Chapter 2: The Test

The awaited week couldn't have come sooner in the Wayne Manor with the kids bursting with excitement at what wonders the school that Bruce was enrolling them into. But what mostly kept them all wild up was their new play pen as Damian so nice called it, because there was never a second of the day either Bruce or Damian didn't see at least one of them in the cave trying out all the gizmos and gadgets. At first Bruce thought he could just ignore them being in the cave but all that changed when Joe almost blew himself up with explosives he found in the Bat Cave. How? Bruce would never know because he knew that he kept all the explosives in a volt hanging from the ceiling in case the cave was ever compromised. Something had to be done and fast Bruce thought, but as he saw Damian gearing up for patrol and the two kids staring up at him with admiration, he couldn't help but let a sly smile shine upon his face as he walked towards the children that lived in the Manor with him.

"So what's it like to solve the mystery?"

"Beat the bad guys?"

"Save the innocent?"

"Throw the bad guys in jail?"

The twins interrogated as Damian put on his robin cowl, with a sigh as he tried to be patient with the two troublesome twins, as he liked to call them especially when their twin behavior boarder lined annoying. In the end Damian couldn't show it after all this was the first time he had ever been the subject of a child's ideal superhero and here were both his sister and cousin practically idolizing him. Actually he liked the idea of a fan club it just boosted his already inflated ego.

"Sorry Twerps, I have to go, but you will learn firsthand sooner or-"

"How about sooner?" Bruce interjected as he put a hand on Damian's shoulder that he just shrugged off as he could see where this conversation was going and Damian didn't like it one bit. Bruce had his fake apologetic face on the one he always wore when he was going to purposely make him stay home instead of patrol. But what really rubbed the boy wonder the wrong way was the fact he knew who would take his spot normally he wouldn't mind as much if Dick took his position next to his father, but Nightwing was in Africa at the moment helping Batwing with a case, leaving only one other possible candidate to take his place the dreaded, incompetent, and folly; Tim Drake, aka Red Robin. Like that was original Damian thought to himself.

"Father I would rather later," Damian replied through grinding teeth as he glared his father down with the coldest bat glare he could, but it didn't faze his father after all why would it Bruce coined the term bat glare and probably was immune to it, which was the only conclusion Damian could come up with after all his bat glare even stroke fear into the Joker.

"This isn't a suggestion Damian, I want you to stay here and train the children at least until they get admit into their new school in a few days," Bruce ordered in a commanding voice as he walked away towards the bat mobile leaving the three children standing in the middle of the bat cave. Damian's teeth grinded harder as he could feel a vain raise at the side of his forehead that only grew as he heard Batman making arrangements for Tim to come join him. I bet he would never make Tim stay home from patrol for something like this when Tim was Robin. Damian thought as he started to remove his costume as he wished that his father had assigned that sorry excuse for a superhero to train the Dynamic Duo.

"You hear that Abs, Damian's gonna train us."

"Yeah I can't wait my big brother is the best Robin ever," Abbey shimmed with admiration heavy in her voice that only made Damian sigh with defeat as he could feel his mood lifting with the praise and enthusiasm that both children expressed with the mere fact of being trained by him. I guess it will not be that bad, and plus I cannot leave Abbey's training to someone as incompetent as Tim Drake; Damian thought to completely forget about his anger about being ordered off patrol by his father.

With that decided Damian started the two eager and energetic kids off with the basics of fighting. Where the two seem to shock Damian with their ability to grasp the basic fighting moves that he had showed them with amazing speed, but Abby more than Joe, after all, he already knew that Joe's father Nightwing, Dick, often taught him a little about crime fighting when he wasn't on patrol either as a costume crime fighter or one with a badge. His little sister who Bruce had always did everything in his power to keep her from having to do anything with fighting, but there she was effortlessly keeping up with the pace of learning that may have been even faster than Joe's. As Damian trained the children during the time he should've been on patrol he had to admit that he was happy that his father had entrusted this job to him especially since everyday they trained together he had the pleasure to watch his cute baby sister mature into a little warrior. He still couldn't help wonder how good his sister had become especially since it was like she was able to copy moves with such precision it was like she has been fighting for years. He knew that he was quiet the prodigy when he was younger than her but he always thought it was the gene enhancements that his mother did to him before he was born. With the days passing quickly and soon it was Saturday, two days before the opening of the superhero in training school.

"So how have your training been going with Damian kids?" Bruce asked when they were all seated at the dining table to eat the low calorie and low fat pancakes.

"Daddy, daddy, Damian is the best!" Abby shimmed as she looked towards her brother with admiration that made Damian have to fight back a blush as he ate his breakfast seemingly indifferent about their conversation. Joe agreed with equal enthusiasm, which perked up Bruce's curiosity as he wondered what things Damian had been teaching the two troublemakers and about their progress as well.

"If this really is true, you wouldn't mind showing off your pupils progress would you Damian," Bruce challenged with a sly smile as he waited for his son to take the bait, and to his fortune after a few seconds he saw an equally sly smile flicker across Damian's face as he would jump at the chance to show his father just how great he really was. Damian agreed to his father's challenge, which led to all the Wayne's heading to the bat-cave as soon as Alfred dismissed everyone from the dining table.

"Okay kids, today for training you guys are going to spare against father, so don't hold back and give everything you guys got," Damian instructed the children as they were putting on their training outfits. When the two kids heard what Damian told them to do for this training secession made them look at each other with worry that only increased as they saw Bruce in his training gear jump into the small sparing ring in the bat-cave.

"Damian that's not fair, how are we supposed to beat, Batman?" Abby asked with a cute pout that Joe copied her as he whined out his complaints as well.

"Let's me rephrase than, this isn't a lesson it's a test. Father just wants to know how much you two have progressed under my training, so just go out there and show him your skills."

"But still-"

"Abby, no one's expecting you two to beat him, just go out there and do your best," Damian explained his earlier instruction even further hoping that the two energetic twins will understand what he wants them to do. To his fortune both kids ran towards the sparing ring to meet their opponent for today.

"Alright which one of you wants to go first?" Bruce asked with a smile, pleased with the kids' enthusiasm. Both kids looked at each other and knew that they both wanted to be the first one to get to show off their skills to their favorite superhero, so without a second thought they broke into a battle of Rock-Paper-Scissors to determine, which one should go first. After a few drawls Joe finally won with rock beating scissors. The results slightly angered Abby who was born with the competitive Wayne behavior.

"Don't worry about who goes first Abby, just watch their match and learn from any mistakes that Joe makes," Damian comforted when he sensed his sister's displeasure of losing the twin's civilized battle to decide who would go first.

"Are you ready for this Joe?"

"I was born ready. So Grandpa, be prepared to be amazed!"

"Well then what're you waiting for, make your move," Bruce countered as he slid into a fighting position, which gave Joe the signal to attack to catch Bruce off guard to deliver a powerful kick to Bruce's gut. Unfortunately for him Bruce being Batman was incapable of being caught off guard, and easily caught hold of Joe's lean leg. With a disappointed look to Damien Bruce was about to announce the end of the fight as he felt sorry for poor Joe who was struggling out his grip. But before Bruce could usher a word he was barely able to block Joe's round nose kick with his other leg, which cause Bruce to let go of the small boy with the interest of seeing what this little ten year old could really do.

"Father don't you know it's unwise to underestimate your opponent?" Damian commented with a sly look he glanced at Joe who flashed a victorious smile as if he had just won the fight already. In retrospect Damian knew any looks of approval that he glanced upon the twins were weighed on the same scale as gold and treasures.

"That's one mistake I won't make again, I think it's about time our warm up ended, don't you think Joe?"

"Whatever, you say grandpa." And with that Bruce charged at the young boy to deliver a punch, but Joe skillful dodged using his acrobats he had learned from his father the very first Robin ever. As Bruce countered and attacked the small boy with a barrage of skillful technics it amazed him how the young boy could keep up with every move and how much he had inherited and learned the fighting styles of his parents. He couldn't believe how much the child had learned from his parents at such a young age, but most importantly he couldn't believe how much he was able to combine both amazing fighting styles together in a good balance. Seeing as the little boy could hold his own against him made a sense of pride slightly swell in Bruce's chest especially with the thought that Damian was able to change the two youngest kids of his crime fighting family into somewhat decent fighters in such a short time period.

"Joe I'm proud to announce that you have surpassed my expectations," Bruce declared as he side swept Joe's feet from underneath to pin the young boy down to the ground.

"That's not fair grandpa!" Joe whined as he tried to struggle out of Bruce's clutches in vain. A warm feeling of nostalgia flowed over Bruce as he saw the fire in Joe's eyes that reminded him of Joe's father when he began to train him. "Calm down Joe you may not have beaten me, but you have passed my test by showing me that you have what it takes to someday wear a bat mantle." Hearing this caused Joe's face to light up like the fourth of July as he pictured one day he'll be the black caped crusader scaling rooftops with a single bound. As Joe hopped out the training ring with a brimming smile as he scurried off to claim Damien's congratulatory high five, Bruce took a deep breath as he watched his daughter step into the ring. It was one thing to rough up Joe a little after all he wasn't his actual child and there was the fact that his child was a delicate looking as a flower.

"Are you ready Dad?" Abby inquired as she watched her father with excitement with the chance of showing off her moves to her father. Seeing how excited she was Bruce chose to see what she can do and adjust himself to her level.

"To see my little girl's skills always," Bruce replied as he moved into a fighting stance that Abby soon followed. With them both grinning in anticipation started the fight with Abby swiftly delivering a powerful round house kick to Bruce's head. Bruce caught it barely, but before he could counter or even blink she delivered a counter attack by round house kicking Bruce across the face with her other leg. As pain shot through his face Bruce could hardly believe that the child he had always considered to be fragile and weak was standing in front of him preparing for her next attack had both skill and strength of a warrior.

"Father once again I see that you have made the same mistake of underestimating your opponent," Damien teased as he looked at his sister with pride after all it took a lot of skill to make the mighty batman bleed at her age. Bruce ignoring his son's taunting and soon moved into a fighting position fully ready this time to take on anything his daughter can throw at him. With that they both went at it with Bruce mainly on the attack with swift well positioned kicks and punches as Abby skillfully dodged each and every one of them with back flips and cart-wheels that she had learned in her years in gymnastics. As he watched his daughter dodge and attack with a combination of her gymnastics and the martial arts that Damien had taught her he saw that had not only had she discovered her fighting style but had surpassed all his expectations, he thought as he decided it was about time to end the test. Bruce flipped over the young girl and tried to finish up the fight with a finishing blow to her back, but the young girl flipped onto his leg at the last second successful dodging Bruce's kick at the same pushing her legs towards her father face, that Bruce easily countered by catching both legs and flipping her towards the ground.

"Well I believe, the testing done for today," Bruce announced as he released his squirming daughter to put her on top of his shoulders.

"Does…that…mean…we pass?" Abby panted out, but Bruce didn't even need to answer as he flashed a smile at his daughter filled with pride that caused the ball of sun shine on his shoulders to beam with a smile of victory.

"Both of you are well on your ways to becoming great heroes someday. Good work Damien, although I had my doubts on whether you could really start off their training, but you have exceed my expectations for them," Bruce announced both acknowledging the two children and his son that managed to hid the true impact of his father's words had on him with a small smile as the Waynes walked out of the mansion where Bruce bought his two little champions ice cream cones for their hard work.