Damian visited Peter's place early Saturday morning. He had a bag of pastries he had picked up from the bakery he had created with Mozzie and let himself in without invitation.
"Why are you here?" Peter asked, not even letting Damian sit down before he started asking.
"I got kicked out of my apartment."
"Huh?"
"June wouldn't!"
Damian hadn't thought they would take it that way, although he was glad that El defended June like that. June certainly wouldn't. "No. It was Mar'i. She wanted my apartment for some kind of get together."
"Oh, that makes sense."
"What kind of get together? Is Mozzie involved?"
"It's like the opposite of criminal, Peter. Mar'i's getting together with a group of other women she knows and they're hanging out." Chuck had suggested to Damian that he contact anyone he knew that could meet with Sarah and 'initiate' her into the group. Damian was quick to remind Chuck that Ellie and Darla existed however, Chuck knew that and wanted Sarah to also meet Mar'i and a few other heroines, preferably ones in relationships.
The first meeting of the 'girls' club' was taking place in his apartment. Mar'i was in charge since she had contact details for most of the attendees. Chuck's sisters, Ellie and Darla, were also invited, along with the girl Iris Allen and Harper. Out of the roster, Ellie and Mar'i were the only ones in a relationship.
"And she needs your whole apartment?"
"I'm not staying for it," Damian sighed. Probably because the only people he knew growing up were assassins, he wasn't comfortable in groups. Especially when those groups were made up of women. "Especially when I can come here and hang out with Satchmo."
"If you're going to do that, take him for a walk," Peter commented with a grin. He passed Damian the leash. Damian quickly jumped on the chance.
The hairs on the back of Damian's neck stood up. He bumped close to Satchmo as he scanned the crowd for whatever had set him off. He found him quick enough.
"What are you doing here?"
Chuck ducked around a couple of runners and stopped to pet Satchmo. Mozzie was following behind, looking a lot less flustered with the crowds.
"Same as you, waiting for Sarah and Mar'i to finish talking. Who's this?"
"Satchmo. Be nice, he's not mine."
"Are you taking him?"
"More like borrowing."
"He's the Suit's," Mozzie told Chuck.
"He's beautiful." Chuck crouched down and began showing Satchmo with affection. "I will definitely visit more often to play with this guy."
"You don't have a dog?" Damian was sad about that. He hadn't acquired a new dog after Titus passed but he still had Alfred the cat. There was something not quite normal about that cat but he wasn't going to complain.
"Sarah says they require more attention than we're able to give them. Neither of us are home enough." Chuck made a face like he didn't quite believe that. "One day. Or maybe I'll get Morgan a dog as a housewarming gift when he moves in with Alex."
"You could always get a rat. Percy is very useful and very well cared for."
Neither of them wanted to entertain the idea. Damian had already been limited in the number of animals he could pick up after coming home with a killer whale that one time. Chuck didn't want a pet he could accidentally crush. Something he needed two hands to pick up was the best idea.
Peter chose to come with Damian when he returned to his apartment. Damian warned him that it might be strange as the group in his apartment were all women. Peter reminded him that his weakness was only women who were crying.
Chuck shrugged when he saw Peter and they went up to the apartment. Damian bounced off the walls and then used a grappling hook to make up the rest of the distance to the balcony outside his apartment.
Chuck transformed, giving away their return as lightning cracked. He then carried Peter up.
"What was wrong with the door?" Peter asked as Chuck placed him on the balcony.
Everyone turned to look at them.
"Isn't this quicker though?" Chuck commented nonchalantly.
"I think it's a lot easier," Mar'i said.
Sarah sighed. "You should use doors. It's less suspicious."
"We don't care about being suspicious," Red Hood commented. She was in full outfit, armored up with a mask and hood thrown over her face. The bow slung over her shoulder helped back up her words.
"Depends on your goals." Lois sat at the table, pen and notepad in hand. "Hello, Damian."
"Hi Lois. What brings you here? Aren't you a little old to be among this group?"
The recoil in the air from his words was obvious. Someone actually gasped.
Lois chuckled. "Of course I'm going to come. I've read articles about the famous 'Neal Caffrey'."
"Oh. How much trouble did Jon get in for not telling you?"
"None. I understand why he didn't. But I want an interview. Even if I won't be allowed to publish it-"
"You won't," Damian, Peter and, surprisingly, Sarah interrupted in unison.
"I can use the information to gather information in the future or in my next novel."
"Sure. I can do that. Although, I'd probably do better to introduce you to my teacher." Damian motioned towards Mozzie.
Mozzie looked Lois up and down. "You wrote the stories about Lex Luthor, right? The ones that tried to detail how evil he is?"
"I wasn't allowed to use the word 'evil' but yes."
"I will gladly teach you some of my skills."
"Really? It's not like she's going to commit crimes."
"Depends on what you call a crime," Lois said in response to Chuck's comment.
"I've learnt from Mozzie," Peter pointed out. This was surprising information.
"You weren't my best student."
This surprised Damian. It was almost praise. Then again, Peter had learnt how to pickpocket in an afternoon.
"Why won't you teach me then?" Chuck huffed.
"What am I going to teach you?"
"Uh." Chuck didn't have an answer for that.
"How about how to pick pockets?"
"I can already do that," Chuck muttered. "I learnt during my time as a foster kid. I always tried to return what I took though."
"Terrible thief material," Mozzie huffed. That was probably the real reason he didn't want to teach Chuck.
Damian should have known that he would regret giving the interview to Lois. Jon came storming into the office a few days later, looking like he had joined a bike gang.
"Did you take the jacket from Connor?" Damian asked in lieu of a greeting.
"Why did I have to hear from my Mum that you used your awesome thief job to become an agent?"
"You realise we're standing in the FBI office?"
"While that is cool, and I expect a tour, 'Neal Caffrey' was an awesome theif."
"Whatever, Kent. Let's start this tour."
Next was Mar'i.
"Jon got a guided tour?"
Damian sighed. "Couldn't you have brought this up last night?"
"I forgot. Also, you can give me the tour right now and I don't have to wait."
"What if I'm busy?"
"Please, you can finish most of this work in a few hours."
"The process alone takes a few hours."
"You can't tell me you haven't figured out a way to shave off that time."
Damian glared silently for a few moments, Mar'i not budging an inch, before sighing and guiding her away.