"Hello," Said the broken bird, so far from home. "I'm Jason."

"Hello," Said the little bat, living amongst demons and Shadows. "I'm Damian."

Jason can't remember how they got away, all he can recall is fire and Shadows. He thinks that he killed the assassins and burned down the compound, but he's not sure.

It takes them two days to find a train that is going west. Two stressful days where Jason doesn't sleep, where he expects to find Talia around every corner. Two days of ignoring the side effects of the Pit.

After Jason smuggles them aboard the train Damian asks the obvious question.

"Where are we going?" Oh right, he hadn't thought about that. All he's thought about so far is get away from the Shadows.

So he thinks abut it. They can't go to Gotham, even ignoring the fact that just the thought of the city sets him on edge, Gotham is cursed or bewitched or just plain evil. There is something wrong with Gotham City. Gotham City created the Joker, twisted Harvey Dent into a monster. He won't bring Damian there, won't expose him to it's madness. Will not let Gotham sink its teeth into Damian.

In the end Jason decides on a place that Dick mentioned once while talking about his time in the circus.

"Fawcett City. We're going to Fawcett City."

They're in a little hotel in Star City when Bruce finds them.

The talk goes well. There's no yelling, neither of them say anything they'll regret and best of all Damian sleeps through the whole thing in the other room.

"Please don't make me go back to Gotham." Jason doesn't mean to sound so weak. Unfortunately he has barely slept in a little over a week.

"Why not." Bruce asks. And Jason cant even look at him, because this is important, and Jason cant be distracted right now.

"You once told me, that you don't kill because you knew yourself too well. That if you did it once, you would do it again and again and you wouldn't stop." Jason hadn't understood at the time, hadn't understood why the likes of Joker still lived. But he understands now. "I know that if I go to Gotham, I will burn it to the ground to get to the Joker. Please don't let me do that."

By the end of it Bruce agrees to set them up in an penthouse he has in Fawcett. (It's actually the top three floors a building that WE owns, but Bruce doesn't tell them that.)

Jason has learned to ignore a lot of things since his resurrection, he ignores the hate that spikes up whenever he sees clowns, the anger that follows thoughts his successor, the fear that always grips his heart whenever Damian goes off to school.

Most of all he ignores the side effects of the Pit. Reincarnation, Talia explained, the Pit makes you remember. And remember he does, he remembers flying through the sky, remembers how the sea seemed to go on forever, how he and his brother went everywhere, across the sea, to island after island, seeing all there was to see.

But he cant ignore Damian's friend (the fact that Damian has a real friend might just be the best news Jason has had since they arrived in Fawcett), or more accurately he cant ignore the condition that Damian's friend is in.

The kid is thin, far to thin to be eating properly, he notes the way the kid wears clothes that would be a size too big even if the kid wasn't so thin and Jason would not be surprised to learn that is the only jumper the kid has, but the thing Jason takes note of the most is the eyes. They look cautious, as if he isn't quite sure that this isn't some kind of trick, some elaborate joke that is being played at his expense. Jason knows that look, it's the same one he saw in the mirror the first few weeks after he moved into the manor.

Jason keeps an eye on the kid during his visit and has a feeling he knows how this night will end.

He's unfortunately proven right when he follows the kid back to his home (just to make sure he gets there safely, of course). When the kid goes into an abandoned warehouse and lies down on an old mattress under a blanket that looks like it's falling apart it's the final nail in the coffin.

Three days later Billy Batson moves in with his cousins Jason and Damian.

Six months after Billy Batson moves into the penthouse

"I-is that who I think it is?" The thug asked.

"Yeah, with him as a hostage we won't be disturbed while on the job." The boss replied.

"B-but that's the kid. The one the Captain is always seen with. You kidnapped the Captain's sidekick! Do you have any idea what he'll do to us?" The thug demanded.

"Oh, don't worry. The Captain won't hurt you. He'll be too busy getting me out of here to hurt you. You have something far worse coming for you." Came the voice of there captive.

"Oh yeah? What?"

Just as he said that a screeching noise filled the air, a moment later the skylight exploded as something came crashing through it.

"That would be my brother, the Night Fury." The captive explained.