Secrets shall be revealed

Part 21

It went a lot better than he imagined. After listening to the whole story and asking some questions, they were on board to help them. They discussed plans about how they should go about it.

They couldn't all go since someone had to stay back and watch Gotham. It was decided that Todd Drake would go with him to check the base while Brown and Grayson stayed behind. Gordon was going to try to see if she could discover more from the clues they already had.

They made the plans to go the next day. Damian had layouts of the known bases in the USB given to him by Slade. It was a collaboration between his mother and Slade.

Over the years, they've visited many of the bases, so all they had to do was map them out. They were assassins trained to be aware of their surroundings, so it wasn't hard for them to memorize the layouts.

However, Grandfather had secret bases even they didn't know of. But luckily, this was one of the best-known ones. They discussed their plans and selected one with others as backup.

With their expertise, it wouldn't be hard to pull it off. They were aware that with this attack, Grandfather would definitely know their intentions. Two unprovoked attacks could only mean that he was being followed.

However, they couldn't afford not to take action. If they stayed away, Grandfather would surely be successful in his plans. It only meant that they had to be quick and be ready to involve justice league if things went got of hand.

They stayed late into the night, perfecting every detail, but they were becoming irritable, so it was time to sleep. They were almost done anyway.

Damian was ready to head upstairs when he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. It was Todd. Drake took a look at them and headed upstairs after a nod from Damian.

Damian tilted his head questioningly. After his incident, he came to realize that sometimes small gestures were easier than communicating with sign language, so he was getting used to using them for his own benefit.

Todd glared at him, but he didn't seem angry. He let out a huff before taking his hand to pinch the sides of his nose, squeezing his eyes.

"Look, kid. I know we haven't been the closest in the past. But please tell me that you know you can trust me with this kind of shit." Todd took a moment, and when he saw the confusion in Damian's face, he continued.

"Look. What I want to say is that you know you can come to me when you need help, right? Because what you were doing, trying to go after the league alone, does not sit well with me at all." Todd said. It was obvious that it wasn't easy for him to have this conversation, but he did his best to do so.

'But why? Why is everyone treating me differently?' Damian signed. He was genuinely confused. Why did everyone treat him so differently after the accident? Why was everyone treating like he was fragile. Like he was a kid. They never cared before. Why did everyone suddenly change?

"Because we all fucked up. Look, we all know you were trained by the league. You were taught to rely on yourself. To work alone. Then you came to Gotham, and everyone kept telling you to work in a team."

"But we never took the time and effort to build that trust. To give you a reason to actually rely on us. You may not have been the easiest when you first came here, but we also didn't make it easy for you."

"What you did was extremely dangerous. Hell, even the replacement knows to tell someone when he goes on such missions. None of us knew where you were, and we noticed you were gone so late."

"If it wasn't for the emergency signal, I don't even want to think about what could have happened. When we got you to doctors, they weren't sure you would survive. We thought we lost you, and it was our own fault. For not making the effort. For keeping you away."

"So we made a promise to ourselves. To do better. I know the change of behavior may have been sudden to you but I promise you, no one is putting up an act here. It was our own fault that you didn't trust us so it is time we fix it. hopefully it's not too late?" Todd ended questioningly.

Damian could feel a stinging sensation in his eyes. He didn't want to cry. But his emotions were all over the place. They really cared about him. The past weeks had not been an act.

While he enjoyed his newfound relationship with his siblings, there was always a nagging feeling that it was just an act. But now he knew that he still had a chance. To make things right with them. To also do better by them.

'It's not your fault...' He began to sign, but Todd stopped him by gently grabbing his shaking hands.

"Yes, it is. I'm the grown-up here. You were a child whose life and everything he believed changed in a single day. You came here believing everything the league had taught you."

"You didn't know anything about life outside, yet we all expected you to have the same views and values as us. Instead of taking the time and listening to you, instead of talking and teaching you, we just expected you to know and punished you when you didn't."

"You might have made mistakes, but we all did. Yet you made an effort to do better. The least we could do is to mend things. To take the right steps this time. To make ourselves worthy of your trust," Todd said as he let go of Damian's hands.

'Thank you.' Damian signed.

Todd reached a hand and ruffled his hair. Damian leaned into it. He needed some time to process everything, so he signed a quick goodnight and left for his room.