Bringing My Children Home

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Chapter Twenty-One

Bruce

"It is now confirmed that the young vigilante known as Spoiler, is working with the Batman. Stephanie Brown, who had created the alter ego to get her father's crimes noticed, told our reporter in an interview that she was glad her mask was being used for something more than a teenager's angry rebellion. While Miss Brown is believed to know who is now using the Spoiler Identity, last year's Vigilante Protection Act means she could be held liable for sharing that information.

"The VPA was passed just last year after a five-year journey through the House and Senate, being vetoed once by the President, but finally passed after a second round in Congress. It went into effect earlier this year. Miss Brown is now a ward of Bruce Wayne's after the release of her father, Arthur Brown, from prison. Mr. Brown, who has used Cluemaster as a cover, tried to kidnap his daughter from the Kane Autumn Gala a couple weeks ago.

"In other news, the long-waited college game between Gotham U's Knights, and Metropolis's Titans is expected to gather its usual vast crowd…"

Well, that went smoother than expected. Video footage of Cass's half reveal of Spoiler was all over the internet, Stephanie had given the appropriate vague, ditzy answers in the interview, and the public was eating it up. Someone had snidely suggested Bruce Wayne was bound to end up with a vigilante if he kept adopting kids, but for the most part, the public had sympathy and praise for Stephanie in her struggles with her father's crimes, and her courage in 'giving' Spoiler away.

And somehow Aunt Kane had not had a fit. She had simply sighed and asked him to be more cautious in choosing his next child. Of course, learning that Bruce had a blood son had pleased her. All in all, the Gala was not the debacle it could have been.

Crystal Brown was moving out of rehab soon. Bruce wanted her to live in the manor, afraid she would easily fall into old habits if she was on her own. She had refused, and there had been some stress because of the publicity after Arthur's kidnap attempt, and the public revelation that her daughter had invented a Vigilante Identity that was now under the Bat's Name. Jason had come up with the solution, pointing out that the historical manor had a sort of Gatehouse, a small, empty cottage right behind the gate into the estate.

Crystal had accepted that. A significant effort had gone into getting it ready. With his concerns for his younger two sons and the al Ghuls, it had been a relief to have Stephanie's life settling down. So of course, when the catalyst came, it started with her.

Both alerts hit the Bat-network within minutes. Tim's alert came first by a minute, because his Threat Protocol Program was designed to keep track of the dangers specific to the Bats and Wayne's. Oracles was a minute later, as hers was designed to find the greater dangers to Gotham. Bruce was in his Wayne Enterprises office, although he was using his Bat-network tablet to hack A.R.G.U.S. to see what they had on the League of Assassins.

PRIORITY ONE ALERT! BLACKGATE BREAK OUT, CLUEMASTER AMONG THE MISSING INMATES!

In the morning on a school day, Stephanie and Tim would be in school. Since Tim would have received the alert fist, Stephanie probably already knew. Bruce shut down the tablet, aware the aborted hack would be caught by Amanda Waller's team. Despite her frustration that the VPA had passed, Waller had taken it in surprising good grace. She would lodge a complaint with the league, but send Bruce information in thanks for the test of her systems.

"Julie, Arthur Brown might have escaped prison. I have to go get Stephanie and Tim from school," Brucie Wayne said to the elderly secretary, who had worked for his mother and insisted Bruce needed her when he took his place in the company. There were about five or six men and women who had been with the company since Bruce was born, all of who believed they owed it to their kind bosses to mother and father their son even into his later thirties.

"Of course, dear," she exclaimed. She had been the only person who had been certain Bruce adopting Dick would be a good idea from the start. All his children loved Julie, though it was known that Dick was her favorite. "I'll reschedule your meetings, and let Mr. Fox know."

LEVEL TWO ALERT! CLUEMASTER CONFIRMED MISSING FROM BLACKGATE PRISON.

Oracle's alert hit as he ran down the stairs.

On the smart phone connected to the Bat Network, Oracle, Robin, and Spoiler's icons lit up. The overawed valet who brought Bruce's car out caught the relief on Bruce's face. In the five minutes Bruce took to get out of the high rises, and onto the back road that would get him to Gotham Academy the quickest, Nightwing, Phoenix, Batgirl, Agent A, and the icon shaped like a baby with a small bat symbol (Cass's idea) also lit. They were all safe.

Commissioner Gordon's obligatory call came as Bruce entered the campus grounds.

"I take you already know," Jim said mildly at the brusque answer.

"Of course. I have people paid to keep me informed of any possible threat," Brucie answered quietly. It was possible Jim knew that was a lie, but the Commissioner let out a soft breath, the sad sigh he gave when dealing with Bruce and a threat to the Wayne Family. After all, Jim Gordon's first meeting with Bruce Wayne had been to find the boy, only ten minutes after he became an orphan, kneeling, shuddering, wailing between the bloody bodies of his parents. Whatever Jim Gordon knew of the connection between the Bats and the Waynes, Bruce Wayne was the one he worried for in moments like these.

"It's been a quarter of an hour since he was spotted heading north," Gordon informed the father as Bruce doubled parked, ignoring the angry glare of the teacher he had blocked in. "I will have patrols doubled around your home."

"Thanks, Jim, I'm at the school so I need to go find Stephanie and Tim," Bruce replied. He was too well known for the security officer to stop his race into the school. Not for the first time, Bruce wished the pair of teens would have chosen the gated Gotham Private School. He barely noted Jim's good bye, ready to strangle Jack and Janet Drake for having sent Tim to Brentwood Prep School during the year he was thirteen, which had given Tim a disgust for Private school. Gotham Academy was a public school, but it was where the children of the rich and influential of Gotham went.

"Good Morning, Mr. Wayne," the school Principal said. "Mr. Drake informed us you would be coming. He and Miss Brown are in the Guidance Counselor's Office now."

Both Bruce and the polished Ms. Turney winced. Ms. Dost was a well-meaning woman, and had in fact guided Dick through high school without issue, but unfortunately, her attempts to help Tim had drawn his parents' notice. Since then Tim had become something of a nuisance to her. Principal Turney had said something once to Bruce, having caught the signs of an abused child in the belligerent, arrogant way Tim ran rough shod over Ms. Dost. They had come to a mutual understanding that it was a good thing that Tim acted out this way when he was removed from his abusers.

Tim was sullenly slumped on the chair outside the office, apparently playing on his phone, while Stephanie had undertaken to distract the Counselor. Everyone knew the only reason Tim was angry with her, was because he had not yet admitted he was safe to be angry with his parents. When Tim smiled at Bruce, Ms. Turney got the familiar curious look, mingled with the embarrassment that she had initially accused Bruce of being the abuser. Until he was no longer under the Drakes roof, Tim had never presented more than a shy, intelligent child to the school. So, the sudden acting out, minor as it was, had been noticed by the Counselor and the Principal.

The chagrin in Tim's face was noticeable only to his paternal figure. He hated the fact that he failed to control his anger, and that it had brought about more attention from the school. He hated the understanding with which Ms. Turney and Ms. Dost treated his occasional argumentative conversation. Outside of Wayne Manor, this was the only place Tim had ever failed to play the role he wanted.

"Hey Bruce," Tim greeted, staying slumped down. "I could have driven us home."

"Stephanie could too, but its ten minutes of public road, and we don't know where Arthur Brown is, or what he knows about Stephanie's routine," Bruce said, in a mild, worried Brucie tone. To be honest, picking them up was not necessary, but Brucie Wayne was known to be a little paranoid about the safety of his family. It was perfectly understandable to the public, though his children knew this was a genuine part of the public persona of Bruce Wayne.

"Bruce!" Stephanie emerged from the counselor's office, with the look of awed delight that came out whenever Bruce did something she had longed for but never expected. "Ms. Dost has three cats and one of them is going to have a litter of kittens!"

The notion, becoming familiar, that Stephanie was far more like Dick than Jason, rose to mind. Dick had begged for a pet, though none of the other three had ever given thought to the idea. Due to the nagging guilt, even six months after she was safe, he felt inclined to give way to the unspoken request. The best part? Stephanie was comfortable enough now to play on his guilt to get what she wanted. Her fears that he would change his mind were almost gone.

Dick would be shocked, because Bruce had never given way to his requests for a pet.

If he could keep her safe, keep Tim and Damian safe, he was willing to let all six of his children have pets. The powerful relief that flooded him to see his cheerful, loud daughter safe and smiling, despite the escape that put her in danger again, pushed him forward and he wrapped his arms around her. The tension in her shoulders melted as she leaned against his shoulder.

Stephanie

Despite her knowledge that she could defend herself against her furious father, Stephanie could not even be offended by the immediate way she was surrounded by all her siblings the moment they were all safe in Wayne Manor. Even Damian grabbed hold of her the moment she was in the door. It was a protective gesture, like the way most of them had camped out in Tim's room for the last two nights since the discovery that Ra's Al Ghul wanted him. Or like the way all of them had worked to make life difficult for Talia Al Ghul's various identities.

"Bruce," Tim said softly as he left the Robin embrace. He showed something to Bruce, and Stephanie wanted to know what it was. Bruce went still, his face darkening. "I think it's Talia, not Ra's."

"What is Mother doing?" Damian demanded.

Tim hesitated, looking at Bruce with a plea for help, but Bruce was in planning mode and did not pause to enlighten his curious children. Stephanie frowned, a little worried. Damian was angry that his grandfather had passed him over, just to give Tim the offer. Yet, his latest night terror, from just the night before, had been about Tim dying and the family falling apart.

"Talia is the one who picked Arthur up," Tim murmured. "She's on her way here, right now."

"No," Damian gasped, and looked up at Stephanie with naked terror in his eyes. He let her arm go and backed away.

"Father…" he stammered, but could not finish the sentence.

Bruce, almost too deep in Batman mode, paused at the door, caught on the tone for a moment. He took another step, nearly leaving them, but it finally connected which child had cried for him in terror. Batman retreated to the back of Bruce's mind, letting the father turn to the terrified twelve-year-old. Jason caught Stephanie's arm, not letting her go to the boy. She glared at him, but he shook his head.

"Damian?" Bruce asked softly.

"She wants you to choose," the boy replied, his eyes dropping. "She will make you choose between me and Stephanie."

"Oh, no, Damian," Stephanie cried, trying to escape Jason's grasp. "No!"

Damian

Damian knew Father could not choose him over the others. Dick was his first success, Todd was his miracle, Cain was his best, Drake was his favored, and Stephanie was his near failure. After Damian had failed to understand Father did not want him to attack Drake, Father could never choose Damian over the others. If it had been Todd or Drake, Damian would have been furious, would have hated them for that.

Only, Mother had gone after Stephanie. Stephanie who had let Damian cry in the night on her, when Mother would have scolded him for his weakness in succumbing to the nightmares, Stephanie who had promised not to let him go, Stephanie whose own father wanted to kill her. Every arrogant thought that as Father's blood, he had more right to be chosen than the others, felt like dust in the face of being chosen over her. Dick and Stephanie were too important. They were all better than Damian for Father.

Recently, after he joined them in stopping Cluemaster at the Gala, after the whole family had come together to stop Mother from taking Damian back, the boy had begun to believe he could have the place, that one day he would stand with the young men and women father had taken in, and belong with them. Recently he believed he might really be forgiven his failures. Before Grandfather's offer, Damian had even tried to figure out how to be like Drake. He had forgotten that Mother always won.

"Ugh," Todd grunted, stumbling back as Stephanie slammed her elbow into his gut, escaping his grasp. She lunged across the room at Damian, and he flinched. After all she had done for Damian, of course she would be furious that he was what would put her in danger. He closed his eyes, aware he deserved whatever punishment she meted out.

"No, Damian, she can't make him choose!" Stephanie yelled. Damian opened his eyes in surprise. Instead of throttling him, she had grabbed him and was holding him close. "You aren't going back to her. I won't let go, remember."

"She'll help your father kill you if I don't go back," Damian replied.

"I think they'll have a hard time of that," Dick said. Damian looked around in surprise.

Cain was clenching her fists, but she was looking at the door, not at Damian. Drake and Todd were protectively behind Stephanie, while Father and Dick were behind Damian, but it was not to punish him. This was like when they had first realized what Grandfather wanted with Drake. They had surrounded him. To protect him.

Now they were around Damian and Stephanie, to protect them.

Bruce

They were his children. They did not belong to Sheila, or David, or Jack and Janet, or Arthur, or Talia. Jason, Cass, Tim, Stephanie, and Damian were all his. Dick belonged to him as much as he had belonged to his parents.

"Talia is almost here," Tim said softly.

Damian tensed again, terrified. Dick and Stephanie had broken into the walls Talia had built around the boy, had started to pull the child out of the assassin. Bruce wrapped his arms around Stephanie and Damian. The other four were pulling out their hidden gear, prepping, but for a minute Damian and Stephanie needed to know he was not giving either of them up.

"Ok," Stephanie said when she noticed Jason and Tim moving towards the door. "We better get ready to tell Talia off."

She held Damian's hand tightly when they went outside.

This time they were waiting at the bottom of the stairs, weapons drawn, ready for battle. Jason handed one of his hidden knives to Damian.

"We don't want to kill them, but you have the right to defend yourself," he told the boy seriously.

The vehicle stopped a few yards away and Talia, in full League gear, emerged. Four ninjas followed her. She stalked up to them, glaring as hard as she could at Tim. Bruce took a half step forward, putting himself between Tim and Talia.

"Give me Damian, Bruce. I won't let you keep him here!" Talia hissed, when they were barely five feet apart. "You already know what I have. You wouldn't dare risk the girl's life, not after how guilty you feel because of her. Cluemaster is under my control. I will make it my life mission to give her to him, if you do not give me my son."

Bruce had not had time to change out of the stiff business shirt, but as he rolled his sleeves up, he knew it would not matter much. It was odd that Talia only brought four with her. Certainly, she would be enough to handle for any one of them, but four ninjas against even two of his younger children was bad odds for the League. Dick or Jason or Cass could take all four on with ease by themselves. It would not be as easy for Tim, Stephanie, or Damian, but neither would it be impossible.

"You can't have him back, Talia. You've hurt him enough," Bruce replied. "Stephanie would never forgive me if I let you take him back. Brown will be caught soon enough. He's too arrogant to obey you for long."

"Bruce," Talia cried, clenching her fists, "Of course I hurt Damian. How else was I going to train him? You've done the same with your brats."

"I never beat them for failing a lesson. I never locked them in solitary because they wanted to have friends," Bruce shouted.

"Do you think I wanted to do that?" Talia shouted back. "Do you know how hard it was to have to turn my back on my son? Do you know how many nights I cried in silence, because if I dared show any of the terror for him that is in my heart, Father would take him away? You know how my father trains those with the will to be great. It would have killed the boy!"

"If that is true Talia, why would you take him away from me?"

"Because you are going to drag him into your war against Father! In time, his presence might have brought you back to me, and we could have been great together! But Father has chosen Timothy! Damian will not be involved in that war for a boy whose own parents didn't want him, who has taken everything that should have been Damian's."

"Enough Talia! I will fight your father for all my children. If you truly cared for Damian, you would stand here with me, and make your father stop! What good would him going back to you do, when you can't even show him your so-called affection?"

"Better a few beatings than death! We are running out of time, Bruce! Father has already put his plans into motion. Jack and Janet Drake are probably dead by this time. Father has sent more men than you and these six can stop! They aren't far away."

Tim stiffened.

"No," Talia cried, her attention going to her phone. "I need more time!"

"Inside, now!" Bruce ordered.

None of his children argued, turning to run back up the stairs. Bruce followed them. When he turned to slam the door, he saw the approaching horde of ninjas. Talia was screaming, begging her father to give her more time.

He slammed the door shut and locked it.

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