Look at me you may think you see
Who I really am but you'll never know me
Every day it's as if I play a part
Now I see if I wear a mask
I can fool the world but I cannot fool my heart
~Reflection ~ Christina Aguilera~

...November 15, 2017...

"You would have made a good Talon," Talon tells Red Robin.

"No thanks. Being a criminal isn't on my bucket list," Red Robin spats, taking a defensive stance.

Talon stands up straight before tipping sideways and dashing his way towards Red Robin. They repeatedly clash, throwing blows and matching almost evenly except for the fact that Red Robin was injured from before.

From behind large metal doors, Batman is revealed to be in a giant robot batsuit.

"Now, I'm only gonna say this once, you sons of bitches," Batman growls, punching his robotic fists together. "Get the hell out of my cave." He begins to pummel all the Court of Owl zombie-people minions.

Moving around behind Batman is Alfred, shooting the zombies down with his trusty shotgun.

The two take down and clear a path.

"We've got to get to that utility core, Master Bruce," Alfred points out below them.

Batman bends down enough for Alfred to climb onto his back before they leap down to get to the utility core. Alfred slips off once they land and gets to work on making the cave so cold the dead stop in their tracks.

Talon gets the upper hand and stabs his bladed gauntlet through each of Red Robin's shoulders, breaking them off to keep him pinned to the glass cases of Batfamily uniforms. Red Robin cries out in pain before he slumps still. Talon races off to the batmobile as all the dead minions freeze in place as the cave is cooled. Talon takes the batmobile and drives it off the side straight below to crash on top of Batman, shooting out its guns at him. Batman is hit and they both go tumbling apart.

(😂hit corrected to hot and was like yes he is hot autocorrect but now is not the time. 😂)

Alfred races up to help Tim down and take care of his injuries.

Talon unhooks himself from the batmobile and climbs on top of the robot batsuit's back. "Game over."

The back of the batsuit explodes outward, sending Talon flying across the cave and landing painfully on the ground. He looks up at the emerging Batman. Batman turns to him with half of his mask ripped off and blood dripping down his face. He rips off the mask as Talon already figured out his secret identity earlier. His face is revealed to be bruised on each cheek, looking as if he has a swollen, painful blush.

Talon stands up as Batman heads towards him.

"You and the Court tried to take control of my city and destroy my home..." Batman growls out. "...but worst of all, you messed with my kid." He gives an evil smirk as he pops his knuckles. "So this is gonna hurt and I'm gonna enjoy it."

Batman gets a few good hooks to Talon's face before he begins to block with his arms. The two exchange many punches before getting a few kicks in but all are mostly blocked.

Batman hurls Talon into a uniform standee that had a metal armor over it, crushing them into pieces. Talon grabs the two daggers from the floor and attacks Batman with them who manages to knock them on the floor. Talon whips out another blade from each hand of his gauntlet, and Batman is able to break off one but the other goes straight deep into the side of his stomach. Talon gives Bruce a smirk as he crumples to the ground in pain.

"I've taken your boy," Talon says as blood drips from the corner of his mouth. Bruce looks up at him painfully with a harsh glare. Talon gives him three good kicks to the face before spikes come out the bottom of his shoes and steps down on Bruce's back. Bruce shouts out in pain. "And now..."

"No!" Damian shouts, appearing from above right before Talon delivers the final blow. He gets between Talon and his father, twirling a sai he got from Talon in his hand.

"Damian, listen to me, he's not worth it," Talon tries to reason. "Let him go. Let him die."

Robin turns to kneel down and check on his father. "Like you let your father die?" he scoffs his retort.

"Stupid boy," Talon snarls, attacking Damian and slamming him to the ground after a few blows. Talon circles around Robin before moving back to Bruce and lifting him up by his neck. "Damian, he'll never let you go. For us to be free, he has to die. The Wayne fortune will be ours. The Owls, they'll never find us." He releases the claws on his glove. "Tell him goodbye, Damian." Damian pushes himself up with a battle growl and attacks Talon's head from behind, making him drop Batman and getting distance between them. They continue to exchange hits. "You filthy ingrate! Everything I've done was for you, and this is how you repay me?" He pulls out the other sai to the one Damian obtains. "Then so be it."

They continue to clash and Damian smacks Talon's sai from his hands, pointing the end of his own sai straight at Talon's neck. "You could never replace Batman," Damian hisses. "He's my father."

Bruce looks up at the two from his place on the floor.

Talon scrunches his face together in anger and annoyance. He grips Damian's wrist. "Don't doubt your instincts," are his last words before he wrenches Damian's wrist to him, causing the sai to go straight through his throat and killing him.

"Aah!" Damian screams. "No."

Damian releases immediately and the dead body of Talon tumbles backwards flat on his back with the sai still lodged in his throat. Damian looks on in horror, feeling he broke his rule, his father's rule, to never kill. For Damian's sake though it was to never kill again. Robin looks down at his hand to find a Court of Owls pocket watch placed in his hand that he quickly wrenches his hand back from, dropping it to the floor which lands right in front of Talon's face. Robin falls to his knees with his head down.

Batman heaves himself up, walking up to Damian. "Are you all right?" Bruce helps pull Damian up to stand face to face. "I'm proud of you," Batman says, placing a hand on Damian's shoulder and kneeling in front of him. "Welcome home."

Damian backs out of his grasp. "No." He backs up as Bruce stands. "I could've killed him. Maybe I should've. But you were in my head. You wouldn't let me. You, Talia, Ra's, you're all in here!" He grips his head before throwing his arms down. "But where am I? How can I ever be the son you need me to be..." He turns his back to Bruce. "...when I don't even know who I am? ...I have to go." Damian begins to walk off.

"Damian," Bruce calls out, quickly limping up to him. Damian turns to him. Bruce kneels in front of him. "There's a school..."

"In Switzerland, yeah, you told me about it," Damian huffs, turning away.

"No..." Bruce says, turning Damian to face him. "No, this is a monetary in the Himalayas. I stayed there years ago when I was lost, troubled, and the monks helped me in ways that proved to be very–"

"I don't need any help!" Damian cuts him off. Bruce's face downcasts. "But... maybe I will... later on..." He walks forward and embraces Bruce in a hug.

Bruce returns it, closing his eyes as he does. He remembers Aura giving the same speech long ago. "Damian, there's a reason I want you to go to the monastery too."

~~~Flashback~~~

...March 12, 2012...

"Batman," Aura calls out, separating from the team.

I turn around with a questioning gaze, not used to her calling me without the nickname. "What is it?"

"We need to talk," she responds sternly.

I give a quick glance at the team that's celebrating from the recent successful mission and back to Aura. "Follow me."

We enter the waterfall room and cut ourselves off from anyone around.

"I almost killed someone on this mission," she jumps straight to it. "The voice is still there. It's always taunting me." Her hands turn into fists and her voice begins to choke out as if she's crying. "I'm fighting as hard as I can against it, but it feels like it's winning. I have other voices that fight against it but also ones that agree with it. You, Richy's, Jay's, Flash's, Canary's, Kaldur's. But, Joker, Harley, Poison Ivy, Catwoman, and the others are all there too. I can't be the person you all need me to be when I can't even figure out who I am. I-I need to go."

"Why are you telling me all this?" I ask.

"I've realized the only way to help myself is to get away from everyone... even Richy... I-I need to fake my death. I am only notifying you about this. I don't want anyone else to know. I want you to help me achieve this."

"It will take time," I tell her.

She nods. "I figured it would. I'll be prepared."

~~~April 24, 2012~~~

Far away from the team, crying over Aura's electric clone, stands the real Aura and myself.

"I feel bad for doing this," Aura admits.

We watch as the clone disappears and Dick lets out a long broken scream. I watch a tear roll down Aura's cheek before she quickly wipes it away. The electric clone appears on the roof and merges with Aura.

"They'll understand once you return," I tell her. "I have a jet prepared for you to take you to the monastery we talked about. Storm will come on another jet later."

She pulls some letters out from the bag she has strapped across her torso. "Can you give these to their respected people the day after the funeral?"

I take the few letters and tuck them into my utility belt with a silent nod. "Follow me."

...~~~...
...November 17, 2017...

Damian climbs up a hill, finally able to see the monastery his father spoke of in the distance. The harsh wind blows, causing him to pull his mask up over his nose. A large beast attacks him from his left, and he is barely able to dodge in time.

He gets a good look at the beast to find it's a giant hyena. "What is a hyena doing in the Himalayas?" He pulls out his katana, ready for a fight.

The hyena stops and smells the air, recognizing a familiar scent on the boy. She sits and stares at him, letting out a loud howl. "Rrrrahr!"

Damian narrows his eyes, realizing the beast isn't attacking. "What are you up to?"

Someone appears next to the massive hyena, causing lots of snow to skid by. The person appears to be a pinkette woman with a unique green striped pattern throughout. "Jeez, Storm, what are you howling about this time? I swear if it's cause you found another leaf that reminds you of your bestie Wolf..."

...~~~...
❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🖤
OmG whaaaat?!
Shame on you guys. You should know I never kill off my main character.