Mask off

New future or old past?

Everyone was huddled around the basement, look at their suits. All of the suits were relatively the same. They all had black bases, with lines going in different directions up the arms. Everyone had different colors up their arm; mainly so you could tell who is who. They all had gold lining around the lines. They were skin-tight suits made of metal. There weren't any capes or hoods, but all of them had masks. The masks only went up to their noses, kind of like the mask spoiler had. Damian's suit had dark green lines on the side, while Kamilah had light gray lines on the arms of her suit. Sam had dark blue lines up his suit and Layla had a light pink to match. Lucy had white lines up her suit while Nolan had light yellow. Mara has a dark red and Evelyn had an orangish-red. All of the lines on the side of each suit were similar but different.

"I love them" Layla squealed gripping the arm of the suit. Evelyn seemed just as excited, trying to get her suit off the holder. "I hoped you would, now you have to be careful with the suits" Antonio explained. "They are made of very strong metal which will block most knives and bullets, I made sure that they would block any knives or bullets that the league may have." Antonio leaned over to Damian, "I also made sure that they would be strong enough to withhold any of the knives batman has." Damian smiled at the man and gave him a nod of appreciation. "Okay, now go try them on" Antonio encouraged.

When they tried them on, Damian felt nostalgic. It's been nearly a year since he had last been Robin or any kind of superhero. He felt like he was a superhero again; they all looked like superheroes. "We would be kick-ass superheroes," Nolan said. The others nodded in agreement while playing with their suits. They had small places to hind knives and even guns. They were protective, yet not bulky so there was still room to move. Looking around the room, it finally felt real. They were going to fight the league of assassins. It seemed to hit Damian with different waves of emotions. To put it simply, he didn't know how to feel.

Damian had never been good with emotions. It seemed like any emotion he had was immediately turned to anger. Any unwelcoming or unbecoming emotion was turned into anger. He released he was scared. Not only of fighting the League but for his future. For his friend's, no, family's future. This made everything real. He was coming out of his little bubble. Letting someone out of his friend group know he was alive. Letting someone from his 'past' life know he was alive. For a whole year, he stayed quiet. Didn't give up his identity or let anyone know he was alive. Yet here he was, playing the role of a hero again. He was terrified that they would fail. He was scared to come out of this bubble because it was safe. It felt warm and welcoming; he felt loved. Yet, Damian knew he couldn't stay in this bubble forever. His friends couldn't stay in this bubble forever.

Damian snapped out his thoughts, looking up. His friends were never heroes. They looked so happy. They looked like him when he first became Robin. Damian never truly believed in God; not after getting sent to hell when he was eleven. Still, at this moment he prayed to whatever God was above that they didn't end up as he did. That they didn't break their spirits to impress other people. Damian made a promise at that moment that he would never let anything happen to them. He would do anything to make sure they were safe. Whether that was killing, sacrificing, or dying. He would do it to make sure they were okay.

"Okay, we have to go over the plan guys," Mara said. They all huddled around Mara, waiting to hear what she had to say. She went over the plan yet again. Get into the league, send the assassins out, find Ra's, and leave. It was simple, yet everything could go wrong. The league was still the same as when they were children. Still held all of the deaths, all of the horror. The walls still full of haunted souls. They all agreed on the plan. They had backup plans, incase anything went wrong. They were prepared. Everything was real, it was really happening.

The room was in silence, everyone clearly lost in their thought about what they thought of the mission. It was Kamilah who, finally, broke down the silence. "Are we going to be killing or is that, like off-limits?" Everyone looked at Damian, knowing the question was aimed at him. He stayed silent. He didn't know; he seemed to be unsure of everything in his life now. He spoke up, "I'm not going to kill anyone," he started, "but if one of you have to kill someone, I won't stop you." Everyone stayed silent on the matter, not daring to bring it up again.

"All right," Damian said, trying to avoid the subject of killing, "We leave here tomorrow at 5 am, be ready or you will be left behind." Mara clicked her tongue, "We need all of us for the plan, dumbass." Damian just rolled his eyes, "No shit Mara, it's called a joke." Kamilah was the one to step in and stop their 'argument. "Okay, now let's head to bed since we have an early morning." 

Everyone made their way upstairs, falling down onto their bed and waiting for sleep to fall over them. They imagined tomorrow as a day of victories and heroism, yet they couldn't help but be scared for the horrors that might fall over them tomorrow.