Bringing My Children Home

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Chapter Six

Damian

After an awkward week, in which the strays cautiously observed him, Father was distantly polite, and Damian discovered how informal the Manor was at times, the eleven-year-old realized Father was not going to hand him his rightful place without proof he was worthy. Mother had warned that Father was a strict, strong man who needed something more than words. He was giving Damian the chance to prove himself. Damian was going to have to fight to prove his right. The right of blood was not enough.

He had allowed his excitement to meet his legendary father to overcome his knowledge that blood was not everything. Weak blood must be culled from the line, and while Damian had spoken well, he had yet to make his move. Fortunately, Damian had not been completely overwhelmed by the move to his Father's home. He had studied them all that week.

His original thoughts were correct. Timothy Drake was his greatest rival.

Certainly, Father relied on Grayson and Todd, and respected Cain, but Drake was his right-hand man. Brown was little more than an experiment. It was Drake who patrolled with Father, who fought at his side, who could match wits with Batman. It was Drake whose cunning and intelligence impressed them all.

Drake had several weaknesses. His fighting style was not the powerhouse of the others. He lacked confidence when he did not wear Robin. Take away the mask and you were left with someone who doubted. Mother had vaguely mentioned that Drake's parents had abandoned him, but it was more than that.

Father and his strays were all very protective of the teenager. Grudgingly, Damian understood why they would protect Robin. His mind was a great asset. Fortunately, his mind was also his greatest weakness. Brown easily shrugged off Damian's carefully placed words of scorn. It was harder for Drake, who already believed the words.

"It took me days to figure that out! Good job!" Drake beamed at Brown.

"You basically told me what to do, Tim," she answered glumly. "I didn't just pick this up out of the air."

"I did the same thing, just I had a book to work with. I am sort of like a text book. You are doing good, Steph."

She smiled. "You're not good at the boyfriend stuff, but you are good at the friend stuff."

"I'm sorry."

"I know. It doesn't change anything though, does it? We make better friends than significant others. And the publicity wouldn't do Bruce any good."

"I can't wait to see what they do when the public learns of the brat."

Name calling was pointless. Damian clenched his fist. Drake's opinion meant nothing.

"I'm surprised it hasn't happened."

"How would it? He's not left the manor. The public doesn't know about anything inside the manor. It's our safe place, where we can be ourselves."

"That does make sense. I mean we are sitting in a public living room, and you are teaching me how to hack the Bat computer," Brown laughed. "By the way, Jason and Cass are insisting I can paint my room. Eggplant would make a lovely color."

Drake fake gagged. "It would almost be as bad as painting it black. If you must have eggplant, make it your comforter and sheets. I shudder at the thought of it being on the walls."

"Considering you and Damian are the only ones who haven't painted your rooms, I can't take your advice as being legit."

"I don't need anything else. My walls are pretty much covered with posters and pictures, so making it a particular color would be pointless."

"I still can't believe you hide your cases on the back of your posters. You guys are always talking about making Bruce take a break, but you are just as bad."

What? This was something interesting.

Cass

When asked to pick which room she wanted, Cass had immediately taken the one across from Tim, next to Dick's old room. At the time, Tim had only been a visitor, and Cass had been the only one living there, though she spent much time with Barbara. Now, with Damian and Stephanie living there, as well as Tim, and the older boys sleeping over half the time, it was proving to be a very good choice. Tim was her first friend, her first brother.

Stephanie had taken the room right next to Cass, while Jason's was across from Dick's. Damian had thus ended up next to Tim.

This meant there was nothing odd about Damian passing her door. But he was not even trying to hide his tells, which piqued her curiosity. By now, even Stephanie could read Damian, to an extent. Clearly, subtlety was not a skill he practiced.

It was her mastery, however, so she watched Damian pick the lock on Tim's bedroom door. He failed to see her. More and more, he had grown frustrated with the reactions of the others, until his barbs were spoken in anger as much as calculation. A calm head was another skill lacking in the boy.

He had not yet realized how much he was watched by them all. Sure, they were all polite, except Jason, respecting the intruder as much as they could. He was still a child, a child who had never been taught humility. He was sadly inept at recognizing that the thin veneer of politeness was their way of offering him a chance to belong.

Even Jason had not yet been blunt about the boy's misapprehensions.

It took him nearly a quarter of an hour to figure out Tim's special lock. That was rather impressive. It had taken Cass several days to figure the trick out. Of course, the lock itself was merely to annoy the others. None of them respected each other's bedrooms. They had each built work stations in the caves that were considered off limits to each other.

There were also hidden nooks around the manor where they were usually left in peace. Jason's was the attic or roof. Dick's was the corner of the family room. Tim's was the hidden corner in the library. Cass's was Alfred's private parlor. Stephanie had yet to make one. Bruce's was what Dick called his real office, the one above stairs but not his public one.

Although Stephanie had not acclimated to the idea that Bruce was not immune to the pranks and invasions, the other four never left him out when a prank war was on. Once she got the pulse of the manor, Stephanie would be one of the best through sheer impudence. The pranks were naturally muted after the scare for Stephanie, and the unexpected intrusion of Damian, but Cass knew very well Jason was already eyeing her for payback for her last trick on him. Once he figured it out the free for all would start again.

"Ouch!" Damian hissed.

He had gotten the lock picked and stumbled into Tim's trap, which was an electric shock if you tried to turn on the light, without opening the door far enough. Jason still had not figured that one out. It was going to be tricky to get Tim to install it for Cass on her bathroom door. There were some things she would rather her brothers not be able to get into.

It amazed her how much Damian was underestimating Tim. Of course, Damian had not yet seen a full-blown bedroom war, where every room was fair game, and allies were constantly betraying each other. Perhaps it had not occurred to him that the friendly rivalry, between what he called the 'strays', could be as sneaky as it was audacious.

He was aware that his own room had been sneakily invaded on his first day there. Talia had been sure to instill paranoia in him, so that he had set traps to watch for invasion. This was both entertaining and instructive. He was trained, but lacked certain experience.

A careful review of their last invasion of Tim's room, made her think Tim was not anticipating an invasion. He had yet to pay all of them back. So far Bruce and Cass were the only two he had managed to get revenge on. Cass beamed as she stroked the back of her hair, where a week-long strip of red had invaded after he successfully set a trap for her.

A hiss of anger made her return her attention to Damian. He had taken down the movie and music posters off Tim's wall. Cass was wrong. Her favorite brother had been anticipating his room being invaded after all. On the back of each poster was written: NICE TRY DEMON.

Jason was responsible for that nickname for Damian, despite disapproval from Dick. A shiver of laughter shook Cass. Tim would have video footage. He had bugged his own room for moments like this. It was one of the reasons he could prank his family most of the time, in his own room.

Then Damian pulled out a knife and stabbed it into the wall.

Suddenly, Damian's investigation was not simply sibling rivalry. Cass knew very well that Damian had just sworn to kill Tim. They had all known there would be trouble, but Cass had not expected Talia to leave Damian unprepared for his father's home.

Bruce

The tension of the dinner table was alarming. The manor had been on edge since Damian's arrival, but tonight there were very clear and dangerous lines drawn. Stephanie and Jason had sandwiched Tim, while Cass had herded Damian next to Bruce and then sat on the boy's other side. Not unexpectedly, Damian disliked Tim the most.

Besides being the nearest in age, there was a reason that the fifteen-year-old boy was considered his best partner. Certain criminals had caught onto Tim's intelligence quickly. Several had offered him places in their endeavors, places of no little importance. Bruce himself often marveled at Tim's genius, which surpassed what Bruce had been capable of at that age. What was not often understood about Tim, was that he believed it was Robin that gave him importance. This was why none of his other children were envious of the relationship Bruce had with Tim.

What annoyed Damian so much, was something that no one in Bruce's family would allow to be threatened. They had been working so hard the last year, to make sure their brother knew it was Tim they wanted, not just Robin. As much as the others wanted to be able to connect to their father in the way Tim did, not one had begrudged it to Tim. Until now.

"Father, will you allow me to show you my skills tonight?" Damian enquired.

A sharp look from Jason made Bruce pause. He had not wanted to see what Damian thought he could do. Firstly, because Damian was too young for Bruce to see on the streets. Secondly, because Bruce still was not sure what Talia intended by leaving the boy with him. Finally, because there was guilt that Damian had been raised from birth to be a fighter. He had been groomed to be able to take a place with his father.

Now Jason wanted to see what the boy could do.

Since Jason had been the most relaxed about Damian's introduction to the family, this sudden sharpness was alarming.

Stephanie was looking at him too, though her intentions were less clear. Bruce had worked with her most nights on one thing or another. He knew she was physically capable of being on the streets, but had determined to make her stay off them for a month, to give him time to reanalyze her strengths and weaknesses now that he had given way. Truly the skills of detection and strategy, of infiltration and manipulation, were skills she needed time and experience in. She had survived being a fighter on the street for two years, he had even used her as an operative on occasion.

"How about I review both you and Stephanie on the mats? Against me, not each other," he clarified when Cass glowered at him. "Tim and Cass can handle patrol. Jason and I will be in reserve. Jason needs to work on his belt anyway."

"Really?" Tim asked. It was rare that Bruce allowed him to patrol on his own, which would happen with just two of them out there. The events of a year ago, when a crazed Jason had stalked Tim, had left their mark.

"Yes," Bruce promised. Immediately Tim lit up, his shoulders straightening, the tension dying away from him, though not the others. A rather striking reminder that holding him back, could make Tim lack confidence and self-esteem.

Jason

Tim had tried to keep the two girls silent, wanting time to evaluate the threat before Bruce and Dick learned. They had promised not to tell those two, then told Jason. Tim was either rattled enough by the death threat to fail to remember Jason could be the protective older brother too, or had intentionally allowed the girls to tell him for some murky reason of his own. Frankly, Jason wanted it to be the latter, because it meant Tim did not feel the family would push him out over the death threat.

Bruce and Dick would have to be told of the death threat, but Jason needed to know Damian's capabilities, before he threw that spark onto the kindling. Once one or both learned, things would not be easy to manage. Bruce would probably restrict Damian's movements and refuse to see his abilities.

Of course, Tim was always three moves ahead of most of them, as evidenced by the afternoon's test. Tim had roped Stephanie into it, making sure they were overheard and then sitting back to watch the results. The lock and the shock trap were not surprising, but Tim's careful manipulation of Damian once again reminded Jason that no matter how much Tim doubted himself, he had successfully manipulated Bruce himself.

"It's a good thing baby bird is rather oblivious to his own power," Jason muttered, as he unscrewed his first container on his belt at his work station. He had a perfect view of the training mat through the computer at his station, while a second screen watched Robin and Batgirl chasing each other through some rather quiet streets. "The little runt would make the most dangerous supervillain ever."

"What are you mumbling about?" Tim asked, over the com.

"You," Jason taunted. "Just thinking how dangerous you can be."

On the mat, Stephanie was making a good show of herself. Jason was proud of her improvement. After roping Dick into giving her a few lessons, she had bloomed. She had the right build and personality for Nightwing's flamboyant fighting style. Controlled chaos. Give your opponent a show. Plus, associating Stephanie with Dick, the golden child, the one whose story was nearest to Bruce's own, could not hurt. Jason grinned. Tim had managed to rub off on him a bit. Here he was, working to trick Batman into bonding with Spoiler.

Bruce had expected to be met with the bluntness of Jason, or the deadly finesse of Cass. He had not expected her to manage one of Dick's playful tricks, literally climbing the opponent and leaping off behind them.

"Well done," Bruce ended her exhibition. "I see Jason has taken his duties seriously."

"I think he's having fun trying to surprise you," Stephanie panted, easily catching the sports drink Bruce tossed to her. Little chatterbox. There was no need to state the obvious.

"Tt. If that's what Todd can teach, he's even more useless than I thought."

Ah, yes. The little demon. Briefly, Jason considered allowing Damian to think he was getting under his skin, to try to draw attention away from Tim. Unfortunately, Damian was intelligent enough to see through the plot. It would probably enforce the idea that the brat was dangerously close to Tim's weaknesses.

Bruce had already locked Tim's file from Damian, as well protected as he could. No one outside the manor knew the exact circumstances in which Tim had ended up as a full-time resident of Wayne Manor. Jason's own struggles were public knowledge, as well as Cass's speech and literacy disabilities. These held little bite. If Damian got hold of the information that Tim had allowed his parents to hit him, Jason knew it would be disastrous.

Jason gave up even pretending to tinker on his belt, since the little brat was on the mat now, sturdy on his feet. He had good form. Damian went on the offensive. He clearly acknowledged Bruce was bigger and stronger, and he had no chance of taking his father down. It was possible he wanted to wind Bruce, to impress him.

Except, Bruce had been trained by Ra's himself. There was no move that an eleven-year-old assassin could know that Bruce had not mastered for years. Oh, Damian was powerful for his age, agile, even subtle enough that Jason missed a few cues. He even had the wit to use his smaller stature to attempt to trip his father. For a quarter of an hour, Bruce allowed him to show his training off.

Then Bruce went on a basic offensive, testing Damian's defensive abilities. These were much rawer. He had basic blocking and dodging down, but even Jason's larger stature could turn a good defense into an offense. Tim was the best at using defense as offense.

Ah, Stephanie was watching closely too. Good. She could learn from this.

Five times Bruce defeated Damian with ease.

"Enough," Bruce declared. "We are finished with this for tonight. Damian, you may use the showers first. Stephanie, I want to see you working through Jason's Tai Chi exercises for thirty minutes. Make them as fast as you can."

That was a bit unexpected. How did Bruce know about the exercises Jason had assigned the blond? Oh, right. Stupid question. He's Batman.

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