#mlau

I was unable to find the artist for this one. My theory is that they weren't allowed to claim it because the skin never ended up being put in the game 😞

Being alone used to never bother him, back when he was with his mother he’d be left alone for hours. At first he had well trained nursemaids to take care of him, but once he grew out of that he was given a few guards to watch over him. Even once he learned how to properly defend himself, guards were always by his side. The risk was too great to leave the prince unguarded. But the guards learned quickly, they knew not to overstep, to stay outside of the room, to not speak unless spoken too. 

So being alone wasn’t new and it didn’t bother him, it didn’t used to bother him. But then he came to Gotham, and yes he was alone for a long time, but then Grayson came around and Drake started warming up to him, or rather he started warming up to Drake. Alfred was always there and he quickly learned just how many children were in his father’s life. And of course there was Jason. They pretended to be strangers but Jason he’d known longer than all of them. 

And now he didn’t like being alone so much. 

Usually if trapped by himself he would text. He’d text Colin first, but Colin was upset with him. Then he’d go to Jon, who needed to be alone. He could always text Marinette, no matter the time, but currently the Parisian girl was angry with him. There were his classmates, Gotham Academy may not have been what he expected but he did like the people in his class, even enjoyed their presence on occasion. He could always text the group chat, it was typically teeming with drama. He was probably behind on the drama, seeing how Colin and Marinette had been occupying his phone so often on the trip. 

Damian sat on his bed, pillow in his lap, staring at the device. The screen was darkened, making his reflection prominent. He glared at himself. He was still angry, and still very confused. Why was everyone so upset? He hadn’t meant to shoot Adrien, it was an honest to god accident. In fact, if not for Damian’s quick thinking, for the jerk of his hand, the boy would be dead. They should be thanking him! 

Damian pressed the home button, typed in his passcode and watched his lockscreen, the nightwing symbol, change to a bright photo of his animals. His finger loomed over his texting app, a silent debate happening in his mind. In the end, he decided he just didn’t have the energy to deal with his classmates. 

Instead he opened his contacts and scrolled through them until he found his brothers’ names. Dick was at a wedding, he’d be busy with stuff surrounding the ceremony all week long. Apparently titans from all over the world were gathing. It was more of a week long party with a random wedding thrown in the mix than something traditional. He shouldn’t bother Dick. 

Tim was at a conference and Jason was who knows where doing who knows what. Stephenie never gave good advice, at least Damian didn’t think she did. Cass would probably just scold him for almost killing the Agreste boy, no he couldn’t call her. Duke would just be confused if Damian tried contacting him. Kate was also out, knowing the red haired woman, her girlfriend would get involved and Damian would just spend an hour being mothered by the pair. 

He could call Barbra? 

No. That was a bad idea as well. 

Damian fell back on the large pile of pillows, thumb randomly scrolling through his contacts. He had so many numbers listed. He probably didn’t need all of them. He’d copied a copious amount JLA phone numbers into his cellular device, just in case he needed someone specific form the League and didn’t have time to go through his father. If it weren’t for all the trouble with the Luthors Damian might have called Diana. 

He tossed his phone to the side, head resting back. 

Was there really no one he could call for advice? 

He had begun to pride himself on the strides he was making in socializing. Grayson beamed everytime Damian asked for permission to spend time with his classmates. His father would pat his head and tell him how happy he was that his son was branching out. Everyone seemed so excited about him becoming more social. Yet here he was, alone. 

Damian reached for his phone again, contacts still open he began to scroll through his classmates. None of them seemed like a good fit for his current predicament. JLA members, the entirety of the Gotham Police Department, all of his classmates, a handful of Gotham rogues, plus his family and he couldn’t call one person for advice. Maybe he wasn’t as good at socializing as he once thought. 

He sunk lower into his pillows, phone resting on his chest underneath his hands. He shut his eyes, trying to force himself to sleep. Maybe things would be better in the morning, probably, one could hope. Once everyone got a good night's rest, they would no longer be upset with him. They’d apologize for overreacting…yeah.

Or Edna might decide to be done with him, not worth all the trouble after all. It wouldn’t be hard to reshoot, he’s only modeled a few outfits. Marinette wouldn’t come to his defense, of course not, she’d be too busy playing nursemaid to that dumb blonde cat. Gabriel would most likely file a lawsuit as soon as business hours started. His father would be so angry, years of progress all washed down the drain. Once an assassin always an assassin. He’d probably be sent back to the monks, or some other form of boarding school. Somewhere Damian could be reformed, learn how to be good. 

Colin would break up with him. 

Were they even still together at this point? 

It wasn’t entirely out of the question. They didn’t fight, typically if they had a disagreement or were angry with one another Colin would get frustrated and eventually force them to talk it out. None of their problems lasted long. But it’d been nearly nine hours since they last talked. That was a record, Colin never went that long without talking to him if Damian was upset or if they had a fight. An hour maybe, two if they were busy. But it was now well past eleven at night, Colin was probably asleep. He always said how important it was not to go to bed angry with one another. The red haired boy had a habit of talking like they were married, which Damian didn’t mind, but his brothers often teased him for it. 

But it was almost midnight, and Colin was probably asleep. 

His boyfriend went to bed angry, meaning they probably weren’t dating anymore. 

Colin hated him and never wanted to speak to him again, that was really the only explanation. His ex and cousin probably spent dinner together discussing how much they now hated him. Damian should have seen this coming. He tried so very hard to hide everything he had been taught to be by the League of Assassins, but some of his darkness escaped and now everyone around him saw how ugly he was on the inside. They all hated him, it was the only explanation. Damian would probably get home and be hated by his family as well, maybe even his animals. 

God his chest felt like lead. 

Why was it so hard to breath? 

And why was it so hot all of a sudden?

His heart rate was also accelerated, which was strange. Why was his heart beating so fast? 

Oh.

Oh.

He was having a panic attack.

… 

Marinette sat in the cafeteria of the Mode Building, tablet propped up on the table. The place had been practically abandoned for the night, the only light coming from the kitchen doorway. She’d come down to make herself some hot chocolate, hoping it would quell the pit in her stomach, and had found the silence of the large space rather comforting. Plus the view of the city scape that the floor to ceiling windows gave her was gorgeous at this late hour. 

She typed away on her device, using her stylist pin every now and again to rearrange what was on her screen. Today had been a mess, and now she was left to pick up the pieces, reshaping them into something that resembled a functioning strategy. Her plan with Lila had been full proof. She had her crew to antagonize her, get her to claim ridiculous things, a growing list of lies Marinette documented flawlessly. Then she and Max set to work debunking everything that came out of her mouth. The bluenette had only needed a little more time, she was so close to proving everything.

But then Lila had uttered Damian’s name. 

The very mention of which was making her sick at the moment. 

The Wayne’s were powerful, the name alone had so much influence, she’d seen it herself whenever she would visit Gotham. That cursed city believed anything they were told. If some random french girl started spouting off about her and Damian Wayne’s forbidden love, the public would eat it up. And they’d burn Colin at the stake in the process.  

She had vivid memories of when she’d visited Gotham at age eleven. She stayed for a month during the summertime. It was her second in person meeting with Damian, the first had begun rough but they’d come out of it extremely close. Within days her picture was everywhere. Everyone referring to her as “the secret girlfriend.” Hordes of Wayne fangirls, varying in age from nine to twenty-six, openly threatened her, they swarmed her cousins whenever they were in public. She recalled one girl getting her hand in Damian’s hair and then breaking down into sobs because she’d gotten to touch one of them. 

Damian sued her, if Marinette was remembering correctly. 

The tides changed the moment that it was announced she was their cousin. Suddenly, all the fangirls were just as obsessed with her as they were with her cousins. Which somehow made them scarier in Marinette’s eyes. 

She could recall every awful thing that the news outlets had said about her. It was like the city itself hated her up until they realized she was a Wayne. Those nasty things were often what swam through her head in the midst of an anxiety attack. Gotham was a horrendous place, she had decided that long ago. It was like the people themselves thought that the only thing their city had to offer was the Waynes, probably because everything else was corrupt or in ruins within seconds. It really was no wonder they were turning out crazies at such an accelerated rate. The city was like a breeding ground for metahuman accidents and mental illness. 

She shutdown her folder on Lila.

She wasn’t going to be able to update anything till she got in touch with Foxtrot. She needed to be fully briefed on the aftermath. Of course once she was able to contact her crew they would give her the rundown, but she needed to know what was going on inside, and with Nino on the outs with the Liar, Foxtrot was her only source of information left. 

She clutched her stylist harder, she hated what that girl was doing to her. Lila had turned Marinette into the one thing she swore she would never become. 

Batman.

She had her army, her spies, spies that not even her spies knew about. An enemy that absorbed her every waking thought. She’d begun to encrypt everything. She had even asked Tim to instal Batcomputer level software on her tablet. He ended up just sending her a new one. Told her it was an early birthday gift and that it would be their little secret. But knowing her cousin, he could probably see everything she did on the device. 

She had encrypted files for the war against Lila, and encrypted files for the war against Hawkmoth. Now if only it was possible to get a spy on the inside of Hawkmoth’s operation, god knows her life would be easier. Instead she just had maps of the city, charts of the most frequent akuma attacks, and a list of possible suspects. But investigating the terrorist was much harder than she had originally thought it would be. It wasn’t like Ladybug could just go around randomly questioning people, she was lucky enough to have the relationship she did with the Paris Police, she didn’t need to rock the boat. 

She’d even resorted to walking around the city and having Tikki mark places on a map that she felt another Kawami was close. Of course none of those locations panned out. The small magical creature later admitting that she got a strong feeling from the Agreste Mansion, but knowing Adrien was Chat Noir she had excluded it from the list. 

All of her cousins, and her uncle, had at one point or another offered their services. Her Uncle Bruce convinced if she’d just let the League into Paris, they would have Hawkmoth in custody within the day. But she couldn’t risk it. 

They were damn lucky that no metahumans or supers had shown up in Paris thus far. If Hawkmoth got control of someone with actual powers, the consequences could be disastrous. Marinette knew she could fix any damage an akuma did, but if that akuma had heat vision before getting akumatized, and lasered a building in half? Well she was far less confident that she could fix that. 

Hell, she was hesitant to let Bruce Wayne into Paris, and he was family. But her uncle was an emotional time bomb. All his children were, and if Hawkmoth got control of them and saw into their minds...the girl physically shuddered at the thought. Though, with her knew knowledge about Chloé, she had some small amount of hope. Maybe Hawkmoth didn’t have an all access pass to a person’s mind like they had originally thought. It was hard to question anyone about their experiences when they couldn’t remember a thing in the aftermath. 

Her head jerked to the side as the soft ding of the elevator rang through the quiet room. She watched as the metallic doors slid open bathing the slim build of Gabriel Agreste in soft yellow light. The girl’s body froze as she watched him step from the elevator and walk through the empty room. He paused roughly halfway to the kitchen, seeming to finally notice the girl. 

Marinette’s fingers moved without much thought, shutting down the file she had on Hawkmoth and opening up a random folder on her screen. She smiled and gave a small wave before turning back to her tablet, seeing a handful of Agreste fashion spreads now laid out and illuminated. 

“Great.” She whispered. “Just fantastic.” She circled a few of the designs with her stylist before shutting the folder and opening up one filled with Galbaki’s latest spread. Damian had a working theory he had mentioned the other day, before all of the Lila drama unfolded, that Galbaki was copying old lines of famous designers and just giving his version a face lift with a new color scheme and different material. 

It was basically what he did with super suits, every single one he created was basically a carbon copy of an old suit Edna had designed, just with ‘edgier’ colors and sparkly material. Damian had asked Marinette to examine the lines more closely, seeing as she had the designer eye in the family. And once they’d built up enough evidence they’d take it to Edna and probably get a parade thrown for them by the small woman. 

By the looks of it his last collection was just a color redo of an older Agreste summer line, with a handful of more futuristic elements thrown in for that signature Galbaki style. Liars and cheats made her sick. There were so many hard working good hearted people in the world, who busted their asses everyday for years just to get recognized, for a chance at their shot. And then assholes like this come in and just take it all. 

For a second Marinette had a hard time distinguishing Galbaki and Lila in her head.

Her attention lured away from her tablet by the elevators again, seeing their doors close on Mr. Agreste’s form. He was holding a tray of coffee in his hands. That was...very strange. 

Why was he getting his own coffee? 

And where was Nathalie?  

Actually, now that she thought about it, she hadn’t seen Nathalie at the shoot this morning. Where was Nathalie?

… 

The jet was quiet, save for the bubbling of the champagne. Oliver sat, leg resting on his knee, opposite the beautiful redhead woman whose eyes were focused out the window. The tall, slender woman’s bicep flexed every few minutes as she moved the champagne flute held between her fingers. Her angular face rested in her other hand, lips painted a dangerous shade of red that complimented the olive color of her irises. 

“France?” Oliver finally asked, it had taken him a few minutes to process the information he’d been given. 

“There’s a man I met in college that I’m hoping to reconnect with.” She answered. 

“Does he know?” Oliver asked, leaning forward, setting his own flute on the table between them. 

“He only ever knew me as Tess, never Lena, or even Lutessa.” The woman answered. “He had the kindest smile.” Her lips quirked into a grin of her own. “A very humble man, didn’t come from much, I imagine he’s got a nice blue collar job now.”

“Doesn’t sound like your type.” The smile she shot Oliver was lethal.

“Because I’ve had such great luck with billionaires in the past.” She rolled her eyes, taking a sip from her glass, lipstick staining the rim.

“Well, maybe try a nice millionaire, if you’re looking for a change of pace.” She laughed at that, setting her glass down, her green eyes sparkling with mirth. 

“Isn’t the whole point of me going undercover in this ridiculous version of witness protection to not attract attention?” She leaned forward. “I think Lex would notice if some random rich man married his baby sister.” 

“I don’t know. Lex can be a little dumb sometimes, I should know, I went to prep school with him for ten years.” Oliver offered a smile of his own.

“He’s a genius Ollie. A son of a bitch, yes, but a genius all the same.” She picked her glass up and took another swig. “Besides, Roger was a sweet boy, I’m sure he turned into quite the kind man. I’ve never had enough of those in my life.” Oliver scoffed at her comment, transforming her smile into a smirk. “Of course, that comment does exclude Clark Kent.” She said, lips hovering over the rim of her glass.

“Excuse me?” He rested a hand over his chest.

“Oh come on Oliver, I’ve known you for quite some time, you weren’t always so nice. You still aren’t too terribly nice.” She took another sip before setting her glass down. “You’re kind of a jack-ass Ollie.” 

“Yeah but I’m a kind jack-ass.” 

She smiled, crossing her legs. “Plus, Emilie is in Paris now. Figured I could reconnect with her. Surely she’d keep my secret.” 

Oliver’s eyebrow quirked. “Graham de Vanily?” He asked. 

“Mmm.” She took another sip from her glass. “She married that designer, remember?” 

Oliver turned to look out the window. “Yeah, I remember.” 

The woman’s gaze turned pitying. “The two of you would have never worked out Ollie.” She sighed. “Plus with your extracurriculars I doubt Emilie could have handled it.” 

Oliver squinted his eyes. “She was Amanda’s best-”

“Which is why she got out. She hated working for Mandy.” The woman turned her head towards the window. “Despised it, if I'm remembering correctly.” 

“Yeah well, I wouldn’t spend too much time with Emmie. Her husband’s an ass.” 

“You’re only saying that because she refused to run away with you on the eve of her wedding.” Oliver’s eyes widened. 

“You know about that?” He asked. 

“You mean you practically begging her to run off into the sunset with you? Yeah Ollie. I’m the one who helped Emilie get out of the life. She told me everything.” She shrugged. “Though, I must admit, I do wish I could become friends with someone, just once, and not find out that you screwed them too.” 

“It was never like that with Emilie.” Oliver turned away from her. “It wasn’t like that with you either. For the record. But for some reason whenever I fall for a woman she suddenly decides she hates my guts.” 

“The mask doesn’t help.” The redhead whispered. 

The silence that stretched between them was long before the woman spoke again. “She’s pregnant you know.” Oliver’s eyes snapped back to the redhead. “Expecting a little boy apparently.” 

“He’s going to be a shit father.” 

“But she’ll be an amazing mother.” 

“She will.” 

“I think Roger would probably be a good father,” The woman leaned farther back in her seat. “I wouldn’t mind starting a little family. I’ve always wanted a daughter you know.” 

“What if you get a son?”

“Any Luthor progeny carrying a Y chromosome should be killed on sight.” She crossed her arms. “I’ll stand by that till the day I die.” 

Oliver nodded in slight agreement. “So, Roger? What if he’s taken?” Oliver smiled cheekily. “Planning to play homewrecker and steal him away from some poor unsuspecting woman?”

“It might sound absolutely ridiculous to someone who falls in love every two seconds with any pretty woman who can match wits with him, but when I left Paris, after I’d finished school, he asked me to marry him.” The woman turned back to the window. “I was Tess then, but I knew I had to be Lena again soon. That my brother was coming for me. I couldn’t drag a good man like him into my world.”

“And?” 

“He said he’d wait for me.” She smiled, eyes watching the dark sky. “And it’s the strangest thing but I believed him.” 

“What if he’s ugly now?” 

The woman let out a snort, leaning forward and covering her mouth. “Oh god Oliver, only you!”

“Definitely not only me. You know what those pricks that we grew up around were like.” 

“Only assistants who are easy on the eyes.” The woman rolled her own sparkling irises. “Preferable leggy.” 

“And the girls only wanted nice big buff bodyguards, broad shouldered, tall with a head of dark hair.” Oliver leaned forward, smirk wide. “Look, the girls found appearances just as important as us boys. The boys just had a higher sex drive and louder opinions.” 

“Much louder.” The woman sighed. “Looks don’t matter that much anymore Ollie. I just want something simple. A family, a quiet life. I want to worry about homework and dinner for a change, instead of figuring out how much kryptonite needs to be melted down and added to the formula of a titanium bullet in order for it to be lethal to everyone’s favourite friendly farm boy journalist.” 

“I’m sorry but anyone who prefers Clark to Lois,” Oliver shook his head. “has something seriously wrong with them.” 

The woman laughed again, shaking her own head before smiling. “I am going to miss those two.”

“We could always protect you a little closer to home?” The man offered, eyes hopeful, but the woman just shook her head harder. 

“I told you Ollie-”

“Rodger.” 

“I really do feel like this is what I need to do.” She leaned forward, taking the man’s hand. “I’ll reconnect with Emilie. Get married, have a kid or two. I want to live my life without looking over my shoulder, without fearing that he’ll just appear behind me.” 

“We’re going to do our best to give that to you Le-” Oliver stopped, almost biting his lip. “Tess.” He corrected.

“I sure hope so.” The woman smiled, her playful edge back. “Because if Amanda Waller and Bruce’s little Hero Club’s forces combined can’t keep my brother away, then humanity really is doomed.” 

… 

Oliver’s eyes were killing him. He’d been staring at the damn screen in front of him for hours. Tess had been his responsibility. She wanted out and he promised her safe passage to a better life, a life where the Luthor name, a name she had never wanted, would never catch up to her. He was supposed to protect her from her psychotic brother. He hadn’t been out twenty-four hours and she was unfindable. 

The truth of the matter was Tess had stopped regularly checking in years ago. Oliver had contacted her and she had said she was getting married. That she didn’t want her husband to find out anything. She thanked him for everything and then he never heard from her again. He didn’t want to push or pry, he could respect someone starting over from scratch, she had built herself a life and Oliver wasn’t going to be the one who tore it away from her. But now she was likely dead or back in her brother’s clutches, and it was all his fault, and everyone in the room knew it. 

Oliver waved his hand over the holopad in front of him, the screen disappearing as he leaned forward on his elbows. It felt strange to be in the Watchtower out of costume but here he was, accompanied by Clarck Kent, Diana Prince, Bruce Wayne, Hal Jordan, Barry Allen, Arthur Curry and the Martian Manhunter. J’onn had opted not to stay in his human disguise, which was fine, no one was going to force him to. When Lex had been released the whole League went to defcon one. None of them had really had time to change once they realized that not only did they no longer have eyes on Lena Luthor, but Checkmate didn’t seem to either.

They were all just sitting around the conference room table. No one spoke, everyone’s attention on their own holopads. He had relayed his story of his and Tess’s last in person conversation, the League had listened intently but now no one seemed interested in offering up opinions.

Clark moved to dismiss his holopad. “What happened after you landed?” The Kryptonian asked.

Oliver sighed, hand running through his hair before resting it on the table in front of him. “After we landed in Italy, we met up with one of Waller’s agents, and I handed Tess off to them. Maybe a year after that, I got a call about her reuniting with Roger, and that was it.” 

Bruce sat at the head of the conference table, out of costume but Batman’s signature scowl present on his face. “The agent?” He wiped his hand over the holopad, screen disappearing.

“You’d have to ask Mandy about that one. She was older, grey hair, big eyes, gave me the codeword, introduced herself as Agent Indigo.” Oliver shrugged. “Tess recognized her though, and the codeword was correct, and we were in the agreed meeting spot.”

Clark sat on Bruce’s right, hands clenched into tight fists. “What about this Roger? I mean, how many Rogers can there be in one city?”

“You’d be surprised.” Arthur murmured, eyes scanning over his holopad. “We’re narrowing it down as best we can, but Lena attended five different universities, three of which were in Paris. We’ve got a total of one hundred and seventy-two Rogers and counting that she could have been talking about.” 

“A hundred and seventy-two?” Diana asked. 

“Paris is a large city with a big population. We’ve also got to account for all grade levels and for all we know Roger wasn’t even a student. He could have just been some rando she met.” Arthur shrugged, pushing some of his own hair out of his face. “But seeing as he’s all we’ve got to go on-”

“What about the girl you two were discussing?” Hal asked, leaning forward on his elbows. “You called her Emery?”

“Emilie.” Oliver corrected. “Emilie Graham de Vanily. She was an actress and came from a pretty prominent family. I met her when I was in my twenties, she also did a stint at Checkmate, worked pretty closely with Tess while she was there.” Oliver’s eyes lowered to his hands. “She was good, but got out after getting engaged to some up and coming designer. The two moved from America to Paris right after the wedding.” 

“Great, let’s contact her. If Lena said that she was going to get in touch with her-” Oliver was quick to cut the Amazon Princess off. 

“Emilie’s been missing, presumed dead, for years now.” He sighed. 

“What about her husband?” J’onn asked, the Martian being the only hero in the room not sitting at the table, he stood off to the side, which wasn’t uncommon for meetings like these. “Would he know anything about Ms. Luthor’s whereabouts?”

“Agreste is an asshole and extremely anti-vigilante and anti-hero. He wouldn’t help us. He also wouldn’t help me if I asked. Guy hates my guts.” Oliver crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. 

“Agreste?” Bruce asked, eyebrow quirking. “Gabriel Agreste?”

“Uhh, yeah?” Oliver’s own eyebrow raised in question. “He’s kind of gotten big I guess, over the past few years. Some magazine started supporting him.” 

“His son is modeling for Edna’s new collection. I met him just a few days ago.” Bruce’s face shifted. “He’s not the friendliest man.” He murmured. 

“Do you think he’d be willing to talk to you Bruce?” Diana asked. 

“Possibly?” Bruce’s brows nicked together. “But he’s not stupid, he’ll have questoins that I’ll need to be prepared to answer. And if he knew Lena at all well, he’ll want to know why she didn’t mention knowing Bruce Wayne.” 

“Do we know what alias Lena used?” Barry asked, the speedster sitting with his legs propped up on the table, slumped in his chair with his arms folded behind his head. “I mean, we know she was using Tess, or a name that could be shortened to it. She’d have to for this Rodger guy’s sake. But, to keep Lex away she probably didn’t go back to using Mercer. If we could find out what last name she was using, we could do a search for Paris Marriages between some form of Tess and Roger expanding like three…four years after she went undercover.” 

The room went silent, making Barry sit up and look around at his fellow heroes. “Oh come on guys, I could not be the only one who thought of that.” 

“Let’s move on.” Bruce quickly supplied. “Start the search like Barry suggested.” His holopad reappeared. “We’ll need a list of all possible first names she could have used. Amanda forwarded us all of Lena’s known aliases, we can use those to compile a possible last name-”

A sudden buzzing noise came from the businessman's suit jacket. Bruce reached inside the breast pocket and pulled out a slim black smartphone. He stood excusing himself and walked towards the wall of glass at the end of the room, placing the device to his ear. 

“Hello?” 

Everyone was quiet, quick at work on their holopads, but all had their ears open, carefully listening to the man’s conversation. It was rare for him to take a Bruce Wayne call in front of them. 

“Aunt Edna-”

“Yes I understand that Damian-”

“He did what?”

Clark raised an eyebrow, pulling out his own phone and checking over it. “No messages from Jon.” He whispered. 

“Yes Aunt Edna, I understand.” The man’s fingers where clenched over his phone. “I’ll talk to him. He’ll apologize. Do you know why it happen-”

The man stopped, eyes narrowing as he listened to the woman on the other line. “Well Edna, if he said it was an accident-” 

“Now listen, Damian may be a lot of things but he isn’t a liar!” Bruce’s voice raised, everyone in the room’s full attention now on him. “If he said it was an accident Edna, then he didn’t mean to do it.”

“I’m well aware that he’s a trained assassin, but he’s also a sixteen year old boy who makes just as many mistakes as any other teenager.” His voice became sterner. “I agree he should apologize to the boy, but if he said it was an accident, then it was an accident.” 

He bid the woman goodbye before hanging up. His eyes stayed locked on his screen as he typed furiously. “Dick won’t answer,” He murrmured. “Jason would probably be best for this.” His voice stayed quiet as he walked back to the table and took his seat. “No, he’s on Themyscira-”

“Jason is on Themyscira?” Diana asked, the woman was seated on Bruce’s left, she leaned over the table to get closer to him. 

“Artemis invited him for the week.” Bruce’s voice had gone back to its usual Batman monotone. “It’ll have to be Tim.” 

“Got it!” Barry suddenly shouted, holopad in hand but body back in it’s relaxed position. With a swipe of his finger the contents of his screen were displayed on the window behind Bruce for the rest of the room to see. “Seventeen years ago, just outside of Paris, Theresa Kent, love that little jab at her brother, and Roger Raincomprix were married! Boom! Your welcome!” 

“Theresa Kent?” Hal questioned, eyeing the picture of the couple now on screen.

Oliver and Clark shared a look, there was no mistaking it, the woman was definitely Tess. “Man she really wasn’t kidding about that guy not being her typical type.” Oliver whispered, eyeing over the photo of the man on screen.

“Do we have an address?” Clark asked, already halfway out of his seat.

“A moment good sir.” Barry’s fingers flew across his screen, super speed kicking in. But suddenly his hands fell flat. “Oh my god.” He whispered. 

“What?” Arthur asked. J’onn had approached the speedster’s seat, he loomed over the redhead. His eyes widened only slightly as he read the words still only Barry had access to. 

“Theresa Raincomprix died of radiation induced cancer six years ago.” The Martian supplied. “Survived by her husband, Officer Roger Raincomprix, and their ten year old daughter.” 

Oliver’s heart sank. 

“Radiation induced cancer.” Clark said, falling back into his seat. His eyes glued to the table as they slowly morphed into a glare. “Kryptonite induced cancer.” 

“Son of a bitch killed his sister.” Oliver hissed. 

“At least she’s finally free from her brother.” Barry offered. 

“Yes.” Diana folded her hands in her lap. “May she find peace in the afterlife.” 

“Should we be worried for the husband?” Arthur asked. “I mean, he wouldn’t have any use to Luthor, right?”

“Probably not.” Hal answered. “Lex prefers to keep things in the family, and this guy might have married his sister, but I mean, look at him.” He gestured to the photos still on screen. “He’s no Luthor.” 

Oliver felt sick and by the look on Clark’s face the same thoughts were racing through the Kryptonian’s mind as well. “But the daughter is.” 

… 

Damian laid on his side, knees curled into his chest, arms wrapped tightly around himself. He was trying to focus on his breathing but his head was killing him and the small noises around him had all become so acute. 

He just wanted to sleep at this point. Well, really he wanted to cry, but Damian didn’t cry so sleeping was his next best option. However, the omnipotent force that watch over humanity and laughed at it’s suffer seemed to be targeting him. Keeping him from peace. 

With a sigh he rolled back onto his back, glaring up at the ceiling as his phone began to buzz next to him. He didn’t even look at the name flashing across his screen before answering and placing the device against his ear.

“What happened D?” Damian let out an annoyed groan. “You can hang up on me if you want but I'm just going to keep calling.”

“Then I'll turn off my phone.” He snapped.

“Go right ahead, I'll just hack into it and turn it back on. And then I'll call again.” There was a pause, like the voice was waiting for some snotty remark, when none came it continued. “What happened?”

“Did Edna call you?” 

“No daemon spawn, Bruce did.” Another pause. “He sounded worried.” 

“And you care because?” Damian’s glare intensified. 

“We’ve been over this Damian.” The voice softened. “Weren’t we making progress like a week ago?”

“Me saving Red Robin’s ass from the Joker isn’t making progress Drake, it’s me doing my damn job.” He sneered. 

He could hear a sigh come from his brother. “Just talk to me Damian. What happened? You’re lashing out, just like you did this afternoon, apparently.” He could hear the eye roll through the phone. “Personally I think it’s Auntie’s fault for arming you but I got yelled at when I voiced that opinion. So please, tell me your side of the story?” 

 Damian took a deep breath, jaw set and eyes closed. He didn’t want to talk about this. In fact, it would be great if he could just forget the whole day had even happened. He just wanted to sleep and have everything be back to his weird version of normal when he woke up.

“I fucked up.” His voice cracked as he spoke, tears pricking the corners of his eyes when they opened. 

“Okay, why do you think that?” Tim’s voice was calm as he questioned his brother. 

“Marinette was upset. She’d been upset all day-”

“Did you ask her why?” His brother interrupted. 

“I tried to,” God he needed to get his voice under control. “She wouldn’t talk to me. So I said I could go get Adrien-”

“The kid you shot?”

“Yeah, he’s cat boy, or whatever his name is.” Damian’s eyes trailed off to the side of the room. He knew the boy’s alterego, in fact Damian had been the one to put together Chat Noir’s file for the Batcomputer. But at the moment the feline themed superhero’s name left a bad taste in the former assassin’s mouth. 

“Chat Noir?” 

“Yeah him.” Damian grumbled. “You should have seen her, she recoiled so violently. The only logical conclusion I could come to was that Adrien was the cause of her pain.” 

“So you shot him?” Tim asked, confusion lacing his voice. 

“NO!” The word came out louder than he had intended it to. “I just-I was upset and angry and-I didn’t mean-no one believes me but I didn't-I didn’t mean-”

“Take a breath baby brother.” Tim whispered. “I’m not upset with you, I just want to understand what happened. So please, take a breath, and explain it to me.” 

“The voices came back.” 

That was all Damian had to say. Tim had been the only member of his family he had told about the voices that plagued him. How his grandfather had been in his head since he was little, the way his mother’s voice had joined his once he came to Gotham. How they would whisper horrible things to him, tell him to do horrible things. 

How hard they were to block out. 

“Oh Damian.” Tim whispered. The pity in his voice causing the younger boy to seethe with anger and a few other emotions he couldn’t quite name. Something akin to sadness or betrayal. 

“Shut up!” Damian snapped. “I just-it’s hard to block them out...sometimes.” Damian sat up, pulling his knees to his chest and resting his chin atop them. “I was just so focused on not doing what they told me to that, well, everything else just faded away.”

“How did it happen then?” Tim asked, voice cautious. 

“Edna clapped, I’m still not sure why.” Damian brought his free hand up to rest on his knees. “I don’t know, it just, I wasn’t prepared for it.” His eyes hardened into a glare as he heard a snicker from the other end of the phone. 

“A four foot three inch tall woman got the drop on you?” Tim asked with laughter in his voice. “That might just be the funniest shit I’ve heard all day.” 

“So glad my misery amuses you.” Damian hissed. 

“Sorry D,” Tim murmed. “Look, I know things kind of suck right now, and everyone is probably really angry with you. But if you sit down and just explain to Edna and Marinette what happened, I know they’ll forgive you.”

“Yes, because Auntie is known for her forgiveness.” He spit sarcastically. 

“No, because Auntie, for some weird reason, loves all of us seemingly unconditionally. And she would never be upset with you for something that stems from a childhood full of trauma.” 

Damian huffed. He hated that word. Trauma. Everyone in his family seemed so big on it too, telling him he had nothing to be ashamed of, that it was okay. Yeah, no duh it was okay. Was his childhood fun? No, not by normal people standards, but he survived it and he’s moved on. He just wanted people to quit bringing it up. And he especially wanted them to stop pushing him to use it as an excuse. He was a big boy, and he took responsibility for his actions always. Well, except for this case, but this was different. They were all treating him like a criminal, when he hadn’t meant to do it. And as soon as they all understood that, then he would take responsibility for what he’d done. 

“I’m sure Colin will tell you the same thing.” Tim added, a dull pain blooming in Damian’s chest. His eyes slowly traveled up to the wall, landing on the decorative clock mounted on the red wallpaper. It was well past two in the morning now. 

“Sure.” Damian whispered. “How’s the conference?” He needed a subject change quick, before Tim picked up on something that Damian really didn’t want to talk about. 

“Well, it was very interesting. But I’m not there anymore.” His brother huffed. “I’m actually on the road right now. I’m on my way to meet up with Bart, Cassie and Jaime. We’re going to see if we can’t track down the son of a bitch who ran Trisha Bailey off the road.” He paused. “Have you been briefed on-”

“Jon filled me in.” 

“Poor kid. How’s he doing?” 

“He’s tougher than people give him credit for. Right now he just seems to be more angry than anything else.” Damian uncurled form himself. “I sent Titus with him for the night.” 

He could practically hear the smile in Tim’s voice. “That was very sweet of you Damian.” 

“tt” The boy rolled his eyes. 

“I’m sure he really appreciates the gesture Dams.” 

“What I know he’d appreciate is some headway with this whole ordeal.” Damian huffed. “You said you spoke with father, did he mention anything?”

“They’ve got a lead on Lena Luthor’s whereabouts. But he didn’t give me anything concrete. He told me my main focus should be with Trisha Bailey right now.”

“Then why are you talking to me?” 

“Dick’s at a wedding and has his phone turned off, wonderful timing for Rae and BB to tie the knot, seeing as how the world is ending and all. Jay is on Themyscira riding unicorns with Artemis or something. And we all know if any of the girls called you, you would have already hung up on them.”

“I would never hang up on Cass. How dare you insulate such a thing.” Damian slowly leaned back on one of his elbows. “Brown, of course. And I simply wouldn’t have answered if Kane called.”

“Which Bruce knew, hence why I’m calling.” Now his brother was starting to get annoyed, his tone made it obvious. Good. Damian was much better equipped to handle an annoyed Tim then a considerate and concerned one. 

“He could have called me himself.”

“League emergency. Remember?”

Damian fell back completely against the comforter. “You’re dealing with that emergency too. You found time to call.”

“I’m driving across the country right now and am no longer aloud to multitask behind the wheel. Not after that parade incident last Easter.” He answered begrudgingly. “If Bruce had a spare moment he would have called himself, he’s just busy right now.”

He’s always busy. Is what Damian wanted to say, instead he opted for a quiet, “I know.” and a quick subject change. “Why are you driving? You could have just used the zaidatubes.”

“Bruce shut them all down, all except for the direct links to the watchtower. We’re at defcon one Damian.” 

“Well, Luthor did go after the first lady of the league.” The sarcasm in Damian’s voice was evident. 

“This is serious Damian, you don’t know what Lex is capable of.” The tone his brother took wasn’t lost on Damian. It’d been a while since he heard Tim sound so intense. “Back before you and Jon were around, Lex was a really big deal. He survived Brainiac, Kryptonite induced cancer, among other things. He’s a genius. And scary. Not to mention, we aren't even sure whose identities are still a secret to him. I think the League is right to be as cautious as they are right now.”

“You sound like you're preparing for war.” 

“We are at war Damian.” There was a pause. “It’s all hands on deck as far as I can tell.” 

“Should I-”

“No.” The answer was quick and a little cutting. “Like I said, we don’t know whose identities are safe right now. We know the Kents aren’t safe, but we have suspicions that he might be onto the Waynes too. You’re in the spotlight right now with everything Edna’s doing. It’s a good distraction. Plus, as long as Jon is by your side, he’s safe.”

Damian slowly sat back up. “What do you mean?” He asked. 

“We know Lex isn’t above targeting Clark’s family. Kara is held up with Babs, Lois is being protected by Dinah, Conner is with Megan at the wedding, and Mama Kent has been moved to Wayne Manor. Being near you and Edna Mode’s security team is the safest place for that boy right now.” 

Damian stayed quiet for a long moment. His first instinct, seeing how everyone here was mad at him currently, was to flee. He could be of great help on the watchtower. Give him a supercomputer and a few hours, he could probably find Lena Luthor faster than the big seven combined. But if this was the safest place for Jon…

“You’ll keep me updated, right?” His voice was small. “Father isn’t big on keeping me well informed. I’d like to know about any developments as soon as possible.” 

“Of course I will.” 

“Thank you.” Damian pulled his knees back up to his chest. “For calling.” He added, voice quiet. “I’ll keep Jon safe.” 

“I know you will.” A sigh came from his brother, like he regretted that this was a responsibility Damian had to take on. “We all know you will.” 

It was now official. Damian had hoped it wouldn’t be as big of a deal as Jon’s anxiety seemed to be making it out to be. Lex Luthor had declared war, and up until Trisha Bailey’s car accident the League had been winning. But now, now it was any man’s game.

_______________________________________________________________________

(part 1)  (part 2)  (part 2.5)  (part 3)  (part 4)  (part 5)  (part 6) (part 7) (part 8)  (part 9)  (part 10)  (part 11) (part 12) (part 13) - here (part 14)

So it’s been a hot minute since I’ve last updated. Sorry for that. I rewrote this part like ten times. I started out with a very clear outline but that quickly got thrown in the trash. Anyway, some plot points I’ve been thinking about for forever have finally made it into the story and I’m very excited about them! Please let me know what you guys think of this part and let me know if you have any thoughts for what might happen in future parts! Hopefully part 14 will be out soon but I make no guarantees. As always if you have any questions about the story or AU feel free to ask, I love getting them and will happily answer any question you got (even if it’s not about this AU)! And if you want to be tagged let me know!