Without Hope

Meanwhile, in the Wayne Manor

When Damian opened his eyes, the warmth of the sun that shined in his eyes seemed to just decrease his happiness level, which was not high to begin with. His head pounded, and the smell of his own musky sweat along with the strange taste in his mouth made his frown deepen. Had he not took a shower after the patrol last night? Damian huffed, stepping into his master suite's bathroom to clean himself up. While he was messily brushing his teeth, Damian thought about Grayson.

Surprisingly so, Damian found himself worried for Grayson after he had stomped out of the Wayne manor a few days ago. His Father and Grayson had had a huge fight, which Damian did not see the point of. Both men had had their hands waved around in the air, as if it would emphasize the things that they were saying. Grayson was shouting, while his Father had said things in a cold soft voice, which seemed to further agitate Grayson.

Ever since his Father had disappeared, and Grayson had to become Batman, Damian's relationship with Grayson was stable, no matter how many times Damian had purposely put Grayson down, they were still the best of partners, although not as good as Grayson was with his Father. Sometimes Damian found himself jealous over the bond that Grayson shared with his Father, and soon after a while discovered that he was actually jealous of his Father, not Grayson. For some odd reason, he desperately wanted Grayson's attention.

On a bitter note, ever since Grayson had left, his Father had been stubborn and ignorant. He also went a lot harder on Damian, as if it was his fault.

"How does Grayson deal with you?" Damian would often think about his Father, even though he was raised to think that he was a good man. Last night's patrol consisted of his Father yelling at Damian as he tried to face the Joker alone. Ugh, when was Grayson coming back?

Whenever Grayson was back in the manor, the whole mood of the place would automatically cheer up, like god was barfing up rainbows and puppies into every nook and cranny of the manor. Damian swore that he didn't even have a shadow whenever he would pass by. He wouldn't admit it, but he did (kinda) enjoy the Grayson's visits.

Damian wearily sighed as he combed back his hair, adding a little bit of gel. He left the bathroom to search through the neat pile of clean clothes he had folded to get a clean shirt and pants. He did not expect to be jumped by The Swan Queen Drake, who was a nosy stalker.

"What the-!" Damian yelled, the years of assassin ninja training he had gotten when he was young sprouting up again. He flipped Drake off of him and twisted his arm behind his back, pushing his face to his bed, where he proceeded to suffocate him.

"Mmmmf!" Drake shouted, his voice muffled by the sheets, Damian waited a moment before let go of him. Grayson and Father would not be happy if he suffocated Drake.

"What the hell?!" Drake shouted, his voice going up an octave, which Damian found hilarious, though he chose not to show it. Drake ran a hand through his hair.

"Next time don't jump me, you dumbass." Damian stated coldly, sitting down on his hard bed. "Now tell me. Why are you in my room?"

Drake coughed awkwardly, while he glared.

"Well… I think Dick might be in trouble." Drake said, slowly regaining his composure. His voice went into a more business-like tone as he went on with his story.

"I was checking the G.P.S for the little tracker I had stuck on Dick's Nightwing suit." Drake didn't even flinch when he basically admitted that he had been stalking Grayson. Damian's eyes narrowed.

"You stuck a tracker on him? Oh wait, I should've known! You're a frickin' stalker!" Damian shoved a pillow in his face, not wanting to show Drake that he was actually worried for Grayson. Drake sighed, and quickly erased the hurtful comments he was about to make.

"Any who, I noticed something was off. Dick had stayed in the same spot for like hours. So, I went to investigate, since I was thinking, 'Hey maybe he's out on patrol and needs some help.' I reached the place where Dick was supposed to be- a rooftop in the mid-east of Gotham, you know near the Gotham Academy, and found the tracker on the ground, smashed to bits and pieces."

"Hold on. You think Grayson is in trouble because he found out that you had stuck a tracker on him and broke it? Seems pretty normal to me, if you had stuck a tracker on me, I would have set it on fire." Damian said, interrupting Drake and giving him a nasty glare.

Secretly on the inside, Damian wished that his assumption were correct. Grayson just crushing the dumb tracker would have been a lot better than any other alternative. Unfortunately, Grayson seemed to be kidnapped more often than any of the other Bat-Family members.

"Damian, do you even know Dick? Even if he were to find out, he wouldn't be that cruel, especially to technology. He would've never crushed the tracker." Drake responded, he looked unsure if he should have been happy that he had corrected Damian for the first time, or anxious that Grayson was missing. "I pulled up all of the security footage in the local stores and homes near the spot Dick went missing near. I haven't gone through all of them yet, and I was thinking that maybe you could help, since you seem to love Dick so much." Damian bit the inside of his mouth, the sarcastic sentence that Tim had said ringed truth. Was it that obvious?

Choosing to not say anything about the comment, Damian scowled. "Have you told Father yet?" He crossed his arms.

"Well… I wanted to make sure that Dick was actually… you know, kidnapped or whatever, 'cause he'd be really mad if we assumed something without evidence." Drake suddenly looked unsure again, the topic of his Father was probably disheartening. Drake was still trying to cope with the deaths of his real parents.

Sighing, Damian got off the bed, clutching fresh pants and a crisp shirt. "Fine, Drake, but if you are wrong… you will be waking up seeing your own entrails."

Drake shrugged off the threat and straightened up himself.

They had some investigating to do.