"Nice feint."

"Nice punch."

They both held ice packs to varying places.

"You like her?" Stephanie asked from her seat opposite him.

He added a depth to her smile. An air of mystery. "Yes."

She leaned forward onto the table. "You like like her?"

"Yes." Casual strokes for her hair.

He didn't have to see her to notice Stephanie's intent look. "You're not just leading her on, are you?"

"No." Shadows were put in the right places.

"I'm actually not trying annoy you right now." She sighed. "I just have to be sure you aren't playing with her. It's the girl code. Marinette deserves better than that."

For the first time he pulled his eyes away from his sketch. "I'm aware. Otherwise we wouldn't still be having this conversation."

"That's fair."

Marinette had once told him about Paris' supervillain scene.

It had worried him that it had previously been unknown, but it wasn't surprising.

They had a lot less eyes outside of America.

It didn't help that it all looked like one big prank.

Angel hadn't said a lot, but some suspicions had grown from what she had shared.

It only took one video clip to prove them correct.

He wished they weren't.

Those were teenagers fighting a magical terrorist.

Untrained teenagers.

He took it to Jason.

The obvious choice might have been Tim, but they'd had an all out brawl earlier.

They'd both gotten in some good hits.

Better hold off on that for awhile.

Jason could be an asset too though.

He knew the importance of being prepared for a fight if you were supposed to get out in one piece and he'd hate seeing teenagers being pushed into a fight that wasn't theirs to fight.

Other heroes might consider Red Hood to be rash and more brawn than brains, but people always forgot one major thing.

All of them were detectives, all of them were great strategists and all of them could gather information like a pro.

They might all have different areas of expertise, but that didn't mean they were useless in the others.

That's why he took it to Jason.

"Babs, I'm telling you! Lil'd has found a girlfriend. You should have seen her. She'd this adorable little ball of sunshine." Dick paced around with his cellphone to his ear. Then he stopped. "I'm not joking!"

Damian turned at the threshold.

"Have we had the talk yet?" His father looked vaguely uncomfortable with asking something like that out of the blue.

Who could blame him?

His sixteen year old son had for the first time showed some romantic interest.

"That depends on which talk you are currently asking about. If it's the 'stop smuggling unsuitable pets into the house', 'don't be rude to every person you meet' or the 'the bushes aren't meant for sword practice' talk than we've covered it. Numerous times." His expression didn't give an inch.

Batman might be a detective, but he'd played this game for years.

"No. I'm talking about the talk." His father paused and took a really deep breath. "When two people love each other very much they... It's like with... birds and bees? It's this very special hug that, uh... consent is not negotiable and use protection. Otherwise... the stork might visit..."

It was like watching a train wreck.

You just couldn't look away.

And his father was usually so composed.

Hadn't he done this with the others?

"I do know what intercourse is."

His father was anything but composed at the moment. "You do?"

He raised his eyebrows. "Three words. League of Assassins."

Had his father gone a bit pale or was that his imagination?

"You left when you were ten."

"And by then I'd already been told the wonderous secrets of human biology."

Yes, he was definitely a bit on the pale side. "When?"

He held up four fingers.

Bruce Wayne left the library a lot more of a mess than when he entered.

That was payback for the adoption papers.

Cassandra popped out of nowhere and hugged him. "Proud."

Then it was like she'd never been there.

He hacked the cameras.

What had he dismissed about the situation at W.E.?

The class had been awful of course, but something was fishy about it all.

He didn't like what he found.

Jason flopped down on the armchair his father had occupied earlier on. "You were right."

And he wasn't surprised.

The odds of him being wrong had been astronomical, but...

"How bad is it?"

"Crappy mayor and police force that pushed the entire thing onto the superheroes shoulder. Apparently it's not their problem, but that doesn't mean they can't complain." Jason rolled his eyes. "The media is all over them and put themselves at risk constantly. Most of the heroes has also been retired and lost their magical jewellery."

That was terrible conditions.

Not good for facing a magical terrorist.

It matched his own observations of news outlets and security cameras.

"And the other heroes?" Personally he hadn't been able to dig deeper than that. Marinette's welfare in school took precedence. "What did you find about the ones that's still out there?"

"The trio is sixteen, seventeen and nineteen respectively. They've all been doing this for years. Ladybug since the beginning and the others a few months less." Jason clenched his fist and that frown was prominent. "They're good. Better than most superpowered heroes, but they were thrown into the deep end and had to learn on the job. Some of the news clips are horrifying."

Yeah, there was nothing in the world that could stop them from intervening.

Not when hell freezes over.

But that information made something startling clear. "You know who they are. You looked up their identities."

It wasn't a question and they both knew it.

"Yeah, I did." His second oldest brother was sprawled over the armchair with his legs over the armrest and his eyes closed rather painfully. "And I'm not sharing and I don't want you to look it up yourself."

"But-"

Jason put his hand up in the universal sign for stop. "I know. But two of them are practically your age and none of them asked for this. Least we can do is let them have their privacy."

"It goes against everything father's ever taught us. We can't let unknown crimefighters remain unknown to us. We'd only be giving ourselves a blind spot. One that can be exploited."

"Damian." And he already knew he wasn't going to like it. "I'm not going to ask what you would feel, but what if it was Marinette? She's a normal girl your age. What if she was Ladybug or Ryuko? How would she feel about it?"

He was once again proven correct.

He didn't like it.

Because Marinette worried about thing.

If she had a secret identity she'd panic at slightest bit of suspicion and that wasn't even close to having multiple vigilantes knowing who you were.

She would have a a lot of things and happy was not one of them.

It was easy to see what Jason was trying to say.

He still didn't like it.

"Fine." He'd give in. "But if there's ever any kind of reason I should know then you will tell me or I'll look it up myself."

His brother nodded.

It was a deal then.

"But what about catboy?"

Jason gave a full blown smirk. "Something tells me he recently lost that ring."

"Tragic."

"Very tragic. You saw how he was harassing Ladybug whenever he bothered to turn up?"

"That I did." He tilted his head. "Is his name one of the ones you aren't sharing?"

"Nope. Adrien Agreste."

The moron from Marinette's class.

The one that thought they should let Marinette be bullied.

She'd actually told him some about her school situation, but not that it was this bad.

He'd done his research.

This couldn't go unpunished.

"I have patrol with Nightwing tonight..."

"I can threaten him for both of us. Focus on something long lasting instead."

This was the closest to brothers they'd probably ever been.

They did it again.

The building was covered.

The only spot unpainted was the logo.

And somewhere there would be a file with everything that was needed to bust the bad guys.

It wasn't the first time.

But chemical waste?

How stupid were these idiots?

Nature was to be protected, not destroyed.

Nightwing was shaking his head. "That kid's got talent."

"That's what you're focusing on? We should be bringing the company down instead of just standing around and observing the view."

His eye was already twitching behind his mask.

"Okay, but I'm just saying. Sometimes you just have to appreciate the art. He's getting good." Then he grappled away.

He was quick to follow because he actually knew how to prioritize.

...

But it was a good piece of street art.