Chapter Five: Gifts of a Deadly Kind

Sweat dripped off Parkers face as she attacked the punching bag. Her face was frowning on concentration as she launched a series of attacks; high kicks, punches, multiple flips and dives out of the way. Parker dived at the bag, hitting it with her shoulder before rolling under it, landing in a crouch. Panting she glanced up as a pair of shoes entered into her line of sight.

"What you can do is impressive, Mayhem." Parker forced a smile onto her face as she stood to face her mentor.

"Thanks Mister J!" She chirped. Joker started at Parker for a while, not smiling, just looking. She met his gaze evenly, head tipped slightly to the side but no other emotion on either face.

"I have something for you," his statement made Parker nervous. Usually a gift from Joker meant a dead body, or a grin etched permanently onto your face. But Mayhem grinned like it was Christmas when she was handed a short, rectangular object, wrapped in newspaper. She took it and sat cross legged on the ground, Joker mirroring her pose. She undid the wrapping and gasped. Two short swords, with elegant designs on the handles, sat in leather sheaths that were simple, yet beautiful.

Parker tool one of the blades out and held it gingerly in her hands. It was slim, yet sharp and deadly.

"They are beautiful," Parkers voice was soft with amazement.

"They were forged by an Atlantean blacksmith in Atlantis, just for you." Joker's grin came back, with enough satisfaction on his face to kill a cat.

"Thank you so, so much!" Parker's grin was huge, and on an impulse, she lent forward and gave the Joker a brief hug. She sat back and kept her gaze on her two new swords.

"They go in your back,must behind your shoulders. Apparently it's easy to unsheathe them and use them." Joker explained.

"Thank you, I've always wanted swords."

"I know, and you are very skilled in them. I saw that you were getting bored with just you knife on your thigh." Parker's head tipped to the side, shock flooding her, the Joker was actually being thoughtful, and it frightened her. Joker gently tugged on one of her ponytails as he stood up in an almost affectionate gesture.

"Two face has asked to see me tonight, wanna join?" Joker's grin was back, and it was almost a relief to Parker.

"I would love to Mister J!" She responded, her Mayhem side coming back out. Parker's mind was ticking as she saw Joker walk out the door, did he really care about her? What does Two Face want? Could she betray someone that taught her how to survive?

Did anyone really know the Joker at all?

Batcave:

"Speaking of my trip to Japan," Bruce began, "I bought you all presents, but I completely forgot to give them to you."

Alfred was suddenly there behind Bruce with a cardboard box. Bruce thanked Alfred before taking a package out of the box.

"Tim," He handed the younger boy a small narrow box. Tim grinned as he took it. All Bats watched him as he tore off the wrapping paper to reveal a narrow wooden box with symbols written in Japanese.

"What does it say Dick?" Tim asked his surrogate brother.

"It says; you should learn Japanese." Was the taunting reply. Tim's glare showed he was picking up his training as a Bat a little too well.

"I'm just messing with you bud," Dick ruffled Tim's hair, " it says that whatever is in the box, is for brave people." Tim's eyes and smile widened. He gently lifted the lid and pulled out a short red stick looking thing.

"It's a stick." He stated. Jason laughed.

"It's more than a stick Timmy boy." Jason motioned for Tim to come to him. Tim went willingly. Alfred and Bruce shared a glance as they watched as Tim gave Jason his new red stick.

"Alright, put your hand here, and flick it like this." Jason explained. Jason flicked the stick expertly and it turned into a fighting staff. Jason studied it as Tim jumped up and down clapping his hands excitedly.

"Seriously, this is awesome. It's even electrically charged." Jason shrunk the staff back into a stick and handed back to Tim. Tim flicked the staff out like Jason did, but instead he hit himself in the head with it. Jason and Dick doubled over laughing at Tim, who was rubbing his head. Tim stuck his tongue out at the two, making them laugh harder.

"Wish I got that on camera," Dick said to Jason, wiping under his eyes for dramatic effect, as if he was crying for laughter. Jason nodded, his face red from the lack of air making it into his lungs.

"Very funny boys," Bruce drawled, regaining their attention. Bruce had another package in his hands.

"Jason," Jason was suddenly serious as he took his present. Dick sat in a chair, watching him closely. Jason's jaw dropped as he realised what it was. He unsheathed the sword. It slid out quietly; the blade was wickedly sharp. The hilt was plain black leather with a single red band in the middle.

"I've never seen one like it," Jason's voice was low, barely above a whisper.

"It was forged by one of the best blacksmiths on earth, from a metal that was only found on Krypton." Bruce explained, "The metal is two times stronger than metal from earth, and it won't reflect light, rather it absorbs it, giving it a black appearance."

Jason ran and hugged Bruce, something he never did.

"Thanks," He whispered, he paused for a minute, before adding, "Dad." Dick smiled at the smile on their adoptive father's face. Jason pulled away before sheathing his sword and strapping it onto his bit his tongue, he really wanted to tease Jason, but knew that if he did, it might never happen again.

"Dick," At the sound of his name, he turned back to Bruce who had a leather box in his hands. Dick took the box from his adoptive father and sat cross legged on the floor. He gently opened the box to reveal a pair of eskrima sticks.

"I noticed your old ones were wearing out. So I found these ones, they are made out of unbreakable polymer. Plus these have a grappling hook and line in them." Bruce explained. Dick gave his signature smile to Bruce, his baby blues shining.

"Thanks so much, dad!" Dick hugged him quickly before pulling out his old eskrima sticks and putting them in the box. He slipped the new eskrima sticks in the holster on his leg.

While the boys were preoccupied by their deadly gifts, Bruce handed Alfred a small box.

"You may want to leave it in the box and in your room, I'm afraid that the boys will most likely break it." Bruce said to Alfred.

As Alfred thanked him and left, Bruce turned to his three charges.

"Alright, let's figure out what to do with Mayhem." Bruce said, effectively gaining our attention.

"Wait, who's Mayhem?" Tim asked.

AN - Hi all. This was going to be part of a longer chapter, but I thought I might be better off splitting it up. Plus, that way it's just a chapter of pure fluff, which is probably not going to happen much from this point on! So hope you enjoyed Gifts of a Deadly Kind.

also, I haven't been very good about responding to your reviews, but trust me, I read them all! So here's answering a few of them:

- lets just say that there will be lots of Dick/Parker showing off, a bit of sisterly time with Jason, and of course, lots of kickass! :)

YJ and Batfam - Parker will soon be joining the Batfam (I hope) and I can't get enough of Batfam! If you know of any good ones, please please please PM me!

thanks and we will next see a flashback of Parker meeting Harley.

On a side note, do you like the flashbacks? I enjoy writing them, but want to hear what you guys think of them!

Missy