(Liberna)

A man dressed in all black appeared out of nowhere and fell onto Dexter’s bed. Dexter froze as Tari leapt into action. He jumped onto the bed and put his foot against the strange man’s throat. The man’s hands flew up to grab Tari’s foot; he had some kind of brass knuckles-like weapon  on his hands with three long claw-like blades extending from each of them. There was wet blood clinging to the metal.

“Do you know this guy, Dex?” Tari asked. 

Dexter slowly inched towards the bed to see the guy's face. Even before seeing the guy’s face, Dexter could see he was bleeding heavily from his shoulder, the white sheets under him were rapidly turning crimson. Dexter then looked into the intruder’s face.

His hood had fallen back, revealing dark brown, slightly wavy hair. His mouth and nose were covered by a black cloth mask and there was black makeup smeared across his eyes. His eyes snapped over to Dexter, wide open, light brown, filled with fear and confusion and pain. Dexter hooked a finger around the mask, his knuckle brushing against cold, clammy skin. He pulled the mask down and saw a face shockingly similar to his own... and eve more similar to his mother’s.

Dexter stumbled back a few steps, “I don’t know him but... there is something familiar about him. Wren is waiting for me and I don’t wanna let him in on this,” Dexter gestured at the man, “so keep him here and alive till I get back.”

Tari’s eyebrows quirked up. He ran his fingers through his shaggy red hair and the corners of his mouth tightened, “when did you become my boss?”

“You crashed in my guest room uninvited after murdering my best friend’s parents. You owe me.” Dexter hissed in a whispered tone, watching the man out of the corner of his eye. The man’s expression didn’t change with the conversation.

Tari pouted, “fine.”
Dexter finally finished tugging on his pants, “I’ll be back as soon as I can without it being suspicious.” Casting one last look at the familiar stranger, Dexter left.

*

(Earth)

Desmond was trying to act nonchalant on the couch as the news played an interview with the man who said he shot the Claw.

“... but before he hit the ground he just... disappeared.”

Desmond leaned back over the couch and craned his neck to see into Damian’s bedroom. The door was ajar. It was still clearly empty. He ‘relaxed’ back into the couch, biting his thumb nail.

“... I know I got ‘im. That’s his blood for sure...”

Finally, Desmond couldn’t wait any longer. He pulled out his phone and called Damian. It went to voicemail immediately, “Dami? Where are you? Are you ok? Call me back please.”

Not waiting at all he called Piper. She picked up after half a ring, “please tell me Damian is with you and don’t you dare play dumb. If he’s hurt...” Desmond trailed off.

He could hear the low murmur of the same news story he was watching playing in the background before Piper finally whispered her response, “... he’s not with you?”