A Little Overshadowing Never Hurt Anyone

Hello Sleeping Beauties -Chapter 15

Richard was crouched on the side of the building looking down at the street. It looked as though he was contemplating something. His face was still cold and determined as ever. Damian glanced at his older brother to check on him every few minutes. Father had decided that it would be better for Damian to go with Nightwing for the night while he investigated on his own.

And Damian didn't disagree. Grayson, at the moment, was unstable and frankly going to make irrational choices driven by his emotion when it came down to it. Damian would take it upon himself to take care of his brother to make sure he doesn't do anything too reckless.

How Dick could blame himself for this whole situation was beyond Damian. The man had done nothing wrong. Granted, he was the one that shot the ghost down in the first place and brought him in to put him in that -frankly unnerving- cage. But that was not the part that he blamed himself for.

He claimed he should have been able to catch on faster. Figure out what happened faster. Stop the ghost from stealing Drake's body away like a puppet forced to do its master's bidding. But there were no clear signs that the boy was possessed. Timothy acted strange to Damian on the best of days. A few changes here and there could easily be chalked up to sleep deprivation.

Not only did Dick immediately tell Damian to go and check on his brother -which Damian acted on a little slower than he should have, might he add- which honestly made Damian feel a bit to blame, himself. But they had already been barricaded in the room and were still there. Damian didn't go into the room and conversate with him personally as he probably should have. So it was as much his fault as it was Grayson's, more even.

Grayson had no right to take all of the blame for this situation onto himself. Damian wished he could stab some sense into his older brother. Right now they both needed to think straight and find Drake before something worse happens.

Of course, Damian was certainly going to be having some very pointy words with this ghost once they recaptured him. One of them was in its sheath at the young Robin's side right this very moment. Even if Drake is incredibly infuriating and annoying- but no one should take someone's free will away.

Especially just to walk around in their body and steal it. He also clearly could have left Timothy here. Instead, he decided to leave with the body puppet and continue on leaving the manor grounds and walking into Gotham. Which was an incredibly dangerous place, especially for not only a young teenage boy but also one who was incredibly well known to be a part of two rich families.

Damian glanced up as Richard rose to his feet and walked over to the other side of the roof. He glanced down again. They were getting a little closer to Crime Alley, which was not a good thing. Especially with Hood's rules on Bats in his territory. But this seems like the most likely direction that the ghost could have escaped.

Damian sighed and stood up as well, following behind his older brother. They seemed ready to continue searching for more of the night when their comms sparked to life. "I have found a lead." It was Father. "You two are the closest. Meet at this warehouse."

Dick put his hand up to his comm. "Copy that, me and Robin are on our way."

)-(

Jason had originally panicked when Tim had fallen unconscious. He fell forward onto Jason's shoulder, who had to catch him with one arm. Jason was not expecting the kid to just fall like that. But he did look pretty worse for wear.

But he was terrified for a split second that the kid just died there in his arms. But a quick hand to the neck showed they were fine. Probably passed out from stress or blood loss. Maybe even a mix of the two.

It didn't take Jason long to patch them up. Especially after they were unconscious. He probably could have done it with his eyes closed, not that he was going to, anyway. He did have to pull the bloodied shirt the rest of the way over the kid's head. He glanced down at the garment as he was thrown to the side on the hardwood floor of his safe house.