Protecting the Batbrothers

Chapter nine

To say Batman was furious when he found out that Tim had been shot was an understatement. Unfortunately, he let his anger out on the furniture. Let's just say that Bruce Wayne was in the desperate need of a new kitchen.

Tim just sighed. "I'm fine, Bruce, really, what's really important is finding Jason and Dick." The older man nodded, still shaking in anger. This was the first time the team had seen the Batman expressing emotions and they didn't like it one bit. "Did you tell Barbara about this?" Tim and Damian stiffed and looked at each other in horror. "Uh oh, we forgot to tell her." Batman stared at the two in disbelieve. "She's going to kill you," he deadpanned.

Artemis frowned. "Who is Barbara?" "Grayson's girlfriend," answered Damian with growing panic. Tim nodded vigorously. "Yes, and she is also Batgirl. A very angry Batgirl if we don't tell her that her boyfriend has been kidnapped! And believe me, you do not want to make her angry." Bruce sighed, massaging his temples. "Just go downstairs and call her." Tim and Damian disappeared into the Batcave and the team was left alone with Batman.
Artemis was starting to really worry now, with the vigilante losing his composure like that. Batman does not show emotions, he is stoic and dark and straight-forward. Bruce Wayne on the other hand only appeared like a father worried sick for his sons. It caused unease to take root in Artemis' stomach.
_

Batman was giving them a lecture about having one mission and failing, about letting Tim get shot and generally scaring the crap out of the team when they heard a crash, screaming and two pairs of footsteps running toward them. "What the-" muttered Artemis as the team stepped aside to let Tim and Damian ran past them, looking horrified and screaming bloody murder. Then they disappeared behind the door at the end of the living room.

"Uh?" asked Artemis again, staring at the spot the brothers had last been in. "What just happened?" Then they heard an unfamiliar voice screaming for the boys to come back. "You brainless idiots! I swear I'll kill you if you don't come back here right now so I can kill you! It doesn't matter what you do, you will die anyways! When I get my hands on you, you Hobos, I'll snap you in half!"

A girl with bright red hair and a furious glint in her eyes ran into the living room, stopping short once she saw the team. "Hi, I'm Barbara." Then she turned to Batman. "Where are they?" Bruce pointed at the door the brothers had ran through and the girl- Barbara- continued chasing the Batboys. "So," muttered Artemis, "That was Robin's girlfriend?" Batman nodded. "Barbara Gordon. Batgirl."
"Will she be able to help us find them?"
"I hope so."

After three hours of trying to stop Barbara from killing Tim and Damian for not telling her that her boyfriend was missing, they all met in the Batcave, Damian with a broken nose and Tim with a black eye and split lip.
"What do we know?" asked Batman, adressing Aqualad. He was back to being Batman, focused solely on the mission. The Atlantian stepped forward. "Nothing much. We know that Scarecrow has sided with the Joker. He thinks that the Joker kidnapped Robin and Red Hood and doesn't know their secret identities. That's about it."
"That is not much to go by."
"We know."
Batman sighed and turned to his sons. "Have you tried to activate their trackers?" Damian shook his head. "The trackers are in the suits and Dick and Jason are in civilian clothes. There is no way to find them that way."
"I wasn't talking about th-"
"You were talking about the trackers in our arms, weren't you?" spat Tim, holding up his arm and pointing at a fading scar. "I cut it out."

The whole room fell silent and then Damian growled, "There is a fucking tracker in my arm?"
Batman nodded his head. "I put trackers in all of you- so I always know where you are- for situations like this."
"And you didn't tell us?!" Damian's face showed anger, hurt and betrayal.
"I didn't tell you, because I knew you would react badly," replied Bruce calmly. His son glared at him and then turned to Tim. "And you? Why didn't you tell me?!"

Tim rolled his eyes. "Calm down, Demon Brat. I first wanted to look if you even had any trackers in you, so I activated every tracker inside the house. The only ones I found were mine, the ones in our suits, the batmobile, etc. There was non inside you."

"There was," corrected Bruce. He didn't sound sorry at all and that got Tim and Damian even madder. "Your trackers work on different frequencies."

Damian glared at him. "We will use those trackers to find Grayson and Todd and you will tell them, or I will. And I will cut mine out." He strode to the entrance of the cave and slammed the door shut behind him.

Tim looked at Bruce with angry eyes. "I didn't say anything because Damian holds you higher than a God, he is blind when it comes to you. But if you don't trust us enough to tell us that you put a tracking device on us, there will be no more patrolling, Bruce. This whole operation is based on mutual trust, you should know that better than anyone. You have always been suspicious of everything, but this is plain paranoia. I appreciate that you want to keep us safe, but you also wanted to be able to control us, at least to some extent and maybe that's just who you are, but you need to work on that, or this whole family is going down."

Then he walked out too, followed by Barbara. The team stared awkwardly at the ground. "Leave," ordered Batman, and the team hurried out, shocked at what they had just witnessed.

As soon as the Young Justice exited the cave, Bruce punched the wall. "Damn it!" He knew that he should have told his sons about the trackers, but he just wanted to protect them- he needed to protect them. He closed his eyes with a heavy sigh. "I'm sorry," he muttered and turned to the computer. "But I don't regret it. This is my only chance to find you." He typed a few things on the keyboard and two red dots appeared on the screen. He smiled slightly. "Got you."
_

Batman called the team, Damian and Tim back into the cave. "I found them. They are in the abondened warehouse-district at the docks." Wally snort. "Cliché." Artemis jabbed his ribs with her elbow. "Not helping, idiot." The speedster rubbed his side and glared at the blonde archer. "Geez, just trying to lighten up the mood."

Batman ignored their bickering and motioned Damian to follow him. They stepped a few feet aside and Damian glared at his father. "What? If you're not here to apologize, then I would like to go back to the team." Batman looked at him with calm eyes, ignoring the young boy's glare. He knew he was doing the right thing now. "You can't come with us."

"What?!" Batman held up his hand to silence his furious son. "At least not as Damian Wayne." He pointed at the showcase with the Robin suit. "I think you are ready." Damian didn't say anything for the first few seconds, trying to process what Bruce just said.

"Wait, but Dick-"
"Wants to be his own hero, not a sidekick. He always acts uncomfortable when people refer to him as my sidekick. I think it's time for him to move on and for you to take over his mantle." Damian just stared at him, mouth agape. "We need to talk to Dick about this, but if he agrees, you will be Robin."
"...Fine."

Bruce sighed in relieve and Damian frowned at him. "You doubted that I'd say yes, because of the whole tracker thing." Bruce nodded and Damian pursed his lips. "I'm still angry with you, but I know that you only wanted to protect us, which is also the reason I didn't cut it out."
"You didn't?" asked Bruce surprised, raising his eyebrows. Damian shook his head. "But you'll never do something like this again, ever."
"I wasn't planning to."
"Good."
Batman nodded his head and turned to the team. "Suit up."
The clock struck midnight. The fourth day of Dick's and Jason's captivity had begun and hopefully, it would be the last, but when do things ever go according to plan?
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A/N: I know, I know, I messed a bit with the actual story and everything, but I guess you can all guess what will happen with Dick next. (Remember that Jason and Tim never were Robins, so Damian is the second Robin.)