Brothers To The Bitter End

33

Damian sighed. He had been with the Titans for two days, and he had never been more disgusted. For one thing, they were all about "feelings" and "teamwork" but they never ran drills. They were all about "intellegence" but the never went on recons. Damian was genuinely beginning to wish he hadn't come here as he glanced at his phone.

107 unread messages from The One I Hate Less Than the Others.

12 unread messages from Death by Crowbar.

5 unread messages from Insufferable Idiot.

24 unread messages from The Idiot's Girlfriend.

20 unread messages from Cass.

52 unread messages from The Batler.

Damian rolled his eyes as he pulled out his hard case. For a mishmash family that barely got a long, they sure knew how to bother a guy. When he had heard he was going to leave for several months, it hadn't even occurred to him to leave his beloved violin behind. He knew that it must've looked like some weapon of mass destruction to the team (and just in case, he had stolen Jason's favorite AK47), but he didn't care. The walls to the rooms, he had discovered through playing operas on his bluetooth speaker at full volume every night, were completely soundproof, so he could practice without interruption.

Damian lost himself in the music as he poured his soul into the Mozart Violin Concerto no. 5 movement no. 1. In fact, he was so lost in the music, he didn't notice his window open and two shadowy figures climb inside. When he finally finished the piece, the men applauded, and Damian instinctively reacted.

"Is that any way to greet someone?" The taller one complained as he ducked the extremely sharp throwing knife.

Damian gaped. "Todd?"

The other man snorted. "Sure, don't mind me. I had to climb the outside of the freaking tower too you know."

"Dick?!"

"Yeah, no kidding." Dick snapped.

Damian flinched slightly. "Are you . . . mad at me?"

"Mad? No, mad doesn't even begin to cover it. I'm furious."

"Why?" Damian glanced at Jason for help, but Jason just shrugged. He clearly had no idea why Dick was angry.

"I drop you off in enemy territory, and you don't even report back to me? You could've been discovered or worse! I had no idea if you were still alive or . . ." Dick continued to rant, but Damian had stopped paying attention. Dick had not only driven all the way out here but he'd also dragged Jason along (no easy task) all because he'd been worried. Damian felt flattered that his brother cared so much.

Dick, apparently running out of steam, flopped on Damian's bed.

"I'm sorry I worried you," Damian said quietly. Dick peered at him, but Damian was, for once, being sincere. "I just didn't have anything to report, besides the fact that Tara is the mole and the Titans are inept." He sat next to his brother on the bed. "I'm sorry."

Dick sighed, sat up, and hugged Damian. "I'm sorry I freaked out on you. I was just worried that Slade might've found out you were here."

Damian patted Dick's back gently. "I know. It's ok. I'll check my messages from now on."

"We good?"

"We're good."

"Uh, did you honestly forget that I am standing right here?!" Jason glowered at them. "And I am extremely dissatisfied. Not only did I get dragged out in the middle of the night because Dick went into full out mom mode, but I was also forced to climb this stupid tower which, may I remind you, is made of glass. That stuff is hard to climb, and I'm out of practice. And on top of everything else I am starving!"

Dick and Damian exchanged glances and grinned. "There's food downstairs in the kitchen, Todd."

"Which downstairs, Demon? Because I counted at least seventy floors on the way up, and I'm sure I missed a few!"

"There's an elevator." Damian said dryly. "The levels are clearly labeled with what's on them."

"Ooh does it play music?" Jason asked, suddenly turning into a two year old.

"Incessantly."

"I'm so glad Dick brought me along!" Jason whooped as he dashed out the door.

Dick snickered. "I never did understand his fascination with elevators that played music."

Damian rolled his eyes. "It's not even music. It's that wretched Muzak stuff."

"Then why don't you show me what you were just working on?"

Damian's grin lit up his face as he played his big brother his newest piece.

Dick nodded appreciatively as Damian finished. "That was excellent, Dami."

"Yeah, Demon," Jason walked in, arms full of food, "it was nice. Too bad your personality isn't that great."

"That was lame even for you, Todd," Damian replied evenly.

"Ah, well, hunger doesn't allow me to think as well." Jason shrugged before motioning to the window. "Dick, you and I had better get going if we have any hope of reaching Blüdhaven before you have to go to work."

Dick grimaced, but he stood anyways. "I guess we'd better hit the road then. See you next week, Dami!" Dick launched himself out the window without waiting for a response.

It wasn't until Jason had also, much less gracefully, exited through the window that Dick's words fully hit Damian. "Wait, next week?"
******
The next morning, Rachel woke up early. She was looking forward to trying to talk to Damian again today. She knew he had a hard time opening up, but so had she in the beginning. Today was the day that she would break through with him.

"Good morning!" She said cheerfully to her teammates at the breakfast table. Gar was missing as he never woke before noon, and Damian was also absent. "Where's Damian?"

"What is it to you?" Tara snapped. "He probably isn't up yet, lazy bag of bones."

Jaime sighed. Another wonderful meal ruined by squabbling teammates. "Let's just go to the training room. Tara, Kory, and I have already eaten."

Rachel smiled broadly. "I'm never very hungry in the mornings. Let's go!"

They walked, and in some cases trudged, to the training room. Kory paused outside the door. "Is Gar already training?" She pushed open the door, and a katana narrowly missed her eye as she dodged.

A disdainful snort could be heard from the room inside. "You should never open a door before you know what's on the other side."

Rachel, Jaime, and Tara cautiously peeked inside the training room and saw Damian, all decked out in his Robin glory, leaning on one of his larger katanas.

"I wasn't aiming for you, Anders." Damian calmly retrieved his katana and reentered the room with a confused Kory on his tail. "I was merely aiming for one of the targets on the door. Know, however, that if I had been aiming for you, I would have hit you."

"Yeah," snorted Tara, "says who?" She didn't even have to blink before that same katana whistled past her head and buried itself in the wall behind her.

"I do." Damian's voice was calm, totally devoid of any emotion. "You and I both know that I could beat you in a fight, with or without your fancy powers."

"Oh yeah?" Tara got right up in Damian's face. "Prove it."

Before the word "it" left Tara's mouth, she found herself flat on her back with the point of Damian's katana at her throat. "Name the time and place, Markov, and I'll see to it that you get your fight."

"This Tuesday, 3 p.m." Tara's face broke into a slow smile. "You'll never know what hit you."

"That's probably true, considering that if anyone hits me, it won't be you." Damian slid his katana into its sheath, retrieved his other one from where it had gotten stuck in the wall, and exited the room with no further ceremony.

"I'm going to kill him." Tara's face was so purple from rage, she actually looked like a blueberry.

"Oh my," Kory whispered to herself. "Batman is going to kill me."