[ Dick is good, and innocent, and probably more than Damian deserves. Really, he deserves none of them; he's not sure how he ended up with all this, not sure how he went from being a child who didn't understand anything beyond killing and loyalty to a young man surrounded by so many good people.

They sure as hell deserve better than him, but he's trying. Trying hard.

Some things, though, he won't stand for. Even if they're unhappy with him for it, or disappointed in him. Even if they shun him.

(Bruce, whether he admitted it or not, was the same way. The difference is that Damian, at least, is honest with them about it.) ]

...I'll keep it in mind. [ As far as his allowances go, the eldest grumbling the entire way - but it's the closest he'll come to agreeing to any sort of compromise. ] But no promises. He almost killed you, Richard. It took me two minutes to get out of those binds, and I had to listen to him do it.

[ He'd never known what it was like to be on the other side of the situation until now. It was the same rage that had driven his father to dunk Ducard in the acid, after listening to him as he broke Damian. Except Bruce had reigned himself in at the last moment --

--And Damian had finished it. Both with Ducard, and with Two Face.

(God, Dick deserves so much more.) ]

And this is how Gordon and I communicate. [ Damian laughs, rough and barking, stretching out like a panther and letting one foot swing free. ] Our monthly tango, since I was-- [ He hums, recalling. ] --fourteen. That's twelve years of him wooing me with threats. I know how far to push with him. He's only ever had to throw me in Arkham once.

[ Just once. And technically that was for his assigned mission. Albeit a mission the Commissioner wasn't aware of at the time. ]