Brothers To The Bitter End

27

"You want to what?" Jason spluttered.

"Well, strictly speaking, we want to recruit Damian," Kory amended.

"Fat chance of that," Damian spat at her. "I would rather go back to my grandfather."

"That sounds like it would be nice," Gar commented hopefully. He really wanted this mission to be successful.

"He's dead," Damian snapped. "Just like you're going to be." Before Gar could react Damian flung a throwing knife at the boy. The only thing that kept him from being skewered was Dick's reflexes as his hand snapped out and grabbed the knife midair.

"You really want this kid?" Dick asked, a little confused. Damian was great for him, but around anyone else the 12 year old tended to get rather . . . rough.

"Batman said he could be a valuable asset," Kory stated with certainty, though her team was regarding Damian akin to the way you would a nuclear bomb with 0:02 left on the timer. Only Rachel seemed completely at ease.

"Batman," Damian snorted. "What does he know?"

"A lot!" Jaime, who had finally joined the party, snapped. "More than you ever will."

Damian cackled. It sent chills down everyone's spines except Dick's (he was immune to Damian's cackles since he himself had been the one to teach his little brother that familiar, haunting cackle). "Shows what you know. Come on, guys, let's get out of here." Damian turned and found Rachel blocking his path.

"Move," Damian snarled.

"No. We need your help." Rachel was stubborn and unmovable.

"Get it from someone else," Jason snapped. Damian was surprised, though he didn't show it. Jason normally wasn't very protective of Damian, but Damian had obviously forgotten the first rule of Siblinghood: "no one can mess with my sibling except me." It was such a strong rule that even Tim, when he was around, would defend Damian should it come to that.

"You don't understand!" Gar practically shrieked. "Batman told us we needed a tracker and that this guy, for whatever reason, is the one we needed! We can't disobey an order from Batman!"

"Why not?" Dick snorted. "We all do. Look, I appreciate that you're in a bind, but I'm afraid it's simply out of the question. Good day." Without any warning Dick whipped his escrima sticks out of loops on his belt and knocked out both Kory and Gar. One punch from Jason wiped out Jaime, and Damian neatly whacked Rachel on the head with the hilt of his katana.

"That was tedious." Damian wiped his katana (force of habit) on Rachel's cloak as the three boys began heading back for the car. "Where to now?"

Jason checked his phone clock. "Well, it's end of shift for Dick so home I guess?"

Dick grinned. "Sounds fabulous."

Damian frowned as he slid into the shotgun seat. "Are we not going to talk about the elephant in the room?"

Dick blinked and glanced back at Jason. "Is Sitka waiting at home?"

Jason frowned and thought for a moment. "No, I thought your elephant was at your ranch."

Damian gaped at both of them. "What on earth are you talking about?"

Dick looked confused. "You're the one who brought her up."

"Who is Sitka?" Damian managed to garble out.

"Sitka was my favorite elephant back in the circus, and after things started to go wrong for them, I convinced Bruce to buy her for me, and we bought a ranch to put her on just a couple miles away."

"And you never told me you owned a freaking elephant?!"

Dick shrugged. "Oops. I guess I forgot you didn't know. That's where I go whenever I have a free evening."

Jason was even surprised at that one. "Man, and I thought you'd finally gotten a girlfriend! All this time I was helping you out to see an elephant?"

"May I remind you that at that same time you were also helping Damian sneak out of the house without my permission?" Dick reminded both boys sternly. "Sitka is my little guilty pleasure. I enjoy seeing her by myself because it is very relaxing."

Damian shook his head slightly. "Wow, that opened up a new world I didn't know existed. Why did we start talking about this?"

Dick and Jason exchanged glances and shrugged. "No clue," They answered simultaneously.

Damian thought for a moment then snapped his fingers. "I remember! I was going to ask you why those imbeciles wanted me specifically. I mean, why would Father send them directly to me?"

Dick frowned. "I don't know. But it does seem incredibly fishy, doesn't it? At least summer break is coming up soon, so they won't be able to bug you in school anymore."

Damian nodded a little. "But we must not lose focus on the most important thing."

"Which is?"

"Why on earth have you never taken me to see Sitka?"

Dick laughed and turned off the highway. "Let's right that wrong, shall we?"
********
"Woah." Even Damian was suitably impressed at the enormous elephants size. Of course when said elephant had your oldet brother caught up in her trunk giving the elephant version of a hug, it took some of the ferocity out of her enormity.

Dick was laughing and looked happier than Damian had ever seen him. "Sitka! Put me down!" But both his brothers and the elephant could tell that the former carnie didn't mean it.

Jason was busy studying a structure a few yards away. "Hey, Dickiebird, this wasn't here last time I came."

Dick glanced at the huge structure. "No, that's something I've been working on in my spare time."

Damian squinted at it. "Is that a trapeze?"

"Yes, it is." Dick looked immensely proud. "I've been working out on it. My skills have gotten a little rusty."

Jason and Damian, who had both seen him flip off of skyscrapers and use his old circus skills when flipping between buildings, rolled their eyes in unison. "You having rusty trapeze skills is about as believable as Demon leaving his katanas at home."

Dick chuckled and untangled himself from his elephant's grasp. "Ok, so they're not that rusty, but it is nice to have a real trapeze to practice on again."

Damian noticed the way his brother's lit up as he talked about the trapeze and before he could think, he heard himself ask, "Could you show me how to do that?"

Dick looked startled. "Show you how to do what?"

"Fly on the trapeze."

The way Dick's face lit up made all the discomfort Damian was bound to suffer worth it. "Sure, I can show you some things!"

Jason also noticed how happy Dick suddenly looked and he found himself saying, "And maybe while you're at it, you could give me a few pointers?"

Dick looked like he was about to burst from happiness. "It would be my pleasure."