Chapter 37
The tea.
"So how's it going with Kori?" I asked Dick as I took a sip of my tea.
"It not perfect, but then again no relationship ever is. But we got everything sorted out so all we need to do now is move the rest of the stuff" If you couldn't tell Dick and Kori were moving in together, well they are. It had apparently been decided while they were out on a mission with the Titans (as they wanted to be called now). A weird place to make such a decision but hey who am I to judge.
As for the vision I got a while ago, well I had to convince Alfred not to tell dad and the others, it took a few hours but I eventually got him to promise not to say anything, I did, however, end up promising him that I would tell the others soon or he suddenly would. The vision did disturb me deeply though, yet another reason the others had been worried about me, they didn't say anything about it but I knew they were curious about what had happened to make me in such a depressed and offbeat mood. I had eventually called in Kat, Marco, and Laura to tell them and get some backup support, Alfred was great but I needed a bit more support this time. They also ended up pressuring me to tell dad and the others but gave up when I told them my promise to Alfred. But even with this new peace of mind it still didn't stop the boys from worrying which is why I am where I am now with Dick who had gotten worried and thought that he could get my mind off whatever was bothering me by taking me out on the town. So here we are in the Coffee Bean on a nice and sunny Thursday afternoon.
"How is Dami settling in, in school?"
Right, Damian's first day in Gotham Private Academy was a few days ago, go knows how much he protested about it. When he first got to the manor dad got to see if he needed schooling, but it came back that he was far about his age group, well, when it came to the academic side of things, the social side was far below average. I convinced dad to wait with the schooling till after Damian had settled down some more, and well with him joining the Titans it became clear that he was ready for some more challenge socially. And that's how he ended up in Gotham Academy, it did take some convincing and some bribing but eventually, he did agree, and as a result, he now has a pet cat he named Alfred which I got him from the shelter. He did end up not going into the unknown alone though, dad had given a scholarship to Colin Wilkes(AN: Colin Wilkes aka Abuse. Damian's best friend. Search it up on google for some more info on him. You can also just continue reading without it) and he also got some helpful advice from Jonathan Kent(Superman and Lois Lane's son)so he did have some backup.
"He's settling in nicely, well as nicely as he can" I replied with a little smile, remembering the phone call the manor got.
"...What did he do?" Dick asked with a raised brow. I shook my head setting the cup back down.
"It wasn't anything bad so to say. Colin apparently had a run-in with a bully at the school-"
"Let me guess Dami "took care" of the bully" He interrupted, I just chuckled confirming his guess.
"The manor got a phone call that Damian had broken a boy named Teague Hawthorne's nose. Since dad was busy I had to go pick him up and have a talk with the principle" I explained shaking my head with a small smile on my lips.
"Well, I mean at least he didn't get kicked out… he didn't get kicked outright?"
"No no, I was just told that either me or dad would have to give him a "stern" talking too. But we both know that wouldn't have helped, I just gave him some more… sneaky ways to deal with bullies without getting in trouble for it" I said taking another sip of my tea before continuing "In my opinion though, Dami should have hit him harder. After what he said to get Damian railed up I'd say it's more than well deserved"
"Damn, it must have been something really bad for you to wish for a 12-year-old kid to have gotten more hurt"
"Hey I'm not an angel you know, everyone has a bad side. Mine just shows less" Dick just chuckled at that, although we both know what I said was the truth.
"Talking about the bad side, have you heard about Jay?" Dick asked curiously, I blinked a couple of times. I shook my head, becoming slightly worried that I had missed something.
"Oh your gonna love this then" he beckoned me to come closer, so I leaned over the table and he leaned as well "from what I've heard he has a thing for Donna Troy" he whispered, I shot back in my chair "NO way!" I yelled out, shocking some of the other customers. I said a slight sorry to them, quickly turning my attention back to Dick who just nodded enthusiastically.
"Oh that's so great, god I thought he'd be single forever," I said wiping fake sweat off my forehead, making Dick chuckle.
"Kori apparently already have a plan to get them together, I'm not gonna get involved though, I'd rather not be shot if he was to find out"
"Dick, you can't just leave your girlfriend to suffer if that were to happen," I said with fake disappointment.
"I love Kori, I really do but I know what those stun bullets feel like and I'd rather not experience them again" he shivered. Yeah Jason's stun bullets pack one hell of a punch, he only started using them a year ago, but they were already well known by criminals. But at least he didn't kill anymore so that's a plus.
"I'm betting he told Roy though. Those two are weirdly inseparable. Hell, I was starting to think those two might have had something going on" Which was true, Roy and Jason were beyond best friends, from what Jason had told me he felt like Roy was another brother to him.
"Same, god I thought I was the only one who thought that. Kori told me I was crazy" He laughed, making me laugh as well. After we stopped we sat in comfortable silence again.
"So, what about you?" He asked out of the blue. I blinked at him "What about me?" I replied not really getting what he was insinuating.
"You know, when are you gonna get out there again?" I coughed a bit choking on the tea I had just drunk.
"Good god Dick. I don't know when I'll find someone worth the time and someone who I feel comfortable with. I can't rush into things like this"
"Why not, I'm sure Kori can set you up with plenty of dates. Hell if you walked into a club or something I'm more than certain you'll find someone"
"No no no absolutely not, just focus on Jay, don't get me mixed into all this dating romance thingy" I quickly said, not wanting Kori or Dick to mess with my love life, I was doing fine just by myself.
"You sure, I mean at least set up a dating profile or something"
"That's enough of that, hows that little girl, what was her name, Sofie no, Cloe no... Chelsea! Hows Chelsea doing!" I tried to change the subject, but it was bound to fail.
"First of all, it was a boy and his name was Charlie, second of all you don't think I'll just let you change the subject do you"
"It was worth a try" I sighed, damn this family.
Timeskip
So after a few hours of Dick interrogating me about my love life I was finally able to get free after dad called in for backup, and thank god for that. Now I just needed to get back home, which would be easy, if I actually had my car, but since Dick picked me up and has now left along with his car, I was kinda stuck. Especially since my phone was dead so calling Alfred to pick me up was not an option, getting a taxi would be an idea but considering the last time where I took a taxi, it didn't sound so appealing.
Minor flashback
"Hello young lady, so where will you be going?" The guy in front of the taxi asked.
"Can you take me to Wayne manor please?" I asked as I looked him in the eyes through the rearview mirror. But that was a mistake as his eyes widened like from an anime or in a comic book. He quickly turned around in his seat and looked at me, eyes still wide as all hell.
"You-your-your your ALEX WAYNE!" he yelled out, so loud that even people on the street outside heard him, making them stop and start to gather outside the taxi while whispering.
"Oh come on" I sighed out in annoyance, taking my bag and quickly getting out the taxi and began running down the streets with a somewhat large crowd following me. I took out my phone and quickly dialed Alfred's number.
"Miss Alex, what can I do for-"
"Alfred come pick me up at Touly Park as quick as you can before the paparazzi gets here!"
End of said flashback
When Alfred finally came he found me hiding in some bushes whispering silent death threats against dad for being famous. After that, I had promised myself to never take a taxi again. This leaves public transport and yet that idea doesn't sound very appealing either considering that the same thing would probably happen unless of course, I had some way of disguising myself…
"Alright, time to look for a clothing store of some sort"
I walked out and went around for a bit on the street, sticking to the shadows and trying to avoid people's line of sight. Finally a small clothing store, simple yet it had exactly what I needed, a hoodie. I took the grey hoodie and went to the cash register where I quickly paid for it and left, internally thanking the gods for making the women at the cash register elderly and poor sighted. I put on the hoodie and pushed back my inside voice that said that the hoodie didn't match my other clothes.
I realized that there were no taxis nearby so I was forced to take the subway. And I very very quickly found out why everyone hates public transport, getting pushed into a train is definitely not what I think off when I think of the comfort that paired with my paranoia(which I owe my dad for pushing into my head)Is just a recipe for uncomfortable disaster. But to my surprise it went just fine, yes it was uncomfortable but I got to the other station just fine so in the end, it was a success. From there I just had to take a bus home, however, what stopped me was the headlines from a magazine in a nearby newsstand.
Gang of prisoners from Shalem Prison on the loss
"Maybe that's what the boys were called for?" I quietly asked myself, also wondering where I'd heard that prison name before. Deciding to find out I walked over and bought one, I flipped through the pages ending up on the one about the outbreak.
Saturday morning prison guards were surprised when several of the inmates from the gang known as Green Flags had escaped from their cells. Guards say that the escaped was a surprise and yet not unexpected as the members have acting strangely for the past few days, we, of course, asked why they haven't been more on guard if they suspected something to happen. The guards said they weren't that worried about the escaped inmates as they were sure Batman and the rest of the Bat-gang would capture them within a few days. This begs the question: are we as a city depending too much on our hero's?
Please tell us your opinion on the matter.
Of course, we advise everyone to be on the lookout for these 9 men and 2 women. If you know their whereabouts please contact the local police and we advise you to not approach them as they are very dangerous.
I looked at the pictures of the eleven people. But I froze when I saw two faces, my body went cold and my eyes wide. It was Oliver and Trey Black. I found myself shaking, both shocked and scared. I threw the paper out and quickly ran to the bus I had to take. I found a seat all the way in the back by the window, hoping to stay out of sight as much as possible. I couldn't stop shaking, I felt tears gather in my eyes. Why hadn't dad warned me about this?
I sighed and tried to calm myself down as much as I could. I remembered what dad had suggested a few years ago, that I'd get a bodyguard I had said no at the time since I honestly didn't feel like I was in danger. I have been kidnapped multiple times, sure after I was saved I had a few scrapes and bruises but that's all of it. Besides with brothers like mine, it was like having four overqualified bodyguards. But now, just while those guys were out maybe it's a good idea to have an experienced bodyguard with me. I could also just avoid going out altogether, but that wasn't gonna happen, I had a job after all.
I looked out the window and saw the different cars pass by. Sitting here kinda reminded me of the first time I took Jason to meet Dick, I chuckled to myself thinking back to that time. I had been so worried about them liking each other and now, now they argue and talk with each other like normal siblings. Those two, however, have nothing on Tim and Damian when it comes to arguing, I have no clue what got them so offended by each other but not even god and the devil could beat the when it came to spite.
Movie night was often also referred to as arguing night since that's where the most arguments start, which is kinda understandable since they all have different movie preferences, Dick liked musicals and Disney while Jason was into horror and thriller, Tim's favorite was documentary's and mystery murder and Damian was all for action and surprisingly old white and black movies. I did, however, find it funny that the one thing they could all agree on was reality shows, I had at one point gone downstairs and heard yelling, I was worried they'd be fighting again but to my surprise, they were yelling at some person from a reality show on the tv. They all acted like wild monkeys, and yet it was the first time I've ever seen all of them agree on something, that something, however, was usually about how wrong and stupid the people were. If I was correct their favorite at the moment was Master chef, I watched an episode with them and almost fainted laughing about how much they got riled up over the fact that their favorite contestant was thrown off. One thing they all constantly brought up during the episode was that none of the food could match Alfreds and mine, Jason even suggested that I'd try and join so I could and I quote "show those sons of bitches what perfect food tastes like", I declined since that would probably not go as well as they were thinking.
I walked off the bus as it came to the stop. The manor was about a 30-minute walk from here so I started my journey. I tried not to think of what I'd found out and instead started to think about what to do when I got home. I mean the best and most logical thing would be to go to the watchtower, I'd be safer but Alfred wouldn't, so I decided that staying home with Alfred was the better option, we could always hide out in the bat cave. Besides I didn't even know for sure that they would come after me, they could just have forgotten… okay, that might be wishful thinking but hey who said that was bad. I did, however, wonder how and when Oliver became a member, he must have done so while in prison, he was always the one who would just do things without thinking first. I sighed knowing that It'd be used to try and think of anything else.
I looked up and saw the manor but I stopped in my steps when I saw who was in front of the gate leading into the manor's front garden. There were four cars and one van, three of them looking very old and used while one car was a giant black and shining, the same with the van.
"Oh, shit" I whispered to myself as I saw what looked to be about 12-15 people, all adults and many of them very muscular and fit. While almost all of them were unfamiliar there were two very familiar faces and you could guess who they were. Fighting would be useless I knew that much, however, they were still unaware that I was there, I slowly and silently backed up careful not to gain their attention. I finally got far enough away so I could hide in a tree nearby, both so I could still see them while I was hidden. I looked at my phone and was a little confused when it just continued to be black screened but remembered how it was dry. I sighed not really knowing what to do. One good thing was that they didn't seem to be able to get into the manor which was understandable as dad had set up numerous security traps, funny enough most of them were so Damian couldn't seem off again since he was known to do so quite a lot.
I started wondering if there was a way I could contact Alfred, throwing something into the backyard seems like an idea since there was no way for me to throw far enough to reach the windows, but that backyard was incredibly big and Alfred was most likely in the bat cave right now helping dad and the boys. I couldn't really think of anything else so I decided to wait was the best way to go, Alfred must have noticed them at the front gate and must have already reported that to dad and the boys so it shouldn't belong.
Timeskip
What the hell, It's been two hours!?
Where the hell was dad and why hadn't he and the boys come already. Maybe Alfred didn't know that they were outside the gate, no that would be impossible since the gate had a sensor that notified the bat cave when someone was outside it. So what was keeping them?
"No!" I whispered when I remembered that Alfred had gone out for groceries. How the hell did I forget that I banged my head into the tree. But he would have come home by now unless they had captured him. But that still begs the question of where dad and the boys were, I mean I know crime-fighting can take a while but there was no way it could take this long unless they were in serious trouble, but if they were they'd call for backup. My brain hurt, this was way too much in such a short time. I couldn't just wait here however, I mean who knows what they could be doing to Alfred right now. I tried to think of ways to contact the League or the Team but without some kind of computer or phone that would be virtually impossible…
I stopped thinking, my head went blank but one thought came: what the hell am I doing sitting in a tree?
I've been gone a while and I do apologize but with all the Coronavirus shit happening and some of my close family being infected its been hard to just go back to writing. Anyway, I hope you guys still like this story and where it's going, and it's going to get a bit darker from here on out so I hope you guys enjoy it. Have a great day or night where ever you are in the world and stay safe!
Misker Out.
