advantage of the afternoon lull, he took his opportunity to head down to the Batcave. When he found it empty, he set to work.
Plugging in the flash drive from Dick, Damian immediately pulled up the post from the escapee. It didn't take much prompting for the Batcave computer to reveal any information he might need. No security measures were taken by the poster to make themselves untraceable. Just another unsuspecting person who either imagined their data was somehow private or never thought someone would take notice. Once he had a name, the floodgates of information opened.
Caleb Green had an unremarkable life until a few years ago. He had left a modest online trail, with a noticeable absence for five to six years, but among his last activity was his post after Trigon's attack where he revealed himself as having escaped from the Church of Blood. It was only a few months after that, he apparently suffered some kind of mental break. Of all the people, he had decided to attack Oliver Queen at his home. Green ended up transferred to Arkham Asylum after he was declared criminally insane and had been there ever since.
Damian tapped a finger idly on the computer console. He stared at the screen in annoyance as he processed the information and what to do with it. If this Caleb Green had attacked Green Arrow himself, there was no way his father didn't know about this. Green's subsequent transfer to Arkham was further proof that his father had some knowledge or involvement in his incarceration there. Not only that, but it wasn't exactly easy to get access to a patient there. The facility was full of corruption, but you still needed an in, and a Wayne asking to visit a patient there was bound to set off alarms and sell tabloids.
"Who ya spying on?" Jason's voice broke Damian out of his reverie.
Jason came up behind Damian in the computer chair and reached around him to scroll through the pages up on the screen.
"You truly have no sense of boundaries, do you?" Damian crossed his arms and leaned away from Jason's intrusion.
"Nope. Don't know what those are," Jason said as he pushed further into Damian's personal space to take a more controlling position over the console as he continued to scroll through.
Damian rolled his chair to the side to try to gain back some personal space and crossed his arms in a huff.
"This guy is a total bore," Jason determined after reading the profile then turned his head to look at Damian, "so what's got you interested?"
Deciding that throwing Jason a bone was the easiest way to get him off his back, and that it wouldn't compromise his case, he began to share with his brother.
"This man claims to have escaped from a cult that is possibly hundreds of years old and has maintained a high level of secrecy. He may be the only lead to find out anything about where and how this cult operates."
"Ooo, love cult stuff. Count me in."
"Excuse me? Absolutely not, get your own case."
"Oh, come on, you know the Big Bat has me on lockdown. I'm going to guess you're trying to figure out how the hell you're going to get within one mile of Arkham without the press on your tail, let alone get in. And I have an in," Jason plead his case to Damian.
Damian scrutinized his brother, weighing his options.
"You have an in?" Damian questioned.
"Of course I have an in," Jason smirked.
Damian considered for a moment before speaking, "I have conditions."
"Shoot," Jason invited, leaning his hip against the console and crossing his arms to look full on at his younger brother.
"If I let you work with me on this, no one else is to know. No one in our family, no Outlaws, no dalliances, just us unless I decide otherwise."
"Obviously. Although I do take offense to the dalliances comment but go on," Jason agreed.
"You are not to go further in this case without my knowledge or consent."
Jason leaned his head back dramatically with a sigh to convey his annoyance, "Fine."
"You let me interview Green."
"No can-do Baby Bat. My in will only give me access. He doesn't trust easy and barely trusts me, I could lose all access if I try to push him into letting someone new in."
Damian groaned, "Fine. Then you wear a wire."
"Also no. He always checks me before he lets me in. Thinks I'm gonna bring in a gun or something. He was only right the first time."
"You're really not selling this to me."
"You could always go to Bruce or Dick. I'm sure they could get you in the front door," Jason teased, knowing this was an option Damian didn't want to take.
Damian let his head fall back hard against his chair's head rest.
"Fine. Connect with your contact. I'll coach you on interview questions," Damian relented.
"Deal. But we better get out of here first, if you want this to stay a secret between us. It'll start getting busy around the mansion again soon," Jason advised, prompting Damian to download his new files before shutting down the computer.
After clearing off his activity and disconnecting his flash drive, Damian stood and faced Jason. He stared at him hard before extending his hand to seal their deal with a shake. Jason was happy to accept.
Later in the evening, Damian entered the dining room braced to sit down for his first family dinner for a long time. With multiple people out and about and many of them with lives outside of the Bat-Family, Damian felt grateful for the smaller, more intimate welcome home dinner.
Tonight, it would just be his father, Dick, Jason, Cass, and of course Alfred would be present. All of whom were already taking their places at the table when he walked in. With Bruce at the head, Dick and Jason to his right side, Damian walked over the left and was happy to take a seat next to Cass.
As Alfred served their plates, Bruce smiled warmly at his youngest son.
"It's good to have you home, Damian. It's been too long, for my liking. How are you adjusting to your new teammates?" Bruce asked him as Dick and Jason wasted no time after thanking Alfred before digging in.
"Well," Damian began as he spread his napkin on his lap, "Troy has proven quite competent and an asset in a short amount of time. I believe you already know my feelings about the Kent-Luthor clone. Our newest member Tara is a questionable addition thus far," Damian summarized before he set to carving up the plant-based roast in front of him.
Dick watched Damian curiously, feeling the need to jump in. He may not be an active Titan anymore, but he would always feel responsible for his old team.
"Are you sure you couldn't be doing more to make Tara feel more welcomed? Maybe you'd find her less questionable if you gave her a chance," Dick offered.
"Damian not trusting the newbie, huh? There's a surprise," Jason said sarcastically between bites of his food.
"Jason…" Bruce chastised.
Jason shrugged in response.
"Maybe if someone had properly vetted her, I'd be less worried, Grayson."
"What more vetting can be done on a sixteen-year-old runaway with no family and no home?" Dick challenged.
Damian opened his mouth to fire back when Alfred piped up from the side of the dining room.
"Perhaps you gentlemen could save your bickering for after your meal?" Alfred scolded.
"Alfred is right, Damian just got home. If you two want to discuss your difference of opinions later, that's fine. Let's enjoy our meal. Perhaps Damian, you could fill us in on what else you've been up to out in Jump City?" Bruce redirected.
"Not much. Just the usual," Damian said, offering nothing.
"Oh, come on," Jason said then, instantly making Damian bristle, "no girls? Boys? Thems? Hot aliens? You've got to be getting some action now that you're looking all almost-grown-man-like over there."
Bruce put down his fork and put his face in his hand to sigh.
Dick perked right up, seeing opportunity arise.
"Yeah, Damian, there must be someone who's caught your eye," Dick said, knowingly.
"Grayson…" Damian growled out through gritted teeth, glaring hard at his brothers.
Damian began to curl his hands into fists when he received a hard elbow to his side from Cassandra. He looked at her, and she gave him a look that conveyed enough to him without her having to sign. This wasn't the League; he wasn't being challenged to fight. He was being teased to get a rise out of him, because it was family. He unclenched his fists and jaw and straightened his back more, trying to put on an air of indifference again.
"I have nothing to share," Damian stated calmly.
"Sure, sure," Dick nodded.
Bruce side-eyed Dick, considering his tone, then decided to change topics again.
"Well, we've been busy here trying to help Commissioner Gordon take down a drug cartel that's recently overtaken the streets."
"I've heard a bit about that," Damian acknowledged.
"You're welcome to join us on patrols while you're here. We could always use the help and it's always good to have Robin with us."
"I'll consider it."
There was a pause in conversation as the group took to eating their meal with a little more gusto. They were all almost finished with their plates when a loud alarm began to blare from both Dick and Damian's phones.
Startled, both men quickly pulled out their phones to see what the alert was for as everyone else in the room looked on. After unlocking their screens and reading the notification quickly, the two immediately locked eyes across the table with panic written across their features. There were loud clangs as the two threw their utensils down on their plates and immediately pushed away from the table. Dick let his chair fall on the floor behind him as he made a run for the Batcave with Damian in close pursuit.
Dick tried calling Kori on his phone as they ran, only to have it go to voicemail every time he tried. It only spurred him on to go faster.
It didn't take long for the others to chase after them to see what was going on. Dick and Damian had started to pull up screen after screen of news reports and security footage on the Batcave computer. Dick's posture was tense, standing leaned over the computer console as if lives depended on his ability to type fast enough. Damian stood inches away, hands gripped on the console and just as tense and staring up at the various screens Dick was opening.
"What's going on?" Bruce commanded as he ran up to his sons at the computer, Jason, Cass, and Alfred in tow.
'TERROR AT THE MALL,' headlines read on the news screens, providing limited information on an explosion at Jump City mall as details trickled in on the unfolding news story.
"Kori took the girls to the mall today for team building. They're there right now," Dick managed to get out, as his focus was on hacking into live security camera footage at the mall, trying to find any sign of where the Titan women could be.
Bruce put his hand over Dick's shoulder to give a comforting squeeze as he clicked through staticky security feeds, smoke covered feeds, or feeds from stores that were intact with fire alarm lights flashing and people evacuating. In none of them had he found Kori.
Damian knew that if anyone could survive the blast, Raven would find a way, he was sure of it. Really all of them there were powerful enough to survive an explosion, he thought logically. Still, anxiety clenched his heart as his eyes scanned the footage Dick searched through to try to find a glimpse of any Titan. Damian eyed the direction of the Batcave where he knew the Zeta-tube that could take them right to the heart of Jump City was, wondering at what point Dick and him would deem it time to act, as they continued to not be able to confirm the Titans' safety.
Rotating through all the available feeds, Dick stopped as a feed near the explosion that hadn't been taken completely out started to show the smoke clearing. In the debris filled mall corridor, black shapes started to take shape dropping into the mall through the hole that had been freshly blasted in the glass roof. Dick and Damian froze, as the situation appeared to take a different, more serious turn. A real threat to all of Jump City could be on their hands as the figures shrouded in black began to move through the destroyed mall, coming into view enough to see they were all armed with what looked like assault rifles.
Dick straightened his back and looked at Damian then.
"I think it's time we get changed…" he started in a low voice.
Cass tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention and pointed him back at the screen.
The gloomy mall scene had started to be illuminated by green bolts of light, hitting the armed figures, just before Starfire could be seen flying through the smoke past the camera.
Dick let out a breath he didn't know he was holding as he saw Starfire, alive and fighting on the screen. The other Titan ladies followed into the scene, and Damian felt relief flood his senses, as well as a swell of pride as he laid eyes on Raven. She looked strong, unharmed, and ready for the fight. It wasn't long until the rest of Titans assembled on the scene as well, eliminating any need for Nightwing and Robin to join.
Dick collapsed into the computer chair as the crash from adrenaline started to set in, rubbing his hands over his face.
Unexpectedly, Damian was the one this time to place a comforting hand on Dick's shoulder. Dick looked up at his younger brother's serious expression and all at once he seemed a different, more mature person than anyone had notice he was becoming.
"They would never be so easily defeated," Damian said to Dick with all the conviction he could muster.
"It looks like they've got good control of the situation," Bruce appraised as he watched the feed. The unknown insurgents were beginning to retreat from the Titans' counterattacks. The news feeds still on screen showed a fleet of different emergency crews flocking to the scene to begin treating casualties.
"It's moments like this that make me hate the life," Dick confessed. The room nodded collectively in agreement, and their eyes flicked back to the screen.
Bruce clicked to enhance the screen showing the news report. The gunmen had fled the scene with the Titans in pursuit, and emergency crews were cleared to enter the mall.
"The best thing you can do for them now is use our resources here to review the security footage. See if you can find where and when the bomb was planted, and who planted it," Bruce offered.
"Right," Dick said, straightening up and moving the chair in front of the keyboard, "let's see what we can find."
"We'll leave you to it, but don't hesitate to call me if you need anything," Bruce said turning to leave.
"I'll be back to check on you, Master Dick," Alfred promised before also leaving.
Cass made eye contact with Dick and Damian and signed at them, 'Are you okay?'
"We're good Cass, thank you," Dick acknowledged.
After those three had left the room, Damian piped up.
"I'm staying. Two sets of eyes are better than one, and this is my team, my friends," Damian stated as he leaned on the console and looked up at the screen as Dick started to pull up different security camera feeds again.
Dick nodded, "Pull up a chair."
"Make that two," Jason said, coming up to the console with two chairs in either hand.
The Titan and former Titan looked at the Outlaw curiously.
"I've got nothing better to do," Jason said with a shrug.
Dick and Damian exchanged a glance, before looking back at Jason.
"Come on up," Dick welcomed.
Damian accepted the chair Jason offered and took his seat. Before focusing in on the computer, he pulled out his phone to send a quick text. He knew she wouldn't respond right away, but e was eager to hear from her as soon as possible.
"Call me when you get this. I need to know you're alright."