C03: Define 'Miracle'

The next day, Kory woke up from some sort of a royal palace in a bed that felt just like home, made of the best silk and sinking her into her dream worlds better than the rocks and the mattresses that she once slept with during the war. It's also a lot better than the ship's normal bed because of the huge space. She could move her body around and it didn't have to tie up into one specific place.

Kory had quite the etiquette lessons from Julia Pennyworth, or Penny as Damian like to call her. She was a very nice woman with a strange accent and a skin darker than most peoples off of her world. Honestly, she wasn't sure if she could get a more welcoming entry on Earth if she stayed in that pod a lot longer. She was glad that she found Damian, the mysterious royal man who put on his knight outfit every night to fight crime, at least that's what Julia said to her.

"Sleep well?"

The expensive suit provocateur Damian called her all the way across the room right near the entrance of her personal room. This room was said to be Thomas and Martha Wayne's room, the paternal grandparents of Damian. Julia mentioned about how successful they were back when they were still alive until the unfortunate accidents that took their life.

"Um... yes." Kory said. "I'm sleeping very well. It's been a while since I sleep in a royal palace."

Damian scoffed. "This isn't a royal palace."

"It may not be, but it's a lot better than sleeping in caves or rocks."

"The war had gotten you." Damian said. "How long have you been fighting?"

"I don't recall." Kory said. "Three years, I think?"

"How old are you?"

"Julia calculated my Earth age and she said that I'm 18." Kory said. "My Tamaran age is nine, but it is irrelevant now."

"Calling yourself nine is... quite significant here."

"Well, yes I know." Kory said. "Tamaran's rotation was 48 Earth hours a day and yours was obviously a lot faster than that, which may take some time to get used to."

"I don't know about that." Damian said. "I mean I've never been to a 48 hours a day planet."

"Well, I'm a stranger here too so..." Kory said. "Anyway, I wanted to say thank you... for all of this. After watching the news and these 'movies' that Julia told me, I highly doubt that I can get the same treatment from others."

"Of course you aren't." Damian said. "The first thing peoples are going to do when they found out about you is that they're going to be scared."

"I know." Kory said. "I'm fascinated by these 'movies' that Julia showed. It was like a play or a drama stage in my home planet, but instead of being acted in front of everyone when they're doing it, it was recorded. We have never thought about that, probably because we were focusing too much on creating a utopia."

"Did you make it?"

"Well, it was all good, at least all before the war." Kory said. "I also wanted to thank you about something."

"What's that?"

"I've been... really lonely for the past three months." Kory said. "It drives me crazy. I'm just glad that I have someone I can rely on, and someone I can talk to."

"You can count on me. Don't worry about that." Damian said. "Anyway, I need to go."

"Where?"

"I have a work to do." Damian said. "I am running a billion dollar corporation. My superiors have been waiting for my presence. I'm off the work tomorrow. So if you have time, I'll show you around the city, or maybe Julia will. I'm just hoping she doesn't spoil the good parts."

Kory smiled. "I'd love to."

##

Timothy Drake's first stop was to Wayne Enterprises, as it seems to be the closest place that he could think of at that moment. He wasn't wearing anything special, just a grey hoodie with a red t-shirt underneath. To be fair to Waller, this clothing was a pretty good bet. Entering in and out of the place would be not too much of an effort.

A lot have changed ever since he entered the Wayne Tower. The door was still automatic. The cameras were put in the same place. The materials that were covering up most of the walls were changed into a colder, more reflective metal. Wayne was always engrained in grey and blue with a little touch of wooden exteriors. If it wasn't for the metal floor, there wouldn't have been a clinging noise when he stepped on the floor.

The elevator was in the center of the receptionist area. He skipped the receptionist part and went straight into the elevator. He knew that Damian was residing at the top working on a meeting of some sort. The receptionist however, noticed him walking towards the elevator, who was only classified for employees.

"I'm sorry, sir." she said. "This area is for employees only."

Tim didn't care for her and just slipped in his thumb into the scanner. Damian, who controlled the entire company, had given him access to pretty much all of the company, which was quite a surprising move considering how he had declared himself to be his rival or something like that. It was probably because of the trust that he built throughout the years. To be honest, Damian is okay, as long as he doesn't get into his bad sides, which is unfortunately all the time.

The elevator opened with Tim Drake registered in the database, which astonished the receptionist. She didn't even try to stop him even after Tim gave her a bewildered shrug. Even after that cheap ass looking grey hoodie was not enough to stop her. He wasn't wearing a proper suit for once, not that he wanted to at that moment.

##

"The project is going nice and smooth." Loren said. "But I'm concerned about STAR Labs. I'm more concerned about their practices in recent times."

"Care to inquire me?" Damian said.

Loren handed over some files on his research on STAR Labs.

"There are a few concerns that I have about STAR Labs right in there." Loren said. "Yesterday, STAR Labs suffered from an electromagnetic pulse explosion, one which has completely caused the blackout of the five cities surrounding it. It did not reach Gotham City, but when I wanted to acquire some of the relevant details, they deny any inquiries until they resolve the situation."

"It was just a hiccup. What do you expect? They're doing experiments." Damian said. "So far, we don't have any issues with STAR Labs and Dr. Stone has contributed heavily on this project. What makes you think that STAR Labs is compromised?"

"Three years ago, STAR Labs put an experimental cure for a rare disease that your friend Garfield Logan had." Loren said. "The ship that brought Mr. Logan back to Gotham sank during the way."

"So are you saying that STAR Labs developed a cure that turned Gar into a monster that destroyed the entire ship?" Damian said. "There was no monster, Mr. Jupiter. It was a huge storm. Garfield himself was presumed dead, although the body is not found."

"Have you sent a rescue team?"

"I've sent everyone that I can to search for the nearby area, but I couldn't find him and not even his parents." Damian said. "We've scanned in deep inside the oceans where we found the ship's wreckage and none of Garfield's parents or even Garfield himself was found, so the rescue team have concluded their search. Is that your only concern?"

"There's also the explosion that happened a year ago." Loren said. "That has caused the death of Dr. Stone's son, Victor. I have no doubts that it caused quite the strain on his mental health."

"Well, you have a point about his conditions." Damian said. "But I still have faith in him. We need his intelligence. He's a brilliant engineer. He's going to contribute a lot for this project."

"Okay, it's your call." Loren said. "I am just concerned."

"You very well should be." Damian said. "This deserves concern, and I'm not ignoring it. It's just that they're doing well now that-"

It was exactly when Damian was able to find him, the stubborn man once called one of the smartest peoples in Gotham City. Timothy Drake was standing right on the other side of the meeting room. The room was surrounded with transparent soundproof glass. By the time he glanced at Tim, he halted every word that was about to come out of his mouth, and exclaimed his surprise.

"My god."

The board directors caught in to Damian's eyesight and found Tim Drake standing among them. Tim walked inside the meeting room. There were a few empty seats in there, so Tim took one right across the son of demon.

"No, go ahead." Tim said. "Don't worry about me. I'm just here to listen."

##

To think that Damian just saw a miracle was quite an understatement. Not only that, he saw two miracles in a span of 24 hours. Timothy Drake was not the kind of person who would get out of hiding or fake his death, so there was probably a much better explanation for all of that. To get Tim up to speed, Damian asked him to meet up at his room where they can talk further, and so that Damian could give him the suit that he wanted.

"So," Tim began as he entered Damian's executive room. "I guess you win."

"Win what?"

"When I'm not looking after my company, you said screw it and bought all of their assets." Tim said. "Now my company is yours. All that pointless fight we had and you're the one ended up winning."

"Well, I didn't win. I'm just alive." Damian said. "Even if you were still alive, I'm still not going to win."

"I doubt it." Tim said. "I got a lot sloppier for the past couple of days."

"You mean crappier?"

"Yeah, that's an apt comparison." Tim said. "How are you doing?"

"I'm not doing well." Damian said. "I've had enough of miracles for a day."

"What do you mean 'miracle'?"

"A meteor just dropped right near Briston." Damian said. "Went on to investigate it during patrol. Turns out to be a meteorite of an unidentified metal."

Tim's face went slightly bitter. "Alien?"

"Not sure." Damian said. "Maybe it was. Maybe the fire got my scanners wrong, but one thing certain, it's from outer space. Why?"

"I..." Tim sighed. "Never mind. Doesn't matter."

"That one doesn't." Damian said. "What matters is how the hell did you wake up?"

"Waller put me up." Tim said. "I saved Coretta, her daughter. She owed me one I guess, but she then asked me to do something."

"What is it?"

"Some stupid spy mission or something." Tim said. "She's going to use me because peoples think I'm dead."

"Well you're not dead, so there's that." Damian said. "You're going to be too useful for her. ARGUS is not exactly clean on their operations. If you would just work with her, it would make things ten times easier for me to break down their operations."

"I'm not interested, Damian." Tim said. "I'm not James Bond."

"Well, you were." Damian said. "Remember when the League was trying to assassinate the England Prime Minister? We were infiltrating the party for Middle-Eastern terrorists. That sounds like Bond to me."

"That was dumb." Tim said. "Although we did great on that one."

"You screwed up a couple of times."

"I didn't. You did."

Damian smiled and scoffed. "Now I begin to miss bantering with you, at least when Stephanie wasn't there to interrupt."

"Where are the others?" Tim said. "Are you guys still active?"

"Nope. I'm the only one active from the group." Damian said. "Dick and Barbara made quite a family together. I'm too young to retire from all of that. And Stephanie, she's..."

"What?"

"She's... not well." Damian said. "It's not that she's not happy. It's just that you've been lost for three years and she always called me that she couldn't find anyone else."

"Jesus." Tim said. "I'll get to her."

"You'd shock her."

"I know." Tim said. "I just need to make sure she's alright."

"She's alright. Just... sad."

"I'd rather see her myself."

"Well, suit yourself." Damian said. "You're going to need phone, money, ID, all those stuff. I think I stored most of your personal items in the manor."

"Still live there?"

"No place like home." Damian said. "Oh and Julia is in there. Alfred is... not very well."

"What happened?"

"He got a tumor and just went out of a surgery." Damian said. "Didn't have time to visit him, but I'll get to him at five. If you want to visit, just stay in the manor for a while. I'll pick you up."

"I will."

"You don't want a ride?" Damian said. "Get on my bike. It's on the basement."

Tim scoffed. "Back then, you wouldn't have given me that easily."

"I'm better now." Damian said. "At least better than when I was ten."

"Trust me. Back then, I would've thrown you out of the window if you sit on that chair." Tim said. "We'll see about the 'better' part later."

##

There was something a little bit off on the way she treated him. Conner just went up into this world not knowing exactly what to do, and then she came up to him. Everything she did to him, everything she did for him, it was nothing but kindness, sincerity, something that he had yet to see for quite a while. Too many peoples have died on his hands. Too many violence has been inflicted, pointless violence. It was refreshing to see someone as kind as her to accept him around.

Stephanie Brown. Oh why would she do all of that to him, as if he was the one who deserved it? She was one strange girl, and it was incredibly admiring.

It was probably a bit ridiculous to say that he had developed some feelings to her even after they were only in it for just a day. She was too kind, too compassionate, someone who changed his view of things, and somehow after all of that she managed to know him in just the view of an eye.

And right now, they're sharing a bed together. He didn't expect for things to go this fast.

He remembered when he first met her. It was just in the morning where he woke up in an unfortunately bad time at this place called Gotham City. He had no idea what was happening, and the only thing that he know was that he just woke up from a bad sleep and someone was threatening him at gunpoint.

"Give me your money! I said give me your money!"

"I... I don't have..."

"Give it or I'll shoot you!"

That's where Stephanie came into him, pulling his other hand in the back and twisting it in a way that caused him quite a pain. When the guy decided to redirect his gun's aim towards the girl, Stephanie easily snatched it out from his hand in seconds and literally broke it into pieces. After that, she knocked the guy out by lifting the guy and slamming him head first into the side wall.

Conner, or at least Kon-El when he didn't get his Earth name yet, could only open his mouth in astonishment to the display. The girl with the long blonde hair and hypnotizing blue eyes redirected her attention from the robber to Kon, and she made a quip.

"Quite desperate that you have to rob a homeless man." she said, with a smile coming out of her face and not even a single frown. "Are you alright?"