CHAPTER TWO
"Don't Argue With Big Brother"
The Robin Cycle entered the secret entrance to the Bat Cave from a lowly, dirt road, and Drake drove it through the sleuth-ways of tunnels with its security features that deactivated remotely via a communication module built in the cycle, then reactivated as soon as they left an appointed beacon. Without the module which was installed in every vehicle, or by manual remote that every member of the Bat Family had, the new system Drake had installed to keep all intruders out would immediately go into effect and slam down barriers to keep anyone from going further.
It had worked on more than one occasion. One time, a bunch of drunk teenagers had ventured into the cave. From the exterior, it looked like your typical old mining cave covered with shrubbery and moss, but that was just a mask. There was even a sign out in the front indicating it was dug in the 1800s by old coal miners but then abandoned. The intrusion had alerted those in the Bat Cave, but instead of activating the higher security features which would expose abnormal occupation, they released hundreds of bats into the tunnel, and scared the teenagers away.
It basically began as a very long tunnel, but then broke into a series of sleuth-ways that Bruce and Dick had carved out in early years. Over the years, the caves had gotten much bigger, deeper, and more secure.
A good security system was badly needed before Drake installed his latest version. He jokingly called it the D-500, because it was built by Drake and it secured all 500 sleuth-ways, caverns, mini-tunnels, and waterways, that connected in anyway to the main cave. Animals had often triggered the alarms in early versions, but with the new AI installed and its parameters defined, Drake allowed it to learn what was actually friend or foe by imputing details for it to differentiate while the system continuous scanned the caves all day, every day.
It was difficult work, and Drake had actually become a spelunker, a cave explorer, for several days, to catalog all the different species of life that made their home in this subterranean world. Then he conducted online research, gathered the necessary information and pictures of every life form what he observed, and imputed all the data into the AI program under FRIEND or FOE labels. Basically, the only thing that was under FOE was any creature or human not authorized. All animals, birds, insects, amphibians — especially bats — were not enemies.
Every member of the Bat Family, among other outside acquiesces, were scanned into the Batcomputer, and their parameters were set. So, every time they entered the Bat Cave either by the tunnels or by way of the Manor, they were always scanned, and continuously scanned. Unfortunately, there was one time Jason had got into the system and purposely switched Damian from FRIEND to FOE, and the system went haywire when Damian entered the Bat Cave. Bruce gave him hell for that because it put the entire cave on lockdown until Drake could fix the error.
The D-500 also had a wide variety of other constructs and categories including machines and weapons that were allowed or disallowed. Everything was scanned, and it made everyone secure in knowing they were safe here.
Damian held on tight as Drake maneuvered through the tunnels to the main cave. There was a certain pattern, and after entrancing one tunnel, a door closed to make like a wall, then one door/wall opened, and this pattern continued. The entire trip from beginning to end took about a minute, but the security was well worth the construct.
When the cycle came to park in the Bat Cave, Damian jumped off first. But immediately after Drake dismounted, he had words with him. Drake yanked off his face mask in anger.
"Damn it! You were reckless out there, Damian. You always let your ego drive your actions. He nearly killed you. And to top it all off, that lunatic stole your sword and tried to slice me in two with it!"
"Shove it, Drake!" Damian said, taking his gloves and mask off and throwing them to the floor. "I'm in no mood for this, but I know I'll get an earful from Grayson about it. We've been over this!"
"Then we'll go over it again, Damian," Dick Grayson said, exiting the medical bay, unmasked but still in costume. In his hand he held a glass of water and two aspirins. He handed both over to Damian when he reached him. The boy swallowed the pills and drank the full glass down. But no thank-you was given.
"He's reckless, Dick!" Drake said with an unnatural fury. "If I hadn't been there, then Scarecrow's man would've kill him. He's a danger to the team!"
"Screw you, Drake! You wanna fight? I'll take you on, right here, right now!"
Both Drake and Damian balled their fists and clenched their jaws, ready to duke it out.
Dick got between them like a father would separating his kids from a children's disrupt. "Okay, settle down. Things happen. Tim, I agree with you to a certain degree. But I saw the replay of the battle recorded by your mask relayed and stored in the Batcomputer. After Scarecrow fled, drugged his man, you hesitated to fight the man. You held back." Dick put up a hand to Tim. "Yes, I know…But, you have to understand, your little hesitations in the field — your moral code — could get you killed one day. He wasn't of sound mind, I get that. But it was either you or him."
Tim looked stunned. "Bruce's cardinal rule: We don't kill," Tim corrected him. "We all follow it." He pointed at Damian. "He was the reckless one, but I'm getting the lecture?"
Damian smiled smug. But then Dick gave him a serious look of displeasure. "You have nothing to smile about, Damian. You allowed an enemy to get the better of you. The piece of wood could've been a gun for all it mattered. He rendered you down. You let your guard down. You have nothing to be proud of here."
Damian scowled. "We busted Scarecrow's operation, the drugs are off the street; we did our job." Damian pointed at Dick, gave him a counter-lecture. "But you let the bad guy get away. We should be lecturing you, Grayson!"
"You're missing the point, Damian."
"See! He's so infuriating, Dick." Drake's face was getting red with anger. "He can't admit he was wrong."
"No, you're wrong!" Damian countered.
"Tim, Damian — time out!" Dick sighed frustrated. "Go get undressed. Then we can review how we can all learn to do better the next time. We're a team, and without teamwork, we're nothing. That's the most important lesson. Go!"
Tim left in a huff, but Damian stayed steadfast. He crossed his arms. Instead of changing, he sat down roughly in a chair next to a computer console.
"Aren't you going to get undressed, Damian?" Dick asked.
"With him in there? I'll wait."
"Damian, you and I have to have a little talk about your attitude as of late. Bruce may not be here right now, but he left me in charge. You and I are going to start from square one."
"And what exactly does that mean?"
"It means…" Dick's voice elevated, but then softened. "I'll teach you something Bruce taught me when I 'misbehaved' one time in the field."
Damian's eyes narrowed. "Oh yeah, and what's that?"
Dick had had enough, and leaned close to Damian's face. He then produced a wicked smile, teeth shown. Damian became a little unnerved, as if he thought Grayson had suddenly become unhinged. When Grayson got angry, it was no laughing matter. Grayson was often worse than Bruce sometimes, emotionally, despite his normal carefree persona. Sometimes PTSD worked in odd ways.
"You, Tim and I, are going to do something I know you'd probably hate, and I don't care. And your big brother says you'll going to do it. Understand?" Damian swallowed and nodded. "Good," Dick said with a thinner smile. "Now get undressed, be nice to your partner/brother, shake hands with him, and apologize, and then get your butts up to the Manor. Alfred has dinner ready. But bright and early tomorrow, we're all going out. No refusing, I mean it."
Dick smiled, and Damian said, albeit with reluctance, "Okay." And went to change.
Dick Grayson put his hands on his hips, watched him walk away. "Kids these days need more fun," he said, then softly, "so they don't turn out like you, Little D."
And then he thought of his own bundle of joy, his daughter Mar'i that he birthed with Kory, his wished-be wife. They wanted to get married, but complications occurred, and they were now separated from each other over a long distance, their marriage never to be if the universe was any indication. Kory was in space now and Dick was on Earth. Kory had Mar'i at the moment and was training her. She had special powers like her alien mother and she needed to be properly trained in how to use them or she could not only be a danger to herself but to others as well.
"I miss you, sweetie…" he said softly, looking up to the ceiling of the Bat Cave, as if it were the starry night sky.
And as if she had heard him, a telepathic response resounded in his mind:
"I miss you, too, daddy…"
To be continued…
