Justice League and the Court of Owls does not belong to me. Just Cho and Company.
Okay, now that the scene is ready, it's about time to get on with the action!
Big thanks to mbembet, Cajun Strong Man 2, Tigress2929, FrostLily11 for reviewing!
Being the girlfriend of billionaire Bruce Wayne's oldest son sure had it's advantages, even if Barbara had been ignoring Dick for the past month. Her relationship with Richard kept people from questioning why she was accompanying Bruce and Diana to a fund raiser for mayoral candidate Lincoln March.
Barb had seen the guy in the news a lot lately. Apparently, although he'd been born and raised in Gotham City, he'd only just moved back from Chicago about a year ago. And he had a lot of big plans for Gotham. In fact, his slogan, which was extremely overused in her opinion, was 'Lincoln March, for a better Gotham'." I guess people like overused slogans. According to Bruce, March was most likely to win this year's election. I still can't believe how much the man looks like Bruce though. Talk about weird.
When March had first begun campaigning in Gotham, there had been a lot of jokes, and speculation too, about the possibility of him being Bruce Wayne's older brother.
But Barb wasn't here just to meet and greet and spread rumors with Gotham's rich and famous. Most of Wayne Industries' board members were attending this gala. And, even though it had been two months since the deaths of Henry Davidson and his family, Bruce had made sure that there was extra security on hand. Bruce was wearing his costume under his tux while Barbara was wearing hers underneath her sparkling red floor length dress and black satin jacket. And Clark Kent was also in attendance. Bruce had used his acquaintance with Lois to get both her and the Boy Scout in. Wally is starting to rub off on me. Even J'onn was around somewhere, posing as a server. Diana simply had to find an empty room if she needed to twirl into her armor.
Talk about overkill. But, then again, they had a legitimate reason to be on high alert. Whoever this 'C of O' was probably wouldn't be able to pass up on so many high-quality targets in one place.
"You must be Barbara Gordon," a young woman with a light Chicago accent spoke up from behind her. Barb turned to see Lincoln's secretary. An Asian girl with red highlights in her long black hair. And dark brown eyes, almost the same color as Nathan's.
She nodded, extending a hand, "Yep, that's me. And you're Isabelle?" The girl nodded. "How does a teenager end up working for someone like March?"
Said teenager's mouth quirked in a small smile, and Barb was instantly reminded of one of Bruce's amused smirks. Even if she didn't know why. "Mr. March is a close family friend. That, and most of us home-schoolers have very flexible schedules."
"I bet." Something just doesn't feel right about this girl. The way Isabelle held herself and the way she spoke just looked and felt too... practiced. This girl is acting, I'm sure of it.
But it might just have to do with the fact that the Asian girl was only nervous. Not many ordinary sixteen year olds got the chance to attend a party like this. Barbara remembered her first gala very well. She'd been beyond overwhelmed.
Even so, I'm still going to keep my eye on her.
After several minutes of polite conversation with the police commissioner's daughter, Cho had excused herself to mingle with Mr. March's other guests. When Barbara had asked how Cho had ended up working for March, the girl had almost told her that he was her father. But that would not have been wise, according to the Court. She was only half Asian, but Cho was well aware that people wouldn't believe that due to her looks, which she'd inherited from her mother. The only physical attribute that she'd inherited from her father was his smile. She didn't look enough like him to pass as his daughter in the minds of these shallow people.
What was really bugging Cho was that she hated lying, simple as that. Cho's entire education was in the art of war and deception. And she was sick of it. If she wasn't here with her father, if other apprentices and members of the Parliament weren't also in attendance, Cho was sure that she would have 'spilled her guts' as she'd heard a teenager say once in a movie.
An hour into the party, a Court member caught her eye and raised his brow, causing Cho to immediately duck her head. It was a silent reminder. Play your part, or else...
Play my part. That meant that she wasn't just here to socialize. She needed to find a quiet corner to disappear to. She couldn't activate her telepathy in the middle of the room as her eyes would be a dead giveaway that she wasn't normal. I really really don't like invading people's minds like this. But the Court required her to find out which of Gotham's elite was most likely to be the leader of the new movement to better Gotham. The movement that would take Gotham out of their control, even if her father did win the election. And although most of their intel suggested Wayne, the Court of Owls wanted to make sure that they took care of all potential threats. These people aren't the threat, though.
Bruce introduced Diana to Lincoln March, a man that he'd already had a few talks with over the past couple of months. So far, Lincoln proved himself to be exactly what he claimed he was. A humble man simply doing his part to make the world just a little bit better.
Although he needed to keep his mind on the fundraiser and the mission at hand, Bruce found his thoughts drifting back to Nathan. This would be the first time that both he and Diana were away from their baby at the same time. But he had to remind himself not to worry, that his son was far from unprotected. Alfred was at the Manor, yes, but so was Wally. Even Dick was at the mansion, to help keep an eye on the baby and Tim. Richard had only agreed to the plan once it was made clear that Bruce wouldn't be at the Manor.
Dick's behavior towards him hurt. Bruce had promised Diana that he would stop blaming himself and he was actually doing much better. Still, the knowledge that his oldest son was against him didn't help matters...
He almost jumped when Diana subtly elbowed him in the ribs. "I'm sorry, Lincoln. I didn't catch what you said."
"Something on your mind, Bruce?" The man studied him with raised brows.
Diana skillfully cut in, "He's just ready to get back home, Mr. March. Neither of us are used to being away from our son for so long." One of the quirks of being married to a princess, particularly this one. Since she'd first come to 'Man's World', Diana had become a master of diplomacy. In fact, not that he'd admit it, she was way better at it than he was.
The man nodded and continued the earlier conversation. And Bruce made sure that he paid attention this time. It's a good thing that Diana's got my back, but I can't slip up like that again. If something happens and I'm not paying attention...
Not in a million years did Wally ever think this would happen. Who would have thought that Bruce Wayne, the Batman, would ask Wally West, the Flash, to babysit his two month old son? I'm the cut-up of the team, so why ask me? I mean, I'm glad he did, but I would have thought that Bats would have asked J'onn. Actually, Wally knew that he hadn't been first choice, that honor had actually gone to Shayera and John. But both of them had turned it down because their one year old son, Rex, had caught a stomach virus and they hadn't wanted to expose baby Nathan to that.
Currently Wally was walking to the kitchen to get the baby a bottle while Dick hung out with Tim in media room. Part of him wanted to knock some sense into Grayson for ignoring Bruce and breaking Babs' heart, but he knew that violence of any kind would set Tim off. And Bats had expressly told him to keep the peace and keep out of it. It wasn't any of his business, really.
But, when you think about it, it is. I mean, Bruce and Dick are my friends. So is Barbara, and she came to me for help. He sighed as he shook the bottle, still cradling Nathan close with his right arm. But, in a way, Bats is right. I can't confront Dick here, especially not with Tim and Nathan close by. 'Cause it's bound to become a shouting match, no matter how carefully I try to approach him. Even though Richard was much more relaxed than his mentor, it was very clear that he'd inherited his adoptive father's signature stubbornness. It would take a lot of talking on Wally's part to convince Grayson to change his mind. And even then, there was no guarantee that things would turn out the way that he hoped.
Wally was so caught up in the predicament, that little Nathan's wail almost made him jump, "Oops! Sorry, buddy. Here ya go, Nate." Wally smiled as the baby sucked on the bottle, remembering the look on Bruce's face just a few hours earlier when he'd used the shortened form of the littlest Wayne's name. Too bad, he'll just have to deal with it. That brought back a particular memory from three years ago. Artemis Wayne turning on him with fury in her blue eyes as she'd told him that her nickname was nothing to laugh at, that it was given to her by her Flash. And he was immediately hit with grief so bad that he actually had to lean against the counter to maintain his balance. Man, I really miss those kids.
"Something wrong, Master Wallace?" Alfred spoke up from out of nowhere, effectively startling Wally enough to make him jump. Nathan gurgled in complaint but kept working on the bottle.
If Wally had a free hand, he would have laid it over his heart, "Man, Jeeves. Would it hurt to give a warn- Oh, great. Just great. Really? Thanks, Nate." The baby just cooed, looking up at him with innocent brown eyes and a trickle of spit-up running down his little chin.
The rest of it, quite a lot actually, was currently on Wally's shirt. I forgot how disgusting babies can be. I just can't see Bats dealing with something like this, especially on a daily basis... That thought almost made him smirk. What kept him from laughing was that he still had a big wet spot of baby vomit covering the front of his shirt.
Alfred expertly took the baby from him and proceeded to calmly clean the little guy up, "I believe that some of Master Dick's shirts are still in his old bedroom. I'm sure that he wouldn't mind if you borrowed one."
Wally grimaced, setting the half empty bottle down on the counter and accepting the towel that the butler offered him, "Thanks, Alfred. Umm... How are you handling this so easily?"
"I was not kidding when I told you that I've been in service here since Master Bruce was in diapers. I may be just a little bit rusty, but this isn't the first baby that I have cleaned up."
The very mental picture that Alfred's words brought up was so hilarious that Wally about forgot his current situation and proceeded to laugh uncontrollably.
Tim's voice spoke up from the doorway, "What's so funny?" Wally managed to control himself enough to catch a glimpse of Tim's face. The teenager smirked when he caught sight of the red-haired man's t-shirt, "Oh, man. Little guy got ya good, huh? You should have seen it the first time he got Dad. Talk about hilarious." The eighteen year old came into the kitchen, "Is it safe to hold him, Alfred?"
Said butler nodded his head, "I should think so, Master Tim. Judging from the condition of Master Wallace's shirt, I'd say that Master Nathan 'got it all out'."
Tim laughed, holding his little brother expertly. By that time, Wally had zipped out, changed his shirt, and zipped back in. "I'll never get used to how you do that, West." Tim sounds much better. But Diana said that he's still jumpy, and that he still has nightmares. It's gonna be a while before he's a hundred percent again.
He shrugged his shoulders, "What's really freaky is-"
"That Superman can mimic anyone's voice? Yeah, that completely freaked me out," Tim shivered, proving his point.
"I didn't know Supes could do that." In fact, Wally had actually been about to mention the way that J'onn would sometimes just phase in out of nowhere. But he found Tim's little bit of info much more intriguing.
"Yeah, he did that when Bruce was under Brainiac's mind control. Even dressed up as Batman for the night."
"Seriously?" Wally could sense a real good story behind that one.
To quote Gandalf in The Return of the King: "The board is set. And the pieces are moving..."
Please R&R.