Damian was already halfway to the Batmobile by the time Batman finished the briefing and told everyone to go and take whatever vehicle suited his style of approach. He would practically ram the walls of ice down at full speed to get to Freeze and his cyborg killers. It wouldn't matter that Todd had stolen his R-cycle or even that [b]apparently[/b] killer cyborgs and a man in a powered exo-skeleton still weren't enough of a threat to warrant a sword, he would-

[b]"Damian, Stephanie, stay behind should something come up. "[/b]

The current Boy Wonder visibly stumbled as his legs turned to rubber mid-step. Damian had gotten into some extremely heated arguments in the Batcave including one that ended in attempted murder, but as he whirled to confront Batman there was no doubt in his mind that this one would top all of them. Robin was his birthright, his destiny, it wasn't just some title he'd taken up like the others had it was what he was [b]meant to be[/b], and now his father was ordering him to abandon that role while people Damian had just met fought beside him. He was the Son of the Bat, Spawn of the Demon. He had never been accustomed to 'No' and after hearing it over something so unbelievably important the sheer flood of angry, spiteful words that came to mind made his head feel like it was going to burst. It was so bad that he hadn't even realized that Batgirl had snuck up on him. After a lifetime among assassins it was as much shock that someone had managed to catch him off guard as it was the slight, bizarrely reassuring pressure on his shoulders that defused him. He was still shaking slightly as he choked back a thousand different starts to a meltdown, but he didn't even notice.

 [b]"We got it covered." [/b] It was lucky she hadn't given him the chance to speak. He wasn't sure what he would've said if he could. His father's response had such an unfamiliar, almost alien level of kindness to it that he practically felt the majority of the anger melt away in the face of it as much as he tried to cling onto it. He was right even if Damian didn't want to admit it. His role as Robin came with its' own responsibilities and if Batman thought that staying behind was what he was meant to do it was his responsibility as Robin to obey the order and do his job. The moment was also probably the closest he'd been to a hug that he could remember.

"...Fine. I'll stay."

He tried to keep eye-contact with Bruce even as he moved to leave the Cave, wanting to fix the moment in his mind...naturally so that he could avoid future failures, that was all. Still somewhat in shock he waited until Batman and the others had left the Cave before turning his full attention back to Stephanie Brown.

"-tt- I was only upset because that idiot Todd stole the R-cycle, Fatgirl..If you don't get that through your inconceivably thick skull, I'm finding wherever you hid my knives and stabbing you. More importantly, what are we supposed to do until the city starts falling down around us? And before you even start, the answer had better not be anything ridiculous and childish."