Ch. 1

Dick stood besides Bruce clenching and unclenching his hands. Both men were beyond furious. Behind them, Jason, Tim, and Damian stood silently and with impassive faces. Why would anyone do that?

The morning had started out well enough. Jason, Tim, and Dick had gotten in another debate of which was better: coffee, cereal, or bread. This had lasted until Damian had declared that obviously tea was the best. Arguing had broken out, only to be stopped by the phone ringing. With an amused glance at his sons, Bruce had picked up the phone. The boys watched as the small smile on Bruce's face washed away and the man paled, before he started yelling into the phone.

After hanging up he went and sat in front of his sons. They had listened carefully while Bruce explained that someone had dug up each of their parents' graves. Dick had immediately stood up and launched himself at Bruce for a hug. He stayed there as Bruce explained that whoever had done it hadn't just robbed the graves, but had taken the coffins and bodies with them. Each of the boys left the embrace thinking who would do such a thing? And why?

The boys sat silently in the Bat Cave. Except for Tim, none of their parents were rich, so robbing their graves had no lucrative value. And why would anyone steal a body? They had no clue where to start their search, let alone any suspects. Even Bruce seemed to be at a loss. Normally when he sat in front of a computer, the clacking sounds of him typing at high speeds could be heard throughout the cave. But now, he sat there in silence, staring at the screen, as if he thought that if he stared at it long enough it would reveal all the mysteries regarding this case. Dick briefly wondered if Bruce was able to make the computer do things just by thinking about it, and the case was actually unfurling in front of his eyes.

As if the computer could hear Dick's thoughts, it turned on and a video feed popped up. The video cleared and showed Ra's al Ghul with his daughter Talia standing by his side.

"Ah Detective. I will give you one last chance to join me as my rightful heir." Ra's said while gesturing around him. "Wed my daughter and all this will be yours. You may even bring your three illegitimate heirs if you wish."

"Father!" Talia gasped.

"Hush daughter." Ra's commanded. "Will you join me detective, or do you wish to suffer the consequences?"

"I will never join you Ra's. Violence will never create a perfect world." Bruce said calmly. His four sons moved to surround him, in an obvious show of solidarity.

"You too, grandson? Will you betray your grandfather, your blood, for a father who doesn't truly appreciate you? You are the rightful heir, yet he had three boys with impure blood ranked above you."

"Ttt. Father does love me. And they are my brothers. Family is thicker than blood. We may not be related but they are more of a family to me than you and mother ever were!" Damian's declaration was met with the smallest of smiles from his father and a sappy grin from Grayson. Drake and Todd had pleased looks on their faces but that quickly vanished when they noticed the anger radiating off of his grandfather.

"You will regret this grandson. You are no longer welcome in the House of al Ghul. You have made your bed." Damian tried to keep an indifferent look on his face but he was not sure he succeeded. "By now Detective, you have noticed that the graves of your parents were dug up. I have succeeded in modifying the Lazarus Pit so that it only partially revives someone. They will be under my complete control. I have taken all of your loved ones, as well as a whole army. We will create a new world Detective, it is a shame you will not be joining us."

The video disconnected and Bruce sunk into his chair. Turning, he observed each of his sons. Tim seemed surprisingly okay. Bruce could tell that he was already analyzing different tactical options for their upcoming endeavor. Dick gave him a sad smile before he pulled a very stiff Jason and Damian into a hug. Jason instantly pulled away, and Bruce could visibly see the man grinding his teeth. The Lazarus Pit had not been a pleasant experience for him, and he had no doubt that Jason was revisiting the past. Damian on the other hand sunk into Dick's hug. The boy seemed relieved that he was receiving contact and Bruce couldn't help but grimace. Why couldn't Talia have raised their son differently? Or allowed Bruce to care for him from the start. Bruce new that he may not be the greatest father in the world, but between him, Dick, Jason, Tim, and Alfred, the kid would have never doubted that he wasn't loved.

Bruce stood, and to everyone's surprise, and Dick's delight, he pulled them each into a group hug. "We will get through this, and we will defeat Ra's. And," he said turning to look each of his son's in the eye, "We will return everyone to their proper resting sites."

Dick pulled away slightly and looked momentarily conflicted, before steeling himself. "Bruce, I know we talked about the semantics of killing zombies, whether or not that classified as killing and we decided it didn't. But,"

Dick was immediately interrupted by Jason. "When did you two talk about killing zombies? Why wasn't I apart of this conversation?"

"When the team was babysitting us and we went down to the cave to talk to Superman. We even told him that we made it into a real life zombie killing game. Whoever kills the most zombies win." Dick answered offhandedly.

Jason's eyes widened with glee. "We should do that. I would beat all your asses!"

Damian's eyes flashed. "I do believe I would prove to be superior in the act of zombie killing Todd."

Bruce stepped in before the argument could get too out of hand. "We can talk about that later. Dick what were you going to say?"

Dick took a deep breath before saying. "I think we should bring the team in." Hearing protests from everybody and Bruce's skeptical face, Dick continued. "I don't know about you, but I'm not thinking straight right now. I think that them questioning all our orders may help us keep our heads on straight. Also, I honestly don't know what I'm going to do when I see Ra's. I think we need level minded people who have nothing at stake."

Bruce thought about it for a second before nodding his head. "Fine. But I want you to interview them all. Anyone of them had lost someone, they're out. There's too much at stake for something to happen because one of them was emotionally distracted."

With a sad smirk Nightwing joked, "I don't think any one of us should go on the mission if that's your condition."

Bruce shook his head and said, "We have too much at stake not to be on this mission Chum. Can you brief the team tomorrow?" Seeing Dick's nod, Bruce continued. "Let's watch a movie tonight instead of patrol. We're going to have a long day tomorrow, and something tells me that we won't be sleeping much tonight.

Bruce was right. None of them slept well that night. At some point they had all converged onto Bruce's massive bed. Despite the fact that all four of his sons somehow managed to sleep on top of him and each other, he was happy that they had found comfort together.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

A/N: Look what I finally got around to posting! Sorry it took so long but I just could not find a good way to start it. Anyways, hope your as excited for this as I am! Please review, it make my day!