Chapter Text
This first happened on a very ordinary evening, the night patrol had not yet begun at that time, and Jason had come to the Batcave in order to get some necessary information as well as Alfred's treat. There were a few bats there, but no one but Jason was in uniform, which made them seem more relaxed than usual. Jason occupied one of the best chairs in front of the Batcomputer, so Bruce had to sit on a less comfortable one, adjusting his new helmet while talking with Jason about a recent batch of weapons that had appeared on the black market that shouldn't be there. Damian practicing with Duke by fighting somewhere in the cave, while Stephanie and Tim training on the other side, and their voices could sometimes be carried over to Jason. Communication with Bruce was concise and efficient, no unpleasantness or arguments occurred, Bruce may felt upset since Jason ate some of his snacks, but he didn't say anything and Jason assumed he was fine with it. All in all it had been a good night, no criminals had escaped from Arkham, there was no urgent gang business to attend to, Alfred's scones tasted good and Jason was sure that he had made the right decision coming to the Batcave today.
After about fifteen minutes Damian finished practicing and then walked up next to Jason and Bruce, tried to take his food from the dining cart. The little guy was taller and less aggressive than when he came to Gotham, hence Jason, who was still that much taller than him, thought it was possible to play a joke on him without paying the price in blood, so he picked up the portion of veggies that belonged to Damian before he did, and then stood there holding up the plate and the food like a Statue of Oppressor.
Damian's eyebrows furrowed together, the distance between him and Jason were close enough to require him to look up as he spoke. "Todd, that's mine."
"Uh-huh." Jason didn't move, just raised one eyebrow. Their eyes pushed according in the air for a few rounds until he saw something like a flash of determination in Damian's eyes, at that time Jason knew that was a sign that the fight had begun. He jumped to his feet almost as soon as Damian kicked at him, leaning his back against the edge of the table and kicking the chair beside him, separating him from Damian, who was trying to lunge at him. Damian jumped with his hand on the chair, his body arcing through the air, and Jason took a few steps back as Damian landed next to him, catching the edge of the plate with his other hand to stop things from getting worse with the contact between the bottom of the utensil and the top of Robin's head.
Damian stopped his next move just in time, then secured the plate with his fingers. They were incredibly close now, so much so that for a moment Jason could see a forest shrouded in morning mist through Damian's eyes. A strange sensation hit Jason, filling his chest, and Jason was so distracted by it that by the time he was able to react, Damian had already struck him in the stomach with his fist. And then it happened.
Pain traveled down Jason's every nerve where he had been hit, his muscles groaned, and white light took over Jason's entire field of vision in that instant. He wasn't sure if he'd stumbled in the shockwave of pain, but about two or three seconds later, when his consciousness returned to where it belonged, Jason was somewhere between standing and crouching, shards of the china plate and the remains of the vegetables mingling on the floor, a few blueberries that had been used as a garnish tumbling farther down the floor. The distance between Damian and him grew larger at some point, and the teenager sucked in his breath in an effort to keep from collapsing to the floor, his green eyes filled with anger and disbelief when he looked up again. "You shocked me?" The soft quiver was cut by the imp's back teeth, which made his words sound even sharper. Jason pressed one hand against his abdomen when he was charged, tiny pains running through his body.
"Oh fuck, yeah. Why didn't you electric shock me?" As Jason spoke he noticed that the gasps and punches that would have been made during training on the other side of the room had ceased, the rustling of bats deeper in the cavern had all but disappeared, and the most noticeable reverberation in his ears was just the unsteady sound of his and Damian's breathing. Jason knew this, he'd experienced it a few times before, in fights that were very important and where he could die at any moment, all of his senses did their best, and his time slowed down until that fateful moment passed. But Damian clearly had no intention of trying to kill him, this small devil have been angry but he was already past the age where he was going to murder other Robins just because he wasn't happy, so why? Jason didn't know, just like he didn't know why the sharp emotions in Damian's eyes made him feel bad.
Jason lost track of time, and he wondered how long it would be before his senses returned to normal. The beat of the bats' wings, the scrape of their feet against the ground as Duke, Tim, and Stephanie approached, and the heavy friction of the sandbags against the air as they shook mixed into waves that lapped at Jason eardrums. The waves of sound that time and time again pushed Jason farther away from that state, and he was finally able to divide his attention between the other bats. It was only at this time that he realized that Bruce had risen from his chair and Damian had clenched his fists.
"Isn't the answer obvious? Because you're the only one wearing a uniform with a built-in taser." Damian spoke like he wanted to beat Jason up again, but he remained standing still and on guard because he thought Jason might used the taser to hurt him again despite Jason didn't do anything. Seriously, did he really think that's what Jason was? Someone who would taser a kid over a fucked up skirmish? Was he that much of an asshole? Jason swore he'd really just wanted to make a joke, that's all, and he'd never thought it would come to this. Jesus, he hadn't even turned on any of the devices on his uniform that could have caused harm, because he hadn't meant to hurt anyone here.
Just as much as his innocence was Jason's confusion, because Jason knew that the person who took action was definitely not himself. So now the question was, if Damian somehow electric shocked Jason, why was he acting like an innocent victim? In order to minimize suspicion in front of his detective Bat Daddy? It didn't make any sense. Jason likewise didn't think his joke or his relationship with Damian was bad enough to warrant the little shit hurting Jason with a poorly constructed lie, there had to be something wrong here.
"I'm not an asshole enough to use a taser on a nonage, okay?" The way the bats were approaching him allowed the molecules of annoyance to take over from the pain, rocking through Jason's body, which forced him to distract a little bit to control himself. He took a deep breath, "I just fucking wanted to make a fucking joke, I didn't even- even touch you!" Jason tried to walk around, but the Waynes' scrutinizing gaze turned him into a bad statue, a tiny buzzing echoed in his ears. "You baited me into attacking you so you could legitimately fight back," Damian spoke in a tone of certainty, sure that he had discovered the truth, "and you're still holding a grudge against me for electric shocking you. So that's what your terrible plan all about, attacking me and trying to convince the others that I did it."
"Hey guys, calm down. I think something is wrong." Tim said, but no one paid him any mind.
"You think I'd use a taser on an unsuspecting you because you hurt me that way before?" Jason kicked the chair beside him with his foot, his chest heaving exaggeratedly at the friction of the rollers and the floor. "Then you should fucking watch out for Tim and Stephanie because you once pushed them off the roof with their capes tied by you! And Dick, oh yeah, and Dick Grayson, I don't know what you did to him but you should watch out for each and every one of them just like you watch out for your imaginary me because we all fucking tried to help you but you kicked our asses!"
No one spoke again for a while, and a few bats flew into the deeper darkness, startled by the loud noise. Jason stood there, breathing like he wanted to hit Damian, or actually flip a switch to electric shock him like the little bastard had said, but he finally just walked over and picked up his hood and walked to his motorcycle. Bruce was calling out to him, in a not-quite-sure-but-going-to-call-him kind of way, so Jason didn't turn around. He said he didn't try to shock anyone over the roar of the engine awakening, the second half of the sentence becoming a dull echo under the hood.
Whatever, he said.
No one tried to stop him from leaving, the bat door opening automatically as he approached. It was always like that with bats, it was hard to get close to them, but easy to leave. Jason didn't think about whether or not the door would open for him the next time he came to the Batcave, like he said, whatever.
Jason remembered he'd left his jacket in the cave until the cold wind squeezed Jason into a shivering cookie, but he definitely didn't want to go back there. He could keep himself warm in other ways, such as fighting criminals. Of course this was in his own territory, he didn't want to get more bat trouble for trespassing in bat territory, and today's portion of trouble was more than enough. Luckily the city seemed to know that her boy needed to let off steam and gave him enough criminals that weren't too hard to deal with, mainly a few muggers, attempted murderers and rapists. Needless to say it worked, at least the cold or what happened in the Batcave didn't follow him anymore in the scum's screams, but Jason got a little too excited dealing with a mugger who was raping his victim, and by the time the GCPD arrived he'd already broken three of the man's bones, which forced him to leave in a hurry at the screams of the sirens.
He was still wanted by the GCPD but that wasn't a problem, the question was that the bats always kept one eye in their information network so being spotted by the GCPD meant the bats knew where he was. Jason didn't want to deal with bats, at least not tonight.
Jason traversed the shadows of the alleyways, following every scream until all the assholes got their just deserts, he was so focused that he realized that Gotham was about to actually go to sleep when the fine rain falling from the sticky black clouds had dampened his skin. He wasn't terribly tired, but Jason still thought he deserved a hot shower and the cozy sleep that followed. However something following him now gave him reason to believe that his pleasant, easy sleep schedule might be in jeopardy; his eyes told him there was no one behind him, but his senses, awakened by his body's instincts, told him that there was definitely something behind him.
Past experience had taught him that whatever that was, it had to be not good, so Jason decided to act first. Drawing his gun and then turning around for the briefest of moments, the man following him emerged from the shadows, the huge reflective bat symbol causing him to briefly lose his words. The Signal stood and put his hand up. "Relax dude, I mean no harm." Jason raised one eyebrow under his hood as he chose to lower his hands, but the gun remained in his hands, "Alright, what do you want?" "Here's the thing," The Signal ran one hand over his head and waved the other in the air in a gesture, "Batman performed a very detailed physical examination of d...... Robin after you left, but found no evidence of any injuries caused by the electric shock."
"Despite this he still insists that at that time he saw a white light caused by an electric shock, I don't know if you saw anything ......" the metahuman's voice sank, the symbol on his chest appearing pure black in the dim light of the alley,"...... But whatever that was, it definitely wasn't light. No one or instrument picked up on the extra light at that time."
Damian sat with his legs crossed on the bed, the light from the computer illuminating his face and making him and his frown look soft in the dark room. It should be his time to rest now, but there was no way Damian was going to rest like this straight away after Jason had hurt him in some way. If he gave up on the investigation so easily, who would come along and poke holes in Jason's shenanigans? The others were so blinded by Jason's behavior and the test results that they didn't take it seriously, like it's just a false illusion or an unimportant farce. Bruce promised he would figure out what's going on, but Damian knew the fruits of justice wouldn't fall into his arms: father needed to work on another case right now, he was not going to spend too much time on this one, and by the time he's had more than enough time to solve it, its importance and timeliness had passed with the clock. That's why Damian continued to work at this time; he would grab the truth and the justice that belonged to him, and then let everyone know what Jason did to him.
Damian had evidence to believe it had something to do with magic, because he even swooned at the smile that hadn't disappeared from those beautiful eyes when he got close to Jason. Wait, why did he think Jason's eyes were beautiful? Was he still affected by magic now? Damian didn't know, just like he didn't know why something he couldn't name stuck in his chest and made him irritable when he thought back to that pair of sea blue. A syllable of tongue and palate working together stopped there, and Damian pressed one hand against his chest, double-checking that there was no wound there. He almost felt confused; what the hell had Jason done to him? Before he left the League of Assassins, he read almost every spellbook he could there, not because he wanted to be someone who relied on lengthy spells and magic, but simply because the more he knew about it, the better he could work through the magical stuff. Those knowledge had helped him a few times, but not this time. He searched every spell in his memory, and the one that could cause hallucinations was suspicious, but he wasn't sure. He knew Jason had studied at the League of Assassins and he probably knew magic, but he had never seen that guy used any. According to the part Damian had learned, there was always a need to recite a spell or some other preparation before executing a magic, but he felt that Jason hadn't acted in any suspicious way before he was electrocuted, and if it had been a magic, then it must have been something complicated so that it could go undetected during the preparation phase and fool everyone else and the equipments when it was executed.
There must be something wrong here, Damien was one hundred percent sure.
He had messaged Raven, but she hadn't replied yet, since Damian was not the type to wait for an answer, he decided to do some investigation of his own before she replied. He used Robin computer to hack into as many police departments and government networks as he could, trying to find records from there that were similar to what he had experienced today: if the trick had been learned by Jason from outside the league, it could have been used by someone else somewhere and left a trail. He quickly skimmed through all the possible cases but didn't find what he was looking for, a standard impatient air tone vibrating between Damian's lips. He tapped on his computer to adjust his target to the World Wide Web; while the stupid governments hadn't noticed the potential threat, those who had experienced it firsthand or were close to them might record it and post it online, as some sort of supernatural-like rumor. Damian's former experiences had taught him that this method of acquiring information sometimes worked, and fishing what he wanted from a sea of data was not a task that could be tackled anytime soon, but Damian was a trained Robin, and his skillful technique allowed him to compress his sifting time into a tin of cookie.
Eventually he found what he was looking for in a forum, although there was no electroshock part, its descriptions of some sort of sudden unnatural sensation between people still caught Damian's attention. There he saw a certain number of people from all over the world describing their experiences of sharing strange sensations and even sights with certain people, and after a period of time and numerous incidents, eventually believed that the person they shared the sensation with was their soulmates.
Damian's eyes widened and for a few seconds he just sat there then swiped the screen pointlessly, he could hardly believe that the results he had gotten from the hours searching turned out to be knowledge he had known since he was three years old. Talia had told him how very few people would meet their so called soulmates and then they were together with the manipulation of their senses and hormones, but the rumored link between souls couldn't keep them in a relationship, many people still ended up and chose to separate with their soulmates and be with someone else. It didn't make any sense, he remembered his mother saying that she and his father didn't have that soul fluttering that couldn't be proven, but they still loved each other.
Damian had always thought that soulmates were just a hilariously stupid rumor, like Santa Claus that most ignorant children would believe in, he had never imagined that such an implausible meteorite could fall on his head, it was an absurd assumption, it was the probability equal to the fact that there really was a man who could illegally break into the homes of every human being on the planet via reindeer sled in one night and leave non-lethal items there for free. Every cell in Damian's body resisted accepting this insane possibility, and he could throw out a ton of arguments for its impossibility in a heartbeat, from the fact that the special sensations between soulmates were varied but there were no examples of it being painful or approximating electric shocks, to the fact that magic could lead to the same effect and that the darned Jason knew how to deal with those spells.
He preferred to believe that he had made a mistake in the direction of his investigation, that it wasn't a big problem and he would spend the next few hours or more to correcte it. Now he could be sure that Jason had used magic on him through some method, and that he was still shadowed by the influence until now, it was interfering with his mind, misdirecting his judgment in a way that was hard to detect, and that it had even allowed the idea that Jason might be his soulmate to exist in his brain for more than a second. All of these signs testified to the power of the magic Jason was using, but Damian was more powerful than that, and he would prove it with facts.
Damian had no soulmate in the first fourteen years of his life, and he likewise didn't expect to have one in the future, and even if he did, that person's name wasn't likely to be Jason Todd.