"You know" Jason muttered as we crawled through the underground tunnel system. "I'm just going to say it. Might as well rip the band aid off."

"I don't think now is th-"

He grabbed my arm. "Eren. Just stop for a minute." Jason sighed. "I've been mulling it over in my head since that night at the ring. You're this strong, independent badass that I couldn't imagine returning my feelings. Why would you? I wasn't exactly a prince when we met."

"Jay-"

He tucked some hair behind my ear. "And then the more that I got to know you, the harder I found myself falling. I regret making the assumptions that I did. I'm sorry."

"Are you doing this because we might be about to die?" I just needed to be sure.

"No. I care about you Eren. A lot. I don't want to lose you." His fingers ghosted along my jaw. "I wanted to find the right time to tell you. Do all that romantic shit Tim does for his boyfriend, but life always got in the way. It never felt right. Then Harley kept trying to give me pointers, which her and Ivy are doing really well-"

"I never needed all that. I just needed you." I wanted him to kiss me, I grabbed his hand instead, threading our fingers together.

No Eren. This wasn't going to end well when I disappeared. But maybe I could let it happen, let myself have these little moments before I have to leave.

Jason grinned. "Does that mean you like me back?"

"Yes, you idiot."

"Finally!" Tim cheered over the comms. "Can I send in the Calvary now?"

"Timbo?!" I touched my ear. "I thought you were captured."

"Almost was. Thanks to Wilson's little warning, I was able to get out a distress signal in time and I'm hiding in one of Dick's old crawl spaces. I'm not as flexible as he was, just as an aside."

"But you're safe?"

"For now. If the League can get their shit together, we might have a shot."

I let out a breath. "So we have to stall until they can get here. Great."

"Give me a minute and I'll connect you to the watchtower."

"Did he just say-"

"You're about to give the League your first hero pep talk." Jason looked way too smug about it, he even went so far as to wipe a fake tear from his eye. "My favorite antihero is growing up so fast."

"Shut it Todd."

He held his hands up. "I'm just sayin'."

"Connected. Might want to use codenames from now on."

"All yours, Flamebird." Jason nodded at me.

"Okay." I took a breath, I could do this, it was only the justice league. "I know a lot of you hate me, blame me for the actions of Deathstroke. I wanted to explain, Nightwing and I were tricked, just the same as all of you. I was in a difficult situation and William Wintergreen acted like he was my friend, I thought he was. He told me he'd help and I believed him. Nightwing believed me. We've all lost people to that monster. Sons, daughters, mentors, partners, friends. I ask you now to help me save the Bats. They're in trouble and the League of Shadows has partnered with Deathstroke to either kill or capture your allies, your friends. I'm not asking you to save me, but them? They don't deserve this."

The connection broke off.

Holy shit. That went better than I thought it would. Maybe Tim made it one way. So they couldn't express their discontent.

Hopefully, that would work or we were going to be royally screwed.

"Got me all choked up there Birdie." Jason teased, placing a hand on his chest.

"Is that really going to be my nickname in the field?" I deadpanned.

He shrugged. "There's no way in hell I'm calling you Flamebird every time I need your attention."

"That's rich, Red Hood"

"Whatever; we need to go find Damian. He's gonna be somewhere above us." Jason pulled a holoscreen hub out of his utility belt and pointed to a blinking red dot. "That's us, and that's him."

A separate green dot flared not far from us.

"Lead the way."

Jason started back down the tunnel.

"Hey Timbo, has anyone responded yet?"

"No, but your message was received. Bruce checked in as well. ETA thirty minutes. I believe Clark went up to help coax the league."

"They're not much of a hero squad if they ignore distress calls." Jason grumbled. "We can get out of this alive on our own."

"While I don't doubt our abilities, we won't be able to take the entire League of Shadows. Besides, we don't know if Damian is hurt or worse, one of us might be indisposed if he is."

"I'd come but I'm grounded in the Batcave. The zeta tubes are down and B took the jet."

"Why don't you call one of your buddies on your team?" Jason crouched as the ceiling dipped.

"We broke off all ties, remember. They have to get Leaguer permission to perform any type of mission."

"Isn't sticking it to the mentors the entire reason the team formed?" I dodged an overgrown root.

"Maybe the old team. The new one has strict restrictions."

That was probably smart.

"Not that it matters anyway. When B left the league, it got dicey on the team. People took sides."

"Sorry to interrupt, but aren't you hiding from a ton of assassins?" Jason pushed on a grate above us, carefully setting it to the side so as not to make a sound. He then helped me up. He then put his helmet on.

"I'm hiding with Alfred in the safe room. They couldn't get in, even if they wanted to."

"You guys have a safe room?" I whispered.

"B has one in the manor and the cave. His paranoia works out sometimes." Jason suddenly pulled me against the wall with him. Before I could ask him what he was doing, a swarm of guards moved past us. "When we get out of here, I'm gonna take you out on a real date."

"That'll be after I've slept for a week." If I was still in town at all. My father was an annoying thorn in my side. Every time I thought he was dead, he popped back up again. I was just tired of it all. He was the whole reason I had to leave.

Once it was safe, we were on the move again, slowly but surely moving toward the youngest Wayne.

"Is that a yes?"

Talia stepped into our path, a squadron of shadows behind her. "I wouldn't have thought one of my beloved's own would be stupid enough to walk into a trap."

Shit shit shit.

"Yes. Well it seems Madolyn needs a refresh." Jason and I moved to stand back to back. Slade had his own groupies.

We were surrounded.