Chapter 26: Bat Family
"What did you find then?" Father asked, looking incredibly tired.
Damian looked at Dick who nodded, and moved to the computer screens, typed in a few things and brought up the drawings.
Damian pointed at the drawings and then said. "We did some searching and looked through the archives, and we found out a fair few things about the Court of Owls, but the main thing is that they did not help the Joker. They have hated the Joker for a long time and indeed in their most recent meeting seemed to praise Superman for finally getting rid of him. As such, their focus is now on keeping their power in Gotham and trying to prevent any sort of measures being introduced that could stop that."
Father nodded. "I take it that isn't everything that you found?"
Damian nodded. "Indeed not, we also found that the Court of Owls was planning on freeing the prisoners from Arkham, but that the League's moving of those prisoners severely curtailed their plans, so now they're developing a new plan. A new weapon to keep you away from Superman."
Father leaned forward looking intrigued. "And what is this plan called?"
Damian looked at Dick who answered. "Operation Hush."
Father turned to look at Dick. "You're sure?"
"Absolutely. We were able to bug two or three members of the Court and we overheard them mentioning the operation." Dick said.
"It could be a cover. Were these high ranking members?" Father asked.
"Yes, the Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Gotham." Dick said.
Father looked contemplative then. "This was good work, thank you." He made to get up, when Damian spoke.
"There's something else we wanted to talk about, Father."
Father sat down and looked at him expectantly.
Damian moved to the computer and typed in a few key words, and brought up various newspaper articles. "What do you see?"
"Headlines of times myself and Superman saved the day." Father said.
"Exactly, now look closely." Damian said.
"The red lines?" Father asked.
"Exactly. They're joining you and Superman together, but there's a question mark right here." Damian replied pointing to the third article.
"What's your point?" Father asked.
"Our point, Bruce," Dick said. "Is that we found these papers in the Joker's cell in Arkham. He'd been circling the papers consistently for months before the attack, it was as if he was trying to figure out a clear way to hurt you."
"How did you get these papers?" Father demanded.
"Well, Barbara might have hacked into the Gotham Police computers and taken them from there." Dick said.
Father snorted. "Okay go on, I can see you're forming a point."
"The Joker knew you and Superman worked together, he would have known it for years but he never tried anything against Superman until a few months ago. Why?" Dick asked.
"Because he wouldn't have known what could hurt Superman." Father said. "And besides he was always obsessed with me, not Superman. He wanted the thrill of the chase. He wouldn't have gotten that with Kal."
"Exactly, but then he highlighted this third paper and drew a question mark around it. Now we looked at the date on the paper and well, it's a few days before he broke out and Lois was murdered." Dick said.
"We think he figured out who Superman really was and his connection to Lois, and he decided to have fun." Damian said.
Father didn't protest like Damian expected him to, but then again he supposed, the man was the world's greatest detective. "You're right. He most likely did, though I do not think he did it on his own. He was likely helped."
"Helped? BY who? Quinn?" Dick asked.
"No, not her. She only takes pleasure in hurting people in Gotham, she couldn't give a fig about Superman. No, someone else who wanted to cause chaos helped the Joker." Father said. He got up then and started walking away.
"Where are you going?" Damian asked.
"I'm going to speak with an old friend of mine. You two did good work. Stay here for now, Alfred will keep watch, and Selina will be in in a few days. Don't do anything foolish." Father and like that he was gone out of the cave and into the manor.
Damian turned to Dick and asked. "Does he do that a lot?"
Dick laughed. "Oh yes. When we discovered what the Riddler was going about a decade ago, he got up, disappeared for a week and then came back in time for my school play. Never told me where he went or anything."
Damian raised an eyebrow. "You didn't even try and track him?"
Dick laughed. "Damian I was a twelve-year-old kid who was just happy that he had a home and got to go out and fight bad guys in the evenings. If Bruce needed to do something that required him to go it alone, that was fine by me. Besides, I think I'd just started getting into girls then."
Damian snorted. "Typical." He started hammering away at the computer.
"What are you doing?" Dick asked.
"I'm going to find out what Father's doing and where he's going." Damian replied, a map had just appeared when the screen went blank. He turned and looked at Dick. "Why did you do that?"
"IF Bruce thought that us accompanying him would be of help, he'd have told us where he was going." Dick said.
Damian was about to protest when the door to the Cave opened and Alfred walked in. "Master Grayson is right, Master Damian. Master Bruce knows what he's doing."
Damian went to protest, but Alfred interjected. "And you have homework to be getting on with anyway Master Damian." Alfred walked to Damian and handed him three books worth of work.
Damian looked at the books and then Alfred. "You can't be serious."
"I am. Just because you are not going to school does not mean you can miss out on your education. Now, I will come and check that you have done the work in an hour's time." Alfred nodded and then turned and walked away.
Damian looked at Dick and asked. "What happens if I don't do this?"
"Alfred you will show you why he's better than Bruce at fighting." Dick said laughing.
Damian raised an eyebrow and then went to the table and started working.
