CHAPTER 3
Prep for Party Night

CHAPTER SUMMARY:
Bruce changes the paper trail to remove Jon from having any connection with his parents, thus securing Superman's secret identity. Which is all well and good, but it'll take more convincing to get Lex off the boy's trail. So the Batfam shows up for Lex's party prepared to stage a scene in which they can prove that Jon isn't kryptonian.

"Jon didn't want me to tell you," Clark explained that night after re-accounting the whole story for her. Jon may not have wanted her to know, but she was his mother, and just like Clark, she needed to know what was going on with their son. Lois sighed taking a sip of her drink. She looked genuinely concerned.

"If Luthor knows..." her words failed her. They both knew what this could mean.

"I called Bruce as soon as I got home," Clark explained. "He said he would handle it by altering some of Jon's files."

"Jon has a file?"

"According to Bruce, everyone has a file," Clark laughed weakly. He knew this was serious but the laugh was more out of nerves than anything.

"He's going to be able to find out we're his parents, and it won't be too long after that he'll realize your Superman. This is a disaster..."

"It'll be fine. I'll... talk to Luthor."

"Right because the relationship between the two of you is sure to sway him to not look into our son's history anymore..."

"You're right..." Clark sighed, for such a large man it was strange to see him look so deflated.

"Maybe we should... go into hiding?" Lois suggested.

"I don't think the situation is quite that serious," Clark looked anxious about the idea.

The doorbell rang and Lois jumped at the sound. Using his supervision he glanced through the house at whoever was out there. He was both relieved and nervous to see it was Bruce Wayne. After assuring his wife who was at the door he got up and opened it.

"Good evening, may we come in?" Bruce asked. Alfred was a little further behind him.

"Of course," Lois answered. "I'll get some coffee ready."

"A half cup will be fine Lois, I don't intend to stay too long."

"What are you doing here?" Clark asked.

"I've solved your problem," Bruce explained heading into the kitchen. He sat down at the table and Alfred stood near the entrance. Lois nervously turned on the coffee maker before she turning back to him.

"Solved our problem how?"

"I dug into research on everything I could find on your son. Which is very similar to the sort of research Lex is likely to do. The good news is, because of obvious reasons, you've both kept a low profile on the digital world. The only things linking you to your son has been a birth certificate and a few school records and some files related to tax purposes are about the only other things that ties you to him. You also don't speak of him to anyone but family so no one at your jobs know you have a son. It made this change easy."

"What change?"

"I've altered those past records and replaced them with new ones," Bruce explained.

"What does that mean?" Clark inquired.

"As far as the paperwork goes, Jon Kent is an orphan that I adopted a few years ago. I have a record of taking in wards, which no one would question knowing my history and I don't typically make too public the people under my care until they're a bit older, so the fact that he hasn't been in the spotlight will go relatively unnoticed. I'm adding in the story that his health hasn't been the best. I put a medical condition in Jon's files dating back to before he was adopted that would reasonably explain why he collapsed at the sight of it. Health concerns serve as another reason for the public to not know of him."

"Wait... you're talking about adopting our child," Lois snapped looking upset.

"Lois, I promise you. All decisions about your son will be left to you and Clark."

"Wha... This is insane you're not adopting our child!"

"I already have, the records have been altered. Apologies, but their was no time to ask permission. I had to take down the LexCorp servers shortly after Jon escaped, alter the documents, and bring the servers back online. I tracked his investigation, he's already seen the information that Jon is in my care, and their are plenty of press photos showing Bruce Wayne and Superman side by side. He shouldn't link you to Jon, and Kent is a common enough last name that no one should make the connections based on that alone."

"Bruce!" Lois snapped as the coffee pot screamed that it was done but she didn't bother to grab it.

"Lois, it's this way on paper only. It's the best way to get Luthor off this trail."

"Clark!" Lois turned to her husband as Alfred walked over seeing to the coffee.

"Lois is right, you should have consulted us first."

"Their wasn't time," Bruce reiterated. He hated repeating himself. "Your life won't be much different even with this change."

"If you would rather everyone find out about Jon and Clark, I can revert the files, and Luthor will catch on eventually."

Crossing her arms Lois glared at Bruce as Alfred passed around the finished cups of coffee. "So what, you expect Jon to just come live with you?"

"Not at all, he still lives in the dorms at their school, and he can visit Damian occasionally during summers to solidify the story, but his primary home will be here with you. The only change you have to make is telling strangers you don't have a child. During times when he is with you out in public, give him a different name and just say he's a nephew from Lois' side of the family."

"I'm not happy about this," Lois snapped.

"It's not ideal, but it's the safest plan," Bruce explained. He turned to Clark at that point. "How is he?"

"He's been asleep since I got him home," Clark explained. "I keep checking on him, physically he seems to be okay now."

"Now more than ever it's important that he not use his powers. Not even by accident."

"Of course," Lois said. "And he's not to go anywhere near Luthor or a LexCrop company again."

"Obviously," Clark responded taking a sip from the coffee.

"Actually," Bruce sighed. "He needs to go back there one last time."

"WHAT?!" Lois snapped.

"Lex is obsessive. I've put as many obstacles in his way as possible. But, if he prys on this too much he will find it out eventually. I want him to use his kcryptonite on Jon one last time and—"

"Not a chance!" Clark interrupted.

"Just listen, in—"

"No Bruce. You didn't see my son when I got him out of there. You didn't see how much pain he was in. For all I know his being only half kryptonian could make the effects of kryptonite on him worse than it is on me. If you saw your son in that sort of state would you send them back to the place and the person who caused it?"

Bruce exhaled. "All these years together and you still don't trust me. As I was trying to say, we're going to use this."

He placed a chunk of kryptonite on the table. Superman flinched for only a second but realized it wasn't hurting him.

"It's as close of a visual replica that I can make to kryptonite. But it has none of the affects and is completely harmless to you. I'll be replacing his kryptonite with the fake stuff, and re-replacing it with the real thing afterwards."

"Why would you switch it back out for the real thing?" Lois asked. "You should just take it all. He's only going to use that on Clark later."

"True, but as I said, he's obsessive. When he tries to use it on Jon and it doesn't work, he's going to test the kryptonite to see if it was indeed switched. It has to function as he expects the second time or he will know someone switched it."

"I don't know," Lois frowned. "I don't like it, it's too risky."

"It's fine. I've done similar bait and switch tactics with my team," Bruce assured her. Clearly referencing the past Robins.

"No offense Bruce, but you might be willing to risk the safety or your sons on crazy missions like this, but I'm not," Lois sighed. "Jon is not a fighter, he's not a sidekick, he's my child."

"He's your half alien hybrid child with the potential for powers that could possibly end the world. And if anyone discovers this they would not hesitate to acquire that kind of power by any means necessary. One of your husband's biggest enemies is now closer than anyone to discovering this secret, and rather than fix the issue, you would rather we let this go and see what happens?" Bruce asked in a serious tone.

"Uh..." she frowned. Defeated. Clearly she couldn't come up with a reason to not do this. "If we're going to do this, I need your promise he won't be hurt."

"I promise, not a hair on his head," Bruce frowned. "You have my word Lois."

"Clark, what do you think?"

"I think we should at least try to resolve this," Clark explained. "Besides I'll be there. After this, Jon can go back to school without worrying."

Lois stared down into her drink. "Okay..."

"Mom can I have some—" Jon had come into the room rubbing his eyes dragging a blanket behind him. He was small, though still taller than Damain. He looked so childish standing there in his pajamas. His eyes scanned the room and he was about to ask why this man was in their kitchen when he caught sight of the stone and his eyes widened. He took a step back looking scared.

"It's okay son," Superman assured him. Getting to his feet quickly he led Jon into the kitchen and Bruce quickly put the fake kryptonite away. Not because it would hurt him, but because he didn't want Jon to be scared by it, especially considering what he had recently been through.

"We should tell Jon," Bruce was going to leave that conversation to his parents though.

"Jon sweetie, come sit here," Lois pulled out her own chair and moved to another one. He climbed up looking sheepish.

"Am I in trouble?" he asked softly.

"No honey," Lois assured him. "We just have something to tell you. Um... Because of what happened. We..."

"You told Mom!" Jon rounded on his father looking slightly betrayed.

"Now," Clark frowned. "Just listen son."

Biting his lip in annoyance he leaned back in his chair.

"Mr. Wayne here has altered some documents. This is all to keep Mr. Luthor from realizing your half kryptonian. Because if he looked into it too much he will realize that your Father is Superman. It's going to show that you're Mr. Wayne's ward and that you live with him. You won't be able to mention us at at school, and if anyone asks about parents you'll have to say that your guardian is Mr. Wayne. It's..."

Jon's expression had slowly been falling as she spoke and he interrupted her, but as softly and politely as he could. "Wait... you and Dad don't want me anymore?" he asked.

Hearing Jon say that caused an echo of regret to strike his parents, and they realized Lois hadn't exactly started this conversation off right.

"Of course we do Jon!" Lois assured him.

"It's not like that," Clark explained. "This is just a precaution. It's to keep you safe."

"Do I still call you Mom and Dad?"

"Of course," Lois and Clark assured him. But Bruce chimed in at that point.

"Not in public. If someone asks who your parent or guardian is, you tell them it's me," Bruce explained. He got to his feet. "I'll leave the rest of the explanation to you two. Goodnight."

Bruce and Alfred left the house shortly after and Lois and Clark were finally able to explain it to Jon by saying being Bruce wayne's ward was like his hero life, and being their son was like his secret identity that he couldn't tell anyone about. And this explanation seemed to satisfy him.

Two days had passed since he spoke with Kents. Last he heard Jon was doing well and would be returning to school tomorrow. So he decided he would pay Luthor a visit in the morning to figure out a good time for his plan to take place. But on his way there his computer picked up Goliath in the town. Upon closer inspection he found Damian, not at school where he was supposed to be. He landed his plane a ways out and tracked Damian down.

"Shouldn't you be in school?"

"Relax, I'm not fighting crime," Damain explained remembering full well that he had been forbidden from doing so. He had a flashlight in his hand and he was looking around.

"What are you doing?" Batman inquired.

Damain snapped back, "I could ask you the same thing."

"Calm down Damian you're not in trouble, it's just a question," Batman explained calmly. Damian was in his assassin uniform which Batman didn't like seeing. But it made sense since because he had taken away the robin uniform and he couldn't exactly be out here as Damian Wayne.

Frowning Damian gave in, "I dropped something."

"The kryptonite?"

His frown deepened, "I knew you were spying on me."

"I'm not," Batman answered in a matter of fact tone. "This may come as a surprise to you, but Superman and I do talk now and then, and occasionally the topics of our sons come up."

"Since you know the whole story, I'll leave you to find it Father. I trust you at least have the proper equipment," Damian said taking a stab at the fact that Batman had refused to let him have his equipment. He turned off his flashlight and started heading back to the nearby woods where Goliath was waiting for him. Batman had turned his flashlight on the same time Damian had turned his off and aimed it at his son. He intended to say something. But wasn't sure what. He was distracted however when he noticed a dark bruise on the back of Damian's neck.

"What happened to your neck?" he asked.

A moments pause. "Slept wrong."

He kept walking away, Batman knew Damian was lying, but finding the missing kryptonite was more important at the moment. He pulled out the detector he had created to find said substance.

"Batman."

He looked back up in Damian's direction. He had stopped walking just before the forest edge. "Their are some things that may interest you in the basement of the LexCorp Museum. You might want to pay Luthor a visit and ask him for the tour."

Then Damian disappeared from sight. A tour huh. He supposed Damian had seen some things of interest. Alright then. That's another thing he would need to do.

Batman, using his equipment, quickly found the piece. He put it securely away in his belt before he changed and headed to one of the hotels he owned in the area. Their weren't too many cities in the world where he didn't own a hotel. He was able to walk in and the staff instantly recognized him.

"Mr. Wayne," one of the staff rushed over. "We have a room on permanent reserve for you, but we never thought you would actually use it way out here."

"My son happens to go to school nearby," Wayne explained. "I'm going upstairs. please have dinner brought to my room as well as today's paper."

"Yes Sir!"

He got a key card from the desk and headed up to the room. Perhaps he would get a massage. Lord knows he was stressed enough to need one. Between trying to keep Jon safe, dealing with a son like Damian, his businesses, his justice league duties and trying to manage the crimes going on in Gotham. He was running thin.

When he heard the knock at the door he headed over opening it. A female staff member was smiling wide. She pushed the food trolly into the room. "Here you are Mr. Wayne. A steak dinner that I hope is to your liking as well as today's newspaper."

"Thank you," he took the paper opening it up to the business section.

"So..." she took off her jacket revealing a skimpy dress. "Is their anything else I can do for you Mr. Wayne?"

"No, that will be all."

She started pouting. "Are you sure."

"I'm sure, thank you," he didn't look up from his paper but he could see her in the reflection of the window and he didn't have time for it. Plenty of women would try to hit on him thinking of him as an easy means to instant cash. Bruce had expected better of his own staff though. He attention when back to planning and making sure that what was going to happen would go off without a hitch. Much of the plan was going to rely on some of the things he learned tomorrow when he would speak with Luthor. She left disappointed and he took out his laptop and pulled his food close. When he finished that page he flipped to the next one and had to pause.

Damian's face was in the paper. But not just Damian's. Luthor's as well. He could see students in the background, this was clearly from their trip to the museum. It didn't take him long to read the body language in the picture, to see how Luthor was holding Damian in a subjugating manor. It explained where the bruise came from and he was instantly angry about this. It was one thing to get an injury as Robin in the field where injuries were expected. But that had happened out of uniform as Damian, which was far more concerning. Damian had more limitations placed on him than Robin, he couldn't just attack the person hurting him as Damian, not without raising suspicions and he certainly couldn't do something about it on a school trip. Though knowing his son, he's was sure he would have loved to.

The article itself did not improve his mood. It was written with a tone like the Waynes and the Luthors were good friends and often worked on projects together and were familiar enough that his child would visit all the time. In reality they had only rarely spoken and the last time they had it was at a party and nothing but pleasantries had been exchanged.

Now he had another reason to visit Luthor.

How could he just disappear? His video surveillance had been corrupted and his best staff had worked on it the last few days and they couldn't retrieve a decent shot. The broken window and the dent from the elevator doors having been forced open was their only proof someone had broken in. It had to be Superman their was no question. But he had no proof! That boy was related to Superman somehow! He had to be. It couldn't have been coincidence that a child that reacts to kryptonite appears before him and Superman just happens to show up to retrieve him. Before Lex on the table was everything dug up on the boy. A ward of Bruce Wayne's. Was he involved in cloning? He himself had tried more than once to clone Superman but it never got off the ground.

But was the boy a clone? Or something else? Was Bruce Wayne just collecting these children and giving them kryptonian genes? Most of his wards had already grown up and left his home, but all of them had a history of impressive skils in martial arts. Perhaps he only finalized and perfected it with this latest boy. The start of his own Superman army that would obey his every command. How could Luthor compete with that?

Lex shuffled through the papers until he came across Damian's picture. Then their was this little shit. Did he have Superman-like powers too? Most likely no or he also would have reacted to the kryptonite as well. This brat appeared to be Bruce's only biological child though, and he could see it in his face. Which begged the question, who was his Mother? That arrogant playboy had countless women, so who did he decide was oh so special enough to bare him an actual child? Or was it a one night mistake that brought the spoiled shit here.

"Mr. Luthor Sir?"

"What?!" he snapped at the worker not looking up from his files.

"Sorry to bother you, but... Bruce Wayne just arrived."

"What?" he gasped. "Why? I didn't... Never mind."

He hurried shuffling all the papers he had on his desk.

A picture of Grayson on his motorcycle was slid under the other pages. A picture of Jason in a karate match (admittedly this photo was a few years old), he threw that it on top. Tim was in a picture wearing a suit seemingly heading somewhere important, that pic had slipped off onto the floor. As for Damian's photo he grabbed at it so forcefully that he crushed the picture in his hands. Collecting the entire pile he shuffled it into the worker's arms. "Get this out of here! Make sure he doesn't see it!"

With that he hurried upstairs straightening his tie as he got to the landing.

Bruce was speaking with one of his receptionists, clearly flirting.

"Bruce Wayne," Lex said cheerfully. "To what do I owe the honor?"

"My son said you wanted to meet with me, and that I should go on one of your tours," he explained as they shook hands.

"This is a bit unexpected. I got the impression he hadn't been paying attention to me. It's nice to see your boy listens to his elders."

Bruce smiled. "He listens when he wants to. How about we go have lunch and then we'll take a look around this fascinating place."

"Of course," Lex said and he snapped his fingers calling over one of his workers and he proceeds to give her instructions to call a nearby high scale restaurant and get them a reservation immediately.

"Come along Mr. Wayne, I can't wait for you to try this place, it's one of my favorite."

As he was heading to the door Bruce noticed something had fallen off Mr. Luthor's shoe. He reached down picking it up, he turned it over. Instantly his eyes narrowed slightly upon seeing a picture of Tim Drake in his college uniform. It was from an odd angle of someone who was obviously not wanting to be seen taking a photo.

Lex had been talking the whole time and he held the door open for Bruce and paused when he noticed Bruce was looking at something. He couldn't tell what it was from the angle he was standing. "Bruce?"

Bruce smiled.

"It's been awhile..." he admitted thoughtfully. "I really should give that kid a call. We haven't spoken in a month or two."

A little confused Luthor frowned, "Wha..."

"So, why do you have a picture of one of my sons?" he asked turning the photo around so Lex could see what it was.

Their was a panicked pause as he clearly tried to come up with a reasonable explanation. "One of your kids? I... I thought Damian was your only son."

"Biologically yes, but when you take in children and give them a home, it's hard after awhile to not think of them as your own," Bruce admitted somewhat fondly. "So I'll ask you again. Why do you have a picture of one of my children?"

He could confront Luthor about this without raising any suspicion. What parent wouldn't be concerned about finding out a business colleague had been holding onto a picture of their child?

"I didn't know he was your child Mr. Wayne I assure you," Lex smiled nervously. "He's... actually a potential employee. I was looking through the new hire resumes before you arrived and many of them like to include photos. Now that I know he's one of yours I will definitely give him more consideration."

This was a lie. Firstly, all his wards knew Lex was an underhanded fucker and while he wouldn't pretend that his sons told him everything about their lives, he was absolutely sure that Tim would not have sought an internship with LexCorp. And on the off chance Bruce was wrong and Tim actually had, he would have included a more professional photo and not this laughable shot that looked like someone had taken it while hiding in some bushes. Their was no sense in calling Lex out on this though, he had an agenda after all.

"I see," Bruce said softly and he tucked the photo away in his jacket. "I hope you don't mind my keeping this, Tim never liked his picture taken much so I don't have many photos."

As he walked by Lex holding the door open Bruce clapped his shoulder in a friendly manner. "I'm looking forward to this restaurant, it sounds impressive."

"About time your lazy ass showed up," Damian frowned when Jon had walked into their dorm that afternoon.

"Sorry, my parents decided to take me fishing and—" he paused noticing that their room had been repaired. "Wow, the room looks... What?"

Damian was looking very upset. "You were fine the day after, you should have been back here."

"Mom said I should do something fun to take my mind off what happened..."

Damian walked over to him. "I realize you're 9 but c'mon. What are you going to do if you get hurt during our training sessions? Take a weeks vacation?"

"I... Sorry?"

"I don't want apologies, I want action. Come with me," he demanded.

"Where are we going?"

"Pennyworth made a place in the nearby mountain for us to keep Goliath," he pointed out. "So let's check out where we're going to be training you."

Jon hurried after Damian and followed him for a good thirty minutes and he almost about to ask the classic, Are we there yet? When Damain announced they were here. Though here turned out to be a cliff side, a wall of rock.

"Ugh..."

Damian walked up to the cliff side. Their was a beep sound and the cliff wall glided open. He was about to ask how it did that, but when it slid open Alfred was standing inside it with a clipboard.

"Ah Master Damian."

"I thought you left already," Damian looked unimpressed by the interior.

But Jon was very impressed. It was about the size of their auditorium just without the stands and basketball courts.

"I wanted to make sure Goliath would have enough room to exercise even if you couldn't take him out," Alfred explained.

"It's good enough," Damian walked over and to his surprise he saw a computer set up. Similar to what was in the batcave but on a slightly smaller scale.

"I figured you might need to keep track of Goliath's dietary and health habits. This computer should offer everything you need," Alfred said the last three words slowly. Firmly. Damian frowned. Did he know what they were trying to do?

"I'm not—"

Alfred interrupted quickly. "I have also lined the the edges of this cave with lead for... privacy."

He knew. Damian looked up at him. Expecting to be reprimanded, told off. Or warned with threats of telling his Father. But...

"Is their anything else you require Master Damian?"

An unspoken understanding passed between them. He wasn't going to tell Batman.

"No Pennyworth, thank you for everything."

Jon had been running around the place happily. "Goliath's going to love it, it's so roomy!"

"The cave recognizes myself and both you and Master Jon via infrared scanners. If you approach with any other people the doors will not open."

"Understood."

"With that I will leave you both. Don't hesitate to ask if you require anymore assistance on my part," Alfred explained bowing.

"Bye Mr. Alfred!" Jon called after him.

Why was Alfred helping him? Damian turned to Jon. "I'm going to go get Goliath and have him come in here. You can go back to the dorm, you have to catch up on the days you missed."

"Yeah you're right," Jon hurried off and Damian set out to retrieve Goliath.

Alfred was helping them, directly against the wishes of his father. He didn't think Alfred would ever disobey Batman and yet here he was clearly disobeying him. Interesting. The faithful servant had a mind of his own it seemed. He wouldn't admit it. But his respect for Alfred increased that day.

The tour they went on was either not the one the boys had gone on, or Lex had cleared away a lot of the things Damian had wanted him to see. He would have to come back at some point as the Dark Knight.

It wasn't long before the press got wind that Bruce and Lex were in the same city and their meeting quickly turned into a media show so they decided to end their visit sooner than planed.

"I'm having a party this weekend," Lex exclaimed in a louder tone than necessary as if he wanted the press that had gathered to hear. "I really hope you and your entire family can come."

"Sounds great, we'll be there."

"Well, it was a pleasure having you visit. I hope you can come again some time," Luthor held out his hand. The camera's from the paparazzi were flashing and Bruce stood with his hands in his pockets, and let him wait just long enough for it to reach the apex of where it would start to be rude that he hadn't accepted and only then did he extend his hand out taking it, gripping his hand far tighter than necessary. Like father like son, Lex hated them both. Feeling a rising anger in his chest, Lex forced his expression to stay positive for the cameras.

Bruce used that grip he had to pull Luthor close and whispered, "From now on keep your people's camera's aimed on you. I don't want to come across anymore surprise photos without my permission."

This wasn't and unusual or uncommon request, most wealthy families did not want images of their children floating around the internet and papers, because that could often make them targets of criminal activity and had in the past resulted with children being kidnapped and held for ransom forcing their parent's to lose entire family fortunes to have them returned safely.

But... they both knew it wasn't exactly the picture that he was upset about. Bruce slid something into Luthor's coat pocket, "Don't let it happen again."

It appeared to everyone as though he had whispered some inside joke because both of them were smiling when they pulled apart, albeit Lex's smile was a nervous one...

Bruce waved to the crowd before getting back into his limo and as it pulled away Luthor looked at what Bruce had placed in his jacket and saw exactly what he thought it would be. The newspaper picture featuring the article discussing how Damian Wayne had come for a tour. The picture of him holding the boy tightly by the back of his neck.

He crinkled it up after placing it back in his pocket. He was furious. Bruce Wayne... building his own unstoppable little task force under the guise of children and family and now he had made himself his own personal Superman. He wouldn't have it!

Bruce grabbed a device that allowed him to tell the Batwing to pilot itself home. Choosing to travel a normal way back just in case Luthor decided to track him. Once on the road for a few minutes, he took out his cell phone, after searching out the name in his contacts he hit call.

"Hello?"

"Tim, how are you?"

"Fine, what's up?" Tim was cutting right to the chase. Knowing that Bruce Wayne wasn't the type of person to call just to exchange pleasantries or to just chat.

"Have you noticed anyone following you recently?"

"No. Should I be on the lookout?"

"Yeah, Lex Luthor had a picture of you. You two haven't been in contact have you?"

Tim laughed at the idea, "What reason would I have to talk to Luthor. The guy's shady as hell."

Just as he had thought. He took the picture out of his jacket looking at the scenery to figure out where it was taken. It appeared to be Tim's college campus.

"Bruce?"

"What are you doing this weekend? Are you free?"

"I can be if it's for business."

By business he meant bat business.

"I think it will be. Use the card I gave you and get yourself a nice suit. I'll text you the details."

All his wards had a credit card in Bruce's name for necessary things and emergencies. They all worked and had their own money but he wanted to make sure they would never fall short, so that was their monetary backup.

"Oh is their a limit? I mean if I'm going to get a new suit I might need a new car to match," he teased.

"Just a suit will be fine. I'll send someone to pick you up."

"Until then."

He replaced his phone into his pocket and he folded his arms in worry. Bruce didn't like the idea that Luthor seemed to also be investigating his children, but in a way it made sense. After all, he never investigated a criminal without searching the people who had varying degrees of contact with them. Which was one more reason this party needed to go as planned.

Since Damian had to go to school, he was left out of the meeting when Bruce called together the entire bat family to discuss the party they would be attending. To be honest though it wasn't the only reason he was left out of the meeting.

"It's been awhile Dick," Barbara smiled when she descended into the batcave. Grayson and Todd were already present and chatting away.

"It has Babs, how have you been?" They shook hands in polite greeting.

"You know, life's been busy."

"I've been fine too Barbara, thanks for asking," Jason joked.

"As always it's nice to see you Jason," she said walking over she hugged him.

When she let go she headed to look around the batcave with interest.

"I got a hug," Jason grinned. "I see you didn't get a hug."

Grayson playfully smacked the back of his head before turning back to Barbara.

"I know I haven't been here in awhile, but has it always been this dark in here?" she asked.

"Yes," Dick and Jason responded together.

They heard the sounds of a motorcycle and they turned to find Tim pull up. He removed his helmet smiling.

"Oooh, is this a bat intervention?" he teased putting his helmet on the back of his motorcycle he rubbed his hands together as he walked up to them. "Cool I'll go first. Grayson I mean this with as much love as possible, your cussing is out of hand and it's tearing this family apart."

He raised an eyebrow.

"I mean all day, it's dick this and dick that. It really needs to stop. It's a problem."

"That's my name," he knew that Tim knew this, but was also interested to see where his little joke was going.

"Oh, my bad I just thought you were developing some sort of condition or something."

Jason hurried to Tim's side throwing an arm around him happy to get in on the fun, "No no, you see, Dick is a short form for Richard."

Tim pulled an expression of mock confusion nodding intently as Jason explained it to him. "And Richard is short when it comes to his d—"

"Enough," Bruce had just entered. He put on a stern expression, but was deep down happy to them all back together again after so long.

"So what mission is so important it needs all of us?"

Bruce took a seat at the bat computer. He pulled up a picture of Jon.

"Aw, he's kind of adorable," Barbara said looking up at it.

"This is Jonathan Kent, Superman's son."

They all knew Supes had a child, but none of them had yet had a chance to see him.

Batman then proceeded to explain the events of what occurred when the boys had visited LexCorp. They were all quiet when listening until he got to the part about putting custody of Jon into his name.

Todd let out a low whistle, "I doubt Supes was happy about that."

"Bruce we discussed this, when you adopt random kids off the streets, you have to make sure they don't have parents," Tim teased.

Bruce didn't even crack a smile but his eyes narrowed slightly while looking at him.

"...sorry," Tim frowned realized he wasn't in a mood to joke.

"I shouldn't have to tell you that this is serious. We could be in a world of trouble if Luthor realizes Jon has kryptonian blood."

"I mean, you said he doesn't have any powers right?"

"He doesn't have any, yet," Batman explained. "But that doesn't mean the dna for having it isn't in his blood, that's what Luthor wants. He's had experiments of trying to clone Superman, all of which have failed. Using Jon's blood might help him succeed. But one Superman is enough, we don't need more."

"Ugh... shouldn't Damian be here?" Barbara asked frowning.

"Damian is not apart of this team," Bruce explained but added as an afterthought, "...right now."

"Wait... Did I hear that right. You grounded the hellspawn?" Jason looked slightly pleased about that, but was clearly trying to not show how happy he was.

"Don't call him that?" Barbara said defensively.

"What?"

"This is why Damian has such a hard time getting along with you guys, cause you call him names like that."

"We're brothers, we always call each other names," Jason explained.

"Yeah, like how I sometimes call Grayson a dick," Tim pointed out grinning.

"Knock it off," Bruce sighed. "And he's not grounded. I just thought it would be best that he take a step back from being Robin until he's older."

"So he's just grounded from all the disguises, gadgets and pretty much everything fun or interesting about being Batman's kid."

"I didn't call you all here to discuss my parenting choices we're discussing a mission," he explained. "Let's get back to it."

They all shifted their attention back in silent agreement.

"I'm going to talk to Luthor at some point during the party about how we engineered a pair of glasses that fix the condition I came up with to explain his collapse the other day. I'll ask if we can test it, and see if he has any kryptonite on him. Knowing Luthor if he thinks someone with Superman's abilities is coming to his party, he'll have some on him. Dick, switching the kryptonite out for the fake one will be your job. Do it early on during the party. Do it discreetly and don't be noticed. You'll hand off the real stuff to Barbara, and she will switch it back after we've already proven that Jon is unaffected by it."

"That doesn't sound like you need all of us," Jason explained.

"I do. I want as many eyes on Jon during the party as possible," Bruce explained. "Their is a chance he might try to steer Jon away from the party by distracting one or two of us. If Jon leaves our sight, we will have completely failed. So if you're not seeing to a specific step in this plan you're keeping your eyes on him."

They all nodded.

"It's not often we get to go on missions outside of our disguises," Jason said grinning. "This sounds like fun."

So when the weekend came they all met up outside Luthor's manor, Damian and Jon included. Jon looked really uncomfortable in the suit Bruce had purchased for him. He kept fidgeting with it and tugging on the sleeves.

"Would you stop that," Damian asked.

"Sorry, it's uncomfortable."

"It's a 3,000 suit it shouldn't be uncomfortable, it was made to fit you."

Jon's eyes widened at the price. "Three... seriously? That's so much..."

He remembered how his mother had been clothes shopping with him once and had seen a coat she adored that was $100 and she told Jon she wasn't getting it because it was too expensive.

"You get use to them," Jason explained. "By the way, I'm Jason, that's Timothy, and the that one over there is Grayson. If anything happens tonight, you just come up to one of us."

"Okay," he answered shyly.

Bruce was a step or two away. "I'm turning on the communicators now."

He clicked something on his watch. "Okay we should all be—"

"AH!" Jon gasped ripping the communicator out of his ear.

"What's wrong?" Tim asked.

"It's so loud..."

"It doesn't sound loud to me," Jason tapped his to test it.

"Perhaps you got some of your father's heightened hearing afterall," Bruce said. Walking forward he took the earpiece from Jon and lowered the volume on his alone before helping Jon put it back in his ear. "Better?"

"I think so."

"Barbara is inside. She got a job as a waitress at the party. If you see her, you don't know her," Bruce turned back to the building. "All right then, let's head inside."

The LexCorp manor was a large and scary looking building. Jon didn't want to go inside. But his Father said he wouldn't be too far away, and thanks to his super vision he could probably see him right now even though Superman was nowhere to be seen. Plus he had Batman, and all his family looking out for him tonight. So... It should be okay. He would be okay. His mind drifted back to the night he had encountered the kryptonite, he didn't want to see that stuff ever again.

Their were so many lights, and so many people dressed up in really nice clothes. It almost felt like they were going to a ball. Maybe, if he was lucky, he would get to meet a Princess!