2 Demons 1 Angel

Ch 2. Damian: New and Old Faces

Chapter 2. Damian: New and Old Faces

Almost a year later, Gotham City.

Damian

I was patrolling alone that night. I needed time to think away from my family. As father was being too protective lately since the Death tournaments and grandfather.

Often, I remember the death tournaments, it was almost a year ago now. Sometimes, I still dream of Respawn, demanding me to resurrect him. Also of my great grandmother, telling me to take up my birthright as the demon's head. I still see Nika, Flatline, from time to time. Hawke is still trying to find where he fits in and amending bridges with his father.

A noise caught my attention, from the alley below me. A girl dragging the body of a young man. I saw that they were being chased into a dead-end alley by three burly men. I couldn't determine much about the girl and guy she was dragging. The three burly men looked like your typical Gotham Street thugs. The three thugs pulled out knives as the two reached the end of the alley. The girl turned and set the young man down, she prepared to defend the man.

That's when I intervened. I jumped in between the young man and girl and the three thugs.

The first thug shouted, "It's Robin!"

A second yelled, "Run!"

All three thugs went running at the sight of me. I smirked at their fear. I turned and saw the girl was still in a defensive stance.

The girl was about 4'4 or 4'5. Her jeans and shirt were so ripped and tattered that they needed to be burned, and she wore no shoes. A black hood covered her face. Dark hair was tied behind her, a rat's nest that nearly touched the ground. Her skin was just in between tan and white. Scars littered her starved, athletic body.

The girl stared at me. I began to say, "Why-", when the young man groaned.

She looked at him quickly then back at me and, deciding I wasn't going to hurt them, then she ran to his side. I came over to the pair of them. From what I could see on first glance, the young man was probably my height. He wore torn jeans as well but not as bad as the girl's. He had a simple black T-shirt on that was ripped and he was bleeding from a wound on his side. He also wore a hood like the girl's.

Before I could take a closer look, the girl pulled a knife out of a bag that I had failed to notice earlier and put the edge of the blade to my throat.

"I just saved your sorry butts, and you pull a knife on me?" I asked frustrated.

The girl simply answered, "Yes," before tending to the young man. She pulled out bandages, gauze, rubbing alcohol, and stitching materials. She clearly knew what she was doing.

"You should take him to a hospital." I spoke.

"No."

"Why-"

"It's none of your business why!" She was getting mad.

I was about to retort when the man muttered something. She must have heard him and looked at me.

"Him?" she asked the man.

"Yes." The man's voice almost sounded like mine except for the pain in his voice.

Somehow this young man knows me. I came closer, warily as the girl still had the knife in hand, I saw that the man had dirty, bloody, white hair and he had my face.

"Respawn." I whispered, only loud enough for me to hear. Somehow the girl heard me. She turned and swept my feet out from under me. Am I that out of practice? She held the knife to my chest, prepared to kill, but definitely unwilling. The top part of her face was still hidden, but I could see thin lips, and her hair had a streak of white, like Todd, falling from a tightly pinned braid. The braid wrapped around the back of her head like a crown.

"No." Respawn managed.

The girl ran back to Respawn still looking at me. Make up your mind already! She propped him up against the wall and went back to his wounds. I waited till she was done. Better to fight after, so this way he won't bleed out.

"You mind explaining Respawn?" I asked at last.

The girl turned again, she must really not like the name Respawn, fortunately Respawn caught her wrist. He looked at me, our eyes are exactly the same. Actually, as we were both derived from genetic experiments from Mother and Grandfather, we were basically twins in looks except for our hair.

"She prefers first names. Ab's you can trust him." Wait. Did he really just say that after the shadow war and him dying because of it? How is he even here now? The pits are poisoned there's no way he could come back... unaffected.

After a long glare at Respawn, the girl turned to me. "I will answer your questions after we take care of Daniel."

Who? Respawn is ... oh he must have finally had been given a real name. Or he heard the name and took it for himself. I nodded to the girl knowing it was the only way to get answers. I picked up Respawn/ Daniel under the shoulder and began to carry him. I grabbed my grappling line and zipped up with Re- Daniel in my arms. Suddenly I realized that I had left the girl, Ab's? Was that what he called her?

I looked down and saw she was already halfway up the fire escape. I got up here in less than 15 seconds. 10 seconds later she was next to us, carrying two bags on her thin shoulders.

Ab's was not looking at me. "Is there somewhere safe we can take him?" She had noticed before me that r-Daniel passed out.

"Yes" I knew I couldn't take them to the cave, father would go nuts, I thought a close safe house would do. Unfortunately, it was occupied but this was no time to debate. Despite the girl's medical help, he was still in bad shape, probably with some internal injuries. I gave Ab's a spare line and told her how to use it, she simply nodded. We ran across the rooftops to help Respawn.