Brothers To The Bitter End

8

"There's no point, Mother!" Damian protested for the millionth time. He had objected when Talia had dragged him on the plane as well as when they had landed. "I don't want to live with him!"

"Live with him? Please. He would ruin you. All we need from him are some signatures."

"What are you playing at, Mother?" Damian asked, instantly on guard. He hated when his mother made simple things into riddles.

"You'll see," was her only reply.
***********
Dick grimaced as he glanced at Jason in the passenger seat. "I don't like this, Jaybird. How did she set this up so quickly? And why is she so eager to get rid of us?"

Jason shrugged and stared out the window at the city around him. Bludhaven. It sounded like somewhere the League would have a safehouse. "I'm more worried about how she knew you wanted to be a cop as kid. And how she got you hired so quickly. Under your real name. This feels . . . Permanent."

"She's taking Damian to meet Bruce. Why would she want to give her son, the heir to the League of Assassins, to a man who doesn't believe in killing? It doesn't add up."

"Yeah, but we're just along for the ride right now. I say we go along with it until we figure out what she's up to."
*******
Talia practically dragged Damian through the door to the headquarters of Wayne Enterprise. She took him up to the 28th floor and told him to wait by the elevator for her. Before he could protest, she slipped back into the elevator and continued going up. She took a deep breath and prepared herself for what she was about to do. Talia al Ghul was not an idiot. She knew that if she left her son with Bruce he would soon become a shadow of his father and follow in his footsteps. In another time, had Renegade and Rebel mot joined the League, Talia probably would have gritted her teeth and left him with Bruve anyway. But right now, she had a better option.

The elevator finally stopped at the right floor, and Talia slipped out unobtrusively. She calmly walked over to Bruce's office and opened the door. She smirked as she found that she had timed it right. Bruce's secretary wasn't there at the moment.

Talia made quick work of searching the desk and found what she was looking for. A stamp of Bruce's signature. She pulled out a sheaf of papers from her purse and quickly stamped his signature in a few necessary places. Less than two minutes after Talia had walked in, she walked back out and back to the elevator.
*********
Damian rolled his eyes in boredom as waited for his mother. He was sick of being treated like a child by the same person who kept telling him to be an adult. "Gray would never treat me like this," Damian muttered.

"Are you waiting for someone?" A kind voice asked Damian suddenly.

Damian whipped around, and there he stood. To his shame, Damian was speechless for a few seconds as he stared at his father, Bruce Wayne.

"You're not as tall as I thought you would be." Damian blurted.

Bruce looked surprised for a moment before chuckling. "I get that a lot."

Damian opened his mouth to say something else, but someone beat him to it.

"Hey, Bruce? If we don't get going we're going to be late for our meeting." A dark haired boy, he looked about 16, walked up and stood by Bruce, his arms full of tech.

"Oh, yes, of course." Bruce turned back to Damian. "Do you have someone coming for you?"

"Yeah, my mom . . ." The elevator dinged and Talia walked out.

"Ah, Damian, we'd best be going." Talia nodded her head slightly at Bruce. "Mr. Wayne."

She dragged Damian away. He turned and watched as Bruce, oblivious to the significance of the people he had just met, walked onto the elevator with the teenager following.
**********
"What was the purpose of that visit, Mother?" Damian was deeply suspicious of what she had done in Wayne Enterprise. He supposed that as the Demon's Son he shouldn't worry about his mother doing something illegal. But despite the hard edge his grandfather had worked so hard to instill in him the past year or so, he had still had had years worth of instruction from Dick that, like now, often overcame the assassin training.

"I told you, it was time for you to meet your father."

"I thought you meant 'go live with him,' not 'a brief exchange in front of the elevator,'!"

"Regardless, it was for the best. Now the wheels in his head will be turning. He will eventually figure it out. And if he doesn't, then he really didn't need to know in the first place."

"But then what were we doing there? And where are we going now?"

"You'll find out later. Stop asking questions. You may take a nap."

Damian recognized from his mother's tone that the discussion was over. And that her suggestion to take a nap was actually an order. So, he cut his losses and took a nap.
**********
Dick glanced around at the house. It was a very nice, fully furnished house. It had five bedrooms, a seemingly exorbitant amount, and three bathrooms. It also had a large backyard and an excellent kitchen, which excited Jason the most, since he was an avid cook. But the most appealing part of the house was the fact that in the basement, behind a hidden wall, there was a tunnel that wound around and had branches to almost every important place in Bludhaven, including grocery stores.

"This is a pretty sweet set up, Dick." Jason flopped on the couch and enjoyed the feeling of being able to relax without the concern of someone catching him.

"You can say that it's a set up again, 'cause it is. But for what? What could Talia possibly want out of us?" Dick muttered as he prowled around the house.

As if in response to his questions, the doorbell rang.

Dick cautiously opened the door and was greeted with the face he wanted to see most in the world. "Dami!"

"Gray!" Damian's face lit up, although he hid it quickly and glanced at his mother.

"May we come in?" Talia asked haughtily.

"Of course," Dick moved aside and Talia swept inside. As soon as she turned the corner, Damian gave Dick a quick hug before following his mother. Dick grinned and locked the door before following them. "What's all this about, Talia?"

"May we speak privately?"

Dick motioned for Damian and Jason, who were already arguing, to leave the living room. He sat down on the couch. He had a feeling it was going to be one of those discussions.

Instead of speaking, Talia handed Dick a sheaf of papers. "Look over them."

Dick glanced at them and his jaw dropped. He continued reading, and when he finally finished he gaped at Talia. "You're giving Damian up to me? And how did you get Bruce to sign this?"

Talia smirked. "I have my ways. And yes, I am signing legal guardianship over to you. I already had witnesses when I signed it. All that you have to do is sign it and then Damian will be your problem."

"But . . . Why, Talia?"

"Damian isn't safe with the League right now, and so leaving him in your care is the best that I can do. I'm not an idiot, Dick. I know that if he's here, he's going to have to be enrolled in school and a million other things that require a legal guardian. I'm going to be busy trying to keep the League together, so I can't deal with it. This will be best for everyone."

Dick nodded, seeing the logic in her reasoning. He quickly signed the papers and Talia handed him an envelope. In it, Dick found a birth certificate and social security card. Dick blinked when he saw the last name on the birth certificate.

"Damian Grayson?"

"It wouldn't be good for him to retain his father's last name, and I don't want his enemies to find him simply because we left him with the last name 'al Ghul'."

Dick nodded slowly. "Is there anything else?"

"No. I'll be in contact. Keep his training up. He'll be needing it." And with those parting words, Talia swung out the window and disappeared.

The second she left, Damian and Jason ran in. "Hurrah, we're free!" Jason whooped.

"Hurrah, I'm a Grayson!" Damian grinned from ear to ear.

"Hurrah, we're all together again!" Dick wrapped his brothers up in a hug and they danced around in glee. They didn't know what tomorrow would bring, but for now this was enough of a victory.