Another Day in Gotham

Yesteryear

Haden's POV

"Deny everything." Damian whispers to me when Bruce turns his back on us for the first time since...well everything. "Or better yet, just let me do the talking."

They now knew there was more to how we met...because I might've jumped the gun and exposed myself before they figured it out for themselves.

To be fair, Bruce is an asshole who needs a good punch to the face. And I did. Repeatedly. I regret absolutely nothing. Though I still don't get why one black eye is just cause for everything that happened.

"Tell me again why I can't just leave and let you fend for yourself?" I ask in I whispered tone.

Damian just looks at the weird metal contraption encasing my good leg that completely prevents me from moving it in any way. And I've tried. My partially healed broken leg was proof of that.

"Only Alfred has the key. And they're not letting you go anywhere until you give them what they want." I slump in the chair. Dammit. Why did he have to be the son of Batman? Son of Superman, that I could handle. Right now I'm so far outta my fucking depth I might as well be drowning.

"We deny everything!" I declare when Bruce opens his mouth to talk.

"You have to let him speak."

Whoops. My bad.

"The docks, was it? That's where you met?" Bruce asks us with a steely glare. Damian and I share I silent look. Technically, we could still lie our asses off and get off mostly unscathed, but I can also see him not believing whatever half assed lie we can come up with in the next three seconds.

I smirk a little as I see the nasty looking bruise around his left eye. Yeah, totally worth it.

"We don't have to tell you anything, pit-breath." I tell him while I jam a batarang that I borrowed into the hunk of metal.

"Then you better get comfortable. Neither of you are moving until you start talking."

"Figures." Damian breathes out. "You know, he will find out eventually. Might as well be done with it before he enlists Alfred's help."

"I will never understand your irrational fear of your fucking butler." I tell him. The batarang snaps in half, leaving half of it stuck in the metal cast thingy. Great, just great. Now I had that poking me from all angles.

"You haven't seen him at his scariest."

"How the hell is the grandson of Ra's..." Damian makes a cutting movement with his hand, and I let my sentence trail off. But I think I might've scorched us even harder. Bruce was also glaring at me with an unreadable expression. "Too late to take that back, isn't it?" Damian visibly facepalms. "Yeah, I'm totally scorched, aren't I?"

"How do you know who he is?" Bruce growls out.

"I told her." Damian says blankly.

"The truth? That's what you're going with?" I ask my only friend. "You really take the fun outta everything."

"How did you two cross paths?" Bruce demands, seemingly like his was just about to lose all of his patience. "If I have to ask again, a batarang inside a muscular restricter will be the least of your problems." So that's what it's called. Needs a much better name.

"Fine. It all started nine months ago when my brother dragged me to Happy Harbour with him."

9 Months ago...

"I'm only going to be gone a few hours at most, Nightwing said it wasn't a major threat, but you know how these things can go." Derek tells me as he fiddles with his utility belt. "Dammit. Please tell me that you have some electrodiscs I can borrow." He grabs a handful from my belt before I even have a chance to reply.