Notes: Wherein my college degree is making itself heard again ._.

Reina Grayson: Haha, Damian's version of 'fun' eh? :D

Dextra2: It's not what you think ;)

Lady Cryptid: Welcome! I've got a couple more surprises in store ;)

DarthZ: Are you sure it's a 'small' problem? Lolz.

Bethlovesall: It will be revealed in Chapter 17 :)


The meeting ran long and slow, with the notorious windbags of his corporate executives leading the discussion. Bruce had half a mind to just up and leave instead of listening to yet another recitation of the second quarter's business performance.

"As you can see, our profitability ratio has been going down," William Burst repeated for the sixth time, one well-groomed finger circling the sliding chart displayed on the screen. "We could say that with NSS Industries as a new entrant in the market, more and more people are switching to the new brand and leaving WE in the dust."

"But we're all agreed this is just for the short-term," Charlie Stenson pointed out, adjusting his glasses, "NSS doesn't have the capability to mass-produce as WE does, so what they're coming out with will always be limited."

"Law of Supply and Demand, Stenson," Tony Caldwell spoke up. He sat back in his chair and steepled his fingers over his plump stomach. "If they continue to market their brand in the broad media - what do they call it now? Internet social media? - the demand will simply increase and they'll be pushing their price range higher. Maybe by late next year, their brand will be firmly entrenched in the mobile phone market."

"If that happens, we'll be setting a new profit baseline - one much lower than last year's." Burst said grimly, looking at the chart again.

Bruce inwardly sighed. He'd better speak up now or the rest of the meeting will be filled with gloom and doom. He got enough of that from his nightly patrols. "So what you're saying, is you see NSS as a threat."

"Of course it is!" Burst cried, fiddling with the cuffs on his suit jacket. "It's a new company that's already eating into our profit margins."

Bruce nodded. "Have you taken a look at what they're offering to the market?"

"Stylish designs, additional features, the teens are eating it up." He shook his head and grumbled, "Even my boys are asking for an NSS phone."

Bruce smiled with delight, and kept his smirk to himself. Hook, line, and sinker. His executives are still easily playable as ever. "Oh, how are your boys, by the way? They're about to graduate high school, aren't they?"

Burst blinked at the change of topic and nodded. "Yes, Billy's just a couple of months away and Ray's just a year away."

"My daughter's just a year away too," Caldwell added.

"Mine's already working on her college applications," Stenson chuckled. "Still a year away and she's lining up her options; a real forward-thinker she is, like her papa." His proud grin turned serious as he added, "and she's not asking for an NSS."

"Lucky you," Caldwell commented.

"No," Stenson shook his head, adjusting his glasses again, "no luck about it. Just practicality. She's asking for a Waynetech phone."

"Brand loyalty?" Burst suggested with a glimmer of hope.

But Stenson shook his head again. "She wants the practicality of a WE phone. All the NSS offers are full of bells and whistles; nothing very useful in the long run."

Burst's face brightened with relief and he stopped fiddling with his cuffs. "It's just a phase! A status symbol! If this keeps up NSS won't be in the market for long."

"If it keeps up," Caldwell suggested, bringing up one thick finger. "The next entrant might not be so easily ignored." He glanced at everyone in the boardroom, "I suggest we adapt some of NSS' strategies and come up with trendy phone designs, maybe even customizable ones. We can outsource some artists..."

"Why not turn it into a contest?" Stenson proposed, his glasses glinting in the afternoon sun. "We can say it's part of a Public Relations campaign..."

The discussion continued but Bruce was paying only half a mind to it. His watch had vibrated and he glanced down to see that Robin and Black Tern had arrived at Mount Justice. What's Damian doing in the Cave?

He thought about it as the meeting finally winded down. As soon as the others started leaving, he similarly packed his papers and headed to his office. "I'll be out for the day, Stacey," He told his secretary. "Forward my calls to my business phone."

"Yes, Mr. Wayne."

He grabbed some of the more pertinent paperwork from his office desk and stuffed them into his suitcase then went for the elevators to the garage. Both his boys being at the former JLA headquarters implied that Dick had pulled them there - because he was bored? It was a plausible excuse as the former acrobat had been born and raised to always be in motion. The boy simply could not keep still for long - it took the entirety of Bruce's patience to teach Robin to be quiet during stakeouts.

But the fact that Dick would bring his little brother along to the secret hideout of the team Damian had been banned from joining or training with...was this a malicious attempt to keep the younger boy envious?

Bruce shook his head. Dick adored his little brother despite the younger boy's attitude. And the younger...might reciprocate those same feelings, if Bruce correctly interpreted Damian's watchful gaze at Dick. It could, of course, mean something else entirely.

His watch beeped and he glanced down again to see a message from Superman. Oh yes, the research findings the Boy Scout was supposed to have retrieved in his guise of nosy reporter. Those same findings were supposed to help him piece together the experiments Damian had been subjected to - the boy didn't come with immunization papers after all.

Hopefully the findings would give better results than this monthly review he'd just come from.

The Batcave was mostly silent; its resident bats still slumbering through their daytime sleep. In just a few hours those same bats will wake and start flapping their way outside to hunt for food. All his crime-fighting tools were built well behind the bats' flying route and free from any falling guano - much to Alfred's gratitude. But that didn't mean the Batman's lair was free from the occasional, wayward bat.

"I think that one got kicked off its perch," Superman remarked, his eyes watching the small creature zigzagging its way back to where the others were.

Batman merely grunted.

"Oh, I've got the results from STAR." The Big Blue Boy Scout floated closer to hand him a manila folder. "I'm not as good at interpreting lab results as you," he continued, paying no heed to the Dark Knight's glower, "But I can say that everything looks good. The League of Assassins weren't pulling punches when they made the little demon."

"His name is Damian." Batman snapped without taking his eyes away from the documents in front of him.

"Where is he, by the way?" Superman stared glancing around, as if suspecting the boy to suddenly appear and start screaming about the disregard the Boy Scout had for him. Unfortunately,

"-he's with the team at Mount Justice."

Superman's head whipped back to him. "What?"

"Take a look." Batman typed a couple of commands into the virtual keyboard and the Batcave's monitor screens showed Mount Justice's lounge room where two kids sat in deep discussion. One dark-haired teen was larger, his frame muscular; while the other younger, smaller, similarly dark-haired boy still had a build that would develop with age but was already showing hints of being similarly bulky. Both boys had their heads bent together; their discussion intense with the seriousness in their eyes though both refrained from making any extravagant gestures.

"Does the camera record audio-" Superman quieted when the boys' voices started filtering through.

"-of a red sun can be as debilitating as that of the meteorite." Damian was saying.

"But it's harder to get hold of, right?" Superboy countered. "Just to create the technology to mimic the rays..."

Damian snorted. "These won't be amateurs. These will be highly trained individuals financially capable of developing such a device and won't have to resort to gathering poisonous meteorites in ridiculous amounts."

Superman paled at the boys' words. Clearly they were discussing a Kryptonian's weaknesses - for being a League powerhouse, the Boy Scout had some of the easier weaknesses to exploit - but Bruce withheld judgment on whether the boys meant the discussion to be a plan to eliminate Superman or something else. Superboy was a clone of the Boy Scout; he had to share the same weaknesses as well.

"A-aren't you concerned about this?" Superman asked.

Batman shifted the camera feed to a smaller window as he brought up other files pertaining to the case Gordon had just given him. The lack of evidence was clearly puzzling as the crime was certainly vicious enough for stray hairs or clothing fibers or even skin cells to be flung around. But forensics didn't find any. So that means either the killer is a meticulous cleaner or...

"Bruce?" The Boy Scout's voice interrupted his train of thought.

Batman kept his annoyed sigh to himself as he answered, "And what do you want me to do about it?"

"You-he-you could talk to them about it!"

"About what? Their current discussion?" Batman scrolled through the files. "That would imply that we were eavesdropping on their conversation."

Superman looked flustered; clearly he didn't want to be accused of spying on the team of young heroes. The monitoring cameras were expected to be used by someone like Batman, not the Boy Scout. "But... what about their planning? Those two are trained to be weapons by our enemies! We have to keep an eye on them!"

"And what do you think I'm doing now?" Batman huffed in irritation.

Silence greeted his question. Bruce sighed audibly and turned to face the Boy Scout. "I'm doing what I can to watch over those two. But you have to admit, I can't always be there if either of them goes rogue. I may have taken Damian into my home and my family, but that doesn't mean that I fully trust the boy."

Even more silence. Bruce sighed again and rubbed a growing headache in his temple, knowing that when he turned around, the Boy Scout would be gone. He turned up the Mount Justice camera feed again.

"What makes you think you're better than me?" Superboy challenge came clearly through the speakers.

"I was trained to fight ever since I was deemed old enough," saidDamian, his voice a little haughty. "You, on the other hand, were spoon-fed knowledge of the world instead of honing your fighting techniques. I have watched footage of your missions and you clearly lack any proficiency in combat other than stampede over all opposition." The boy smirked. "Is that what you have learned from Black Canary?"

"How did you know about that?"

"I am the son of Batman."

Bruce inwardly flinched, feeling at once horrified, betrayed, violated. He shouldn't have dismissed this clandestine method of securing an heir from him to be above the al Ghuls. He'd vastly underestimated their level of honour, and now there was a boy who will suffer for it.

So this is how the Boy Scout feels, he mused to himself, as opposed to what Dick feels.

He continued watching the boys argue on the screen before the computer beeped again to indicate an incoming message.