There's no need to be Sparrow for this request. Shadow already knows who he is, he knows who everyone is.
Batman initially had perceived him, rightfully, as a threat. It was too much information. But, he'd proven himself. Even Damian wasn't concerned that his information would be mysteriously leaked. Some things would need to change drastically. Which was unlikely to happen.
Damian waited outside the main hall of Gotham University as a class left the building. A bunch of twenty something talking amongst themselves about whatever mundane things comes to their mind.
His father had attempted to encourage Damian to take some classes, maybe make some friends. Damian was far too busy to maintain things like friendships.
Drake sees him the moment he leaves the building.
"Hey, I'll catch up with you guys later. I forgot about some stuff."
"Okay, bye Tim." A blonde girl calls out as she leaves.
He waits a moment longer for the crowd to disperse a little more before approaching Damian.
"Shadow." Damian greets, bluntly
"Sparrow. What are you doing here?" Drake asks. He's skeptical. Damian never sought out his assistance.
"I'm looking for the Grayson boy."
"That kid from that huge murder over a month ago?"
Damian isn't surprised Drake's aware of this. "He's missing."
"You need me to find him?"
Damian sucks in a breath. "I am out of options. Time is running out."
"Of course." There's no hesitation. "We'll head back to my dorm for my equipment."
It still amazes Damian that Drake genuinely wants to help. These skills are profitable and Drake uses them purely for the benefit of others.
Drake's dorm isn't that far from the main square. Damian doesn't even get a chance to take in the living situation before Drake is in the system.
"Where was he seen last?" Drake asks him, his tone was pure business. He understood the urgency.
"St. Agnes Group home. I don't know when he left. But I do know when he got there."
"Do you know how long he was there?"
"A couple of weeks."
Drake makes a face. "Poor kid." he comments before getting to work. "There's no cameras in St. Agnes so we're just gonna have to use the ones nearby. Looks like there's three with good angles of the actual building and four others with decent angles of the street. We'll start there."
"I've already done this." Damian tells him pointedly. He's not an amateur.
"Well we're doing it again. Fresh eyes can be useful."
Damian watches again as Grayson is escorted in by a social worker.
"Do you know who the social worker is?" Drake asks him.
"Mary Thompson." Damian supplies. "She's new. She's barely been with them for a year. She's overloaded."
"Most social workers are."
"What about -"
Damian is cut-off by the dorm door opening.
"Hey Kon." Drake greets off handedly.
Damian knows exactly who this is. He'd forgotten Superman's clone had decided to attend school here. And that he and Drake were actually friends. Damian and the Superboy had never actually worked together. They knew about each other but Damian was well aware that, while he knew who Superboy was, Kon-El had no idea who Batman and the Sparrow were.
"Hey." Kon-El gives Damian a once over before stretching out his hand. "Conner."
Damian takes it. "Damian. Has anyone told you that you look like Superman? It's almost uncanny."
He feels Kon-El's hand jerk in his grip, Drake glances over at Damian like he's lost his mind.
"I h- I haven't heard that before." Kon-El grits out. His nerves clear in his voice. "What are you up to Tim?"
"Oh you know. Same old same old." Drake replies, calming down from Damian's stunt.
"Same old same old?" Kon-El parrots suspiciously. He knows what Drake gets up to.
Drake glances between Damian and the clone before turning back towards his monitors. "He's just messing with you Kon. He knows who you are."
"Hey." Damian doesn't appreciate being outed by anyone.
"You told him?" Kon-El is shocked. Damian would be too if he knew better.
"Okay, first," He turns to face Damian. "You can't make comments like that without being suspicious and second," He turns to Kon-El. "He's the Sparrow. Of course he knows who you are. Now I'm trying to find a missing kid."
"You're the Sparrow."
Damian shoots him a look. "TT"
"I didn't mean it like that." Kon-El immediately backs off. "I've just never had the chance to meet you. It's an honor. I mean I've worked with Batman before but not you."
"I don't get out much."
"Well, I'll leave you two to it then." Kon-El grabs an already packed duffle bag. "I'm off to Smallville for the weekend."
"Say hi to Superman for me." Drake calls out as he leaves.
"Superman is on an off-world mission with the League." Damian tells him.
"I know, he left with Batman. I just always tell him that when he goes to Smallville. Anyway we have several days worth of footage to meticulously go over."
Drake was far more meticulous than Damian had given him credit. Damian thought he was detail oriented, Drake made him look downright incompetent.
While looking through footage Drake also set up an algorithm to look through other security cameras Damian may have missed to pull up any sighting of Grayson at any point in the area. It provided decent footage of the encounter with Zucco and his goons with John Grayson and Jack Haley. He hadn't realized how close Grayson had been to the whole thing. He understood Maronie's desire to find him. Damian would if he was in that position.
"Hey." Drake knocks Damian from his thoughts. "This is from the first week. There's something jumping off the roof."
"What?" Damian focuses on the screed Drake is referencing.
"There appears to be a small child jumping from the roof. Look." Drake gestures to a barely visible shadow. What maybe a child jumping from one rooftop to another.
"Maybe." Damian isn't convinced.
"It's there at the same time on the next night and the one after that. Someone is sneaking out." Drake then pulls up footage to further prove his point. "Now, I don't know about you, but I'm thinking there aren't that many smallish children who are just willing to jump across roofs like that."
"It's not enough, we need something more concrete."
"Let me see if there's something further down the street."
As Drake toggles the cameras for a better angle, Damian decides to do some light snooping. Always best to have all of the information about potential enemies. He has a couple of criminology textbooks on his desk, along with CSI notes, and what Damian immediately recognizes as signatures on the chemicals used by CSI officers when looking for evidence.
"You're studying Forensics?" Damian asks him.
"What?" Drake spares a couple of seconds to look at Damian.
"You're studying Forensics." Damian repeats. "I thought you were getting a degree in computer science."
"Yeah, well, I decided to change my major. Wanted something more challenging."
"You didn't want to get into Cyber Crimes or something?"
"I thought about it, but I already know how to do all of that. I want to do something new and exciting and challenging. I want to be hands-on in the field. And I like this stuff."
"I just, I didn't think that'd be something you were into." Damian admits.
"Well you know..." Drake trails off, unsure how to finish the sentence. "I found him. Only an acrobat moves like that."
Damian watches the footage Drake found closely. He's right. There's a grace to the movement that you only get from years of practice. Even though he's new to roof-top travel Damian can tell he's a natural.
"Does he take that path the other two nights?"
Theoretically he should. It goes in the direction of the crime scene. But Grayson is new to Gotham. He wouldn't know it well enough to walk it with ease. Damian also isn't certain why Grayson would leave the relative safety of the group home for the streets of Gotham at night.
St. Agnes was a horrible place, Damian wouldn't argue, but when you have no idea where you are, familiarity is important. St. Agnes would be the only thing he would know.
He has to be looking for something. Likely someone. Maybe its the people involved in the murders of his family, maybe he has strong taste for revenge.
"Not exactly the same path but it's in the same direction. Here is the second night, and here he is the third." Drake leans back in his chair.
"Follow the third night footage. We need to know where he went." Damian instructs immediately.
Once they spot him, it's easy to track him. Damian is embarrassed he hadn't found this sooner.
Grayson wanders the crime scene for a little while, maybe looking for clues, maybe mourning the life he'd just lost, before slipping back out and wandering the docks a little.
It makes Damian nervous to watch him in these areas. He knows how unsafe they are. The kinds of people they usually have out. A little kid like him is easy money to people like them.
Damian is relieved to note that Grayson doesn't actually talk to anyone and doesn't really stick around in places long enough for anyone to talk to him. He doesn't see anyone tracking the kid. Grayson seems to give up his search for the night before turning on his heels and making his way back to the group home to recoup.
He doesn't take the rooftops this time. He just walks on the sidewalk, looking utterly defeated. Damian wonders what he's doing, wonders if Grayson even knows what he's doing.
A buzzing in his pocket knocks Damian from his thoughts. It's a burner. There aren't too many people who can contact this burner.
Damian excuses himself to step into the bathroom.
"What do you have for me?" He asks instead of greeting.
"What happened to hello? How are you?" Todd asks on the other line. "I mean, I called in a lot of favors that'd I'd been saving for the information I'm gonna give you."
"Just save your breath and just tell me."
"I found Zucco's hideout."
Damian's heart skips a beat. "You did?"
"Oh yeah, It's got two guys held up in it. Only one leaves at a time. And it's usually for supplies and what not. So they're planning on staying a while."
That sounded weird. Why weren't they trying to get out of the city? Maronie and the cops are after them. It's obtuse to stay here.
"They're keeping something in there." Damian realizes. "Are you-"
"Yeah, I'm watching it closely. One of them just stepped out again but I'm confident they'll be back shortly. You think the Grayson kid might be in there?"
Before Damian can answer that question Drake is calling out for him.
"Uh Damian. I think I know where he is."
"Send me your location. I'll be there shortly. Don't move until I get there." Damian instructs.
"I won't move until then. Unless I see the Grayson kid." Hood tells him.
"Fine." Damian hangs up the phone before going back to the desk to see the footage Drake has for him.
"This is from a week and a half ago." Drake reset the footage he's looking at to show Damian two large guys, grabbing Grayson and dragging him into a car.
Damian sees red.
"Where did they take him?" Damian grits out. Anger seeped into every word.
Drake pulls up the image of some abandoned bar. Damian remembers it'd been a speakeasy for an old casino.
"Where is that?"
"Uh, not too far from where Grayson had been wandering around on the docks. It looks like the Red Hood is there. Is he involved?"
"He is. Keep an eye on the situation." Damian tells him
"Should I be calling the cops?"
"Not yet. You'll know when. I don't know who I can trust." Damian reaches out, gripping the door handle before stopping for just a moment. " And Shadow, thanks for your help."
"Good luck Sparrow." Drake calls out as Damian runs out of the dorm. He needs to hurry. He needs to get there.
Sparrow is half way there when his comm pings.
"What?" He asked not masking his aggression.
"They're moving. They definitely have him." Hood sounds out of breath, he can hear gun fire over the comm. "I think they're gonna throw him in the harbor."
"Stop them."
"If only it were that easy." Damian can hear Hood return fire. "They called in reinforcements. They knew I was on to them. Apparently I rattled the cages a little too loudly. I'm trying my best here but you better be hauling ass."
Damian was definitely hauling ass. He would not let them kill Grayson. He hadn't killed anyone in a long time but, if they do it, if he doesn't make it. There will be blood.
He approaches the hideout and can see the evidence of the firefight. He can still hear it. It can't be more than a block away. He ditches the bike and runs towards the sounds of gunfire.
Damian immediately has to take cover from the shower of bullets in his direction. There's maybe only ten guys but they have heavy artillery and higher ground. It provides them an advantage. But that's all it provides.
Between Sparrow and the Red Hood the advantage won't be enough. He watches Hood launch himself over a car and throw a large projectile out towards two of the guys. It explodes before it lands. Damian doesn't even have time to worry, or care really, if those guys are dead or alive. He scans the scene in front of him. Grayson is here, he's close. Damian needs to find him.
That's when he hears the struggle. Some small child crying out, fighting against something.
He finally sees Grayson. He's tied up. Damian watches for half a second more to realize one of the guys has a cinder block in hand and they're hauling Grayson over the railing to drop him in the water below.
"NO!" Damian shouts. Recklessly running out in the open to stop them before they drop Grayson in the water.
I know I'm a little evil... I couldn't resist