Bringing My Children Home

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Disclaimer: I am only borrowing the Bat family to practice my art.

I decided to post two chapters today!

Chapter Nine

Stephanie

As Stephanie dressed in her completed new costume, she felt warmth bubbling up. Tonight, would be her first time back on the streets. Tonight, was the first time she would patrol under Batman's orders, with Batman himself. Since Dick and Jason were once more staying over, coming home to the manor more often than their private apartments, Bruce had decided to have Jason stay back in the cave since none of them wanted to leave Damian alone there.

Nightwing, Robin, and Batgirl were all going solo tonight. Spoiler, in a new, darker suit with an eggplant colored bat on her chest, would partner with Batman. Bruce was letting her patrol with him. She had kept the full-face mask, but wore a domino under it so she could remove it if she wanted. Before emerging from the changing room, she paused to look at the vigilante in the mirror.

It did not look like the angry girl who had sought to hurt her father when he had neglected her. It did not even look like the desperate girl who wanted the affection and respect of a good man. Tonight, she looked like Spoiler, a bat daughter. Bruce had been a little annoyed that she decided to keep the hood, but when she final emerged, he smirked.

"That is just…perfect," Nightwing announced, and all eyes turned to her. She had the mask pulled up over her nose only, so her eyes were visible. With everyone, except a sullen Damian, looking appreciatively at the complete ensemble, she blushed hard enough for it to show on the small amount of skin visible on her forehead.

So far, she had yet to find a weapon that suited her, so she would be using only the bat-a-rangs and general weapons they all used. Neither Batman, Batgirl, or Phoenix used a standard weapon like Nightwing and Robin, but Stephanie had neither the blunt force power of Batman and Phoenix, nor the deadly finesse of Batgirl. She wanted to find a niche like the other two.

"Nice! Man, I wish I got to go on your first official Bat Patrol," Jason whined, but he grinned and held out a hand for a high five.

"If Father would allow me to go, you wouldn't be here either," Damian sulked.

"The answer is no, Damian. You've only been here a month. You are only eleven, and though you are a skilled fighter, there is more than fighting to it. Nor do I believe you understand what we are doing," Bruce stiffly repeated himself.

"You don't think I can't measure up to any of them?" Damian snarled. "I am your blood, I have more skill than Brown and Drake put together! I belong in your war."

"No, you don't. You are eleven years old and you don't want to go out there to save people. You want to go out there because you want to be the best. I have never let Robin go out before I felt he truly believed in our mission. You don't."

Stephanie cringed a little, but not even Dick could fault Bruce for saying it. Not even in the stern, cold tone used. Damian did not hear anything, but the tone.

"That's not fair, Father! I am willing to do whatever you want. Mother made sure I knew how to be the best," Damian said. "I could defeat Drake and Brown, and you are letting both go out on the streets."

Bruce sighed. "I will confine you to your room, Damian. I do not know why your Mother chose to leave you here, but while you are here, you will obey me."

Damian paled a little and backed away. Then he grew red, and he looked ready to fight at the least provocation. Stephanie wished she knew what to do or say to make him understand what she had learned so recently. This was not punishment. For one thing, not even Dick had been allowed out as Robin until he was thirteen. For another, Bruce would not want to put a child in a battle he did not understand. In a way, he was not just saying no because Damian could not be trusted, he was also saying no because it was not right that Damian had been raised to be a warrior.

"When you are old enough, when you understand and can meet all the requirements Tim had to meet, if you truly want to come out with me, I will allow it. Until then, you are not going out on patrol. I can ban you from the cave as well, so do not test me."

Damian's eyes snapped to Tim, who was the only one not openly watching the discussion. It was meant to appear as if Tim had no interest in the conversation, that he did not gloat over the fact that Damian, so insistent on being his rival, was getting a set down. That was not how the preteen took it. He sneered, hurt and fury on his face, because to him it looked like Tim was so confident that Damian would never replace him.

Selfishly, Stephanie regretted that her first patrol with Bruce would start out this way.

Nothing more was said however, and Batman called Spoiler to follow him. She quickly ran after him, as the other three on patrol shot out of the cave on their bikes. Eventually Stephanie would have her own vehicle too. Tonight, however, she rode with Bruce.

It was a little frightening, not knowing if Bruce was angry after the argument with Damian, so Stephanie just kept quiet, watching her mentor's actions carefully, hoping to learn more. It seemed to be the right choice, as the tension in Batman's profile faded after they were out of the cave. She desperately wanted to ask where they were going, what she would be doing, but she kept quiet.

"I'm sorry," Bruce said softly, after ten minutes of silence. "That has nothing to do with you. I know you want to talk, Steph. Dick was my first partner, remember?"

"I want to do this right, B," She said softly. "I don't know what you want me to be like?"

"I want you to be safe and healthy. I'm trying to learn my lesson, and not make all my children mad, because I can't let them be themselves. Yes, I may need you to be silent at times, but that isn't completely you. Talking is part of you."

She grinned. "Yeah. I could rattle away and not say a thing worth hearing."

A bitter memory accompanied those words, of her father dragging her out of his room snapping those same words. She had only been ten, maybe eleven, and had been wanting to show him her new gymnastics tricks. Bruce did not like rattling away either. She had to be careful, to make sure he understood how grateful she was that she was getting this chance. (He wanted her, even if she was not Spoiler!)

"Your talking has helped Batgirl immensely," Batman pointed out, shuttling the bat mobile into one of its hideouts. They were in the manufacturing district. "Spoiler, sometimes words don't have to have substance. Sometimes all they mean is trust. Tonight, is about getting you back on the streets, safer than before. This isn't about Batman tonight. This is about polishing Spoiler. So tonight, if you need to talk, talk."

A grin widened her mouth, but of course he could not see it.

"The kid isn't your fault," she said. "You didn't fail him. That was all Talia. I hope he gets un-assassined."

Batman stilled, and she wondered if she had crossed a line. Then he caught her shoulder and fondly pulled her under his shoulder.

"I'm not sure that's a real word, but I agree with the sentiment. Now, there's been some suspicious chatter in the Kane Mercantile building. Show me how you will investigate."

Stephanie beamed, glad she had not made him mad for saying it. Not only that, but he was teaching her on the job. Spoiler was a Bat. Stephanie belonged to the Waynes.

Damian

Father had not said the words aloud, but the threat was there. Mother must have left instructions on the best way to punish Damian when he failed. The eleven-year-old stalked up to the bedroom he was residing in, trying to work a plan out. Mother had promised he was worthy, that he was skilled enough to take his rightful place.

If he did not… Damian could not keep the dread out of his stomach. He had spent two whole weeks in a solitary room for his failure, when he became upset that Mother chose to send one of his favored instructors away. She had said he was weak for growing attached to the man. Those two weeks had shown him how weak he was. By the end of it, he had wanted to beg mother to speak to him, to touch him. There had been moments when he was afraid he was not real.

Out of all his strict training, that had been the worst punishment. He would have gladly taken thrice the beatings he received when he failed to pass the league initiation ritual, the first time. To be locked up alone, was worse. He wanted to know he was seen by people, wanted to be heard. He was terribly weak.

Father's threat weighed a good deal. He had seen father's scolding when one or another of the charity cases had failed to follow orders. Father had even benched Batgirl for two nights after she failed to report a small injury. Damian's failure to prove himself better than Drake was far worse than that.

Every time Mother had punished him by sending him away or secluding him, he had always come back and done it right the next time. Every time he had won Mother's respect and affection again. If Father punished him, when Damian had not even fully won his affection, he would fail to gain his respect.

If he could not win that, he would have failed Mother again, and this time, there might not be a way to win her affection back. Damian would rather go through starvation training, go through endurance training, go through any number of painful scenarios, than to fail Mother for good. Not even his blood rights would save him then. He would be disowned.

There could be no greater shame.

He knew he could beat Drake if he got him alone, but his fury had caused him to make a threat, and the others had not given him a chance to catch the teen alone. They all pitied him, because they knew he could not take them all on. Grandfather could, Mother could, Father could, but Damian could not see a way to take them all out. Father had trained them as if they were his blood.

Damian did not have to beat them all. He just had to beat Drake, who held the honored place. Perhaps even the other riff raff would respect him then, when he took his rightful place. They could serve him, and Father could still have his charity cases.

He planned for hours, but nothing perfect came to mind.

He grew antsy in the solitude. When it reached the point that his chest hurt, he had to get up and find Pennyworth or Todd. He could find a hidden place and watch them, knowing there was another person nearby, and that he was real. With his head held high in the knowledge that he was Father's blood son, he headed for the cave.

Todd was at his favored work station, building something while he kept track of Father's operatives out in the field. He was chatting with Oracle. Barbara Gordon made no secret of her disdain for Damian. She refused to answer him the few times he got into the communications network to watch how Father worked. As soon as she could, she locked him out.

Fortunately, their chatter about Grayson's slowly evolving plans to open a gymnastics center, meant Todd was distracted, and Damian could slip into Drake's more private work station, where he could sit without being seen. Just hearing the two voices was enough to ease the anxious knot in his chest. He was not alone. Best of all, they were talking more openly than they would if they knew he was there.

"It will be good for him," Oracle's robotic voice said. "He can't stand the idea of working at Wayne Enterprises. He can't be a cop in Gotham. This suits him perfectly. It lets him connect with his parents."

"Come on, we both know he'll end up teaching a bunch of airheaded girls who can't believe 'Richard Grayson Wayne' is so athletic," Todd groaned.

"Dick likes the attention. He puts no more stock in it than you… hold on, Robin, I'm looking," Oracle interrupted herself.

"What are you seeing, baby bird?" Todd asked.

"The center is dark," Drake's voice, in the lower Robin version, echoed from Todd's speaker. "I know Ives said they were holding a game night."

"You are right. They had one scheduled, but it was canceled this morning due to vandalism."

"I'm going to take a look, O. Most people like having the Center as a neutral safe place for the kids."

"Keep the com open, kid," Oracle replied.

"Anyway, O," Todd continued their previous conversation. "What about Wayne Enterprises? We both know neither Cass or I would suit."

"Jay, Dick wouldn't like it any more than you. Besides, Tim is showing interest."

Todd was suspiciously silent for a minute, not even his tools making noise.

"I don't want him to actually be a businessman. It feels like his parents win if he does," Todd brusquely informed Oracle, and the hidden preteen.

"We both know Tim was never against the idea of actually entering his parent's business - and yes the com is muted on our end, so he can't hear us- it was the idea that they were not giving him a choice in the matter."

Drake's parents had tried to make him be a businessman? Why would he fight his parents? How unworthy of him. How could Father believe Drake was better than Damian?

"How do we know they didn't beat the idea into his head, and it's some latent fear of their anger, that's making him invest time into Bruce's business?" Todd growled. Damian froze in place; not sure he had heard right. Drake was Robin. No plebian man or woman could actually beat him, unless he allowed it.

"What do you think he would have done if Jack Drake, instead of hitting him and denying him food, had said, 'hey son, do you want to learn about the business with me? I think you'll be a great person to run the business when I get too old.' Tim would have leapt at the chance to have that attention from his parents. Bruce went through the same thoughts you are when Tim first stopped by Wayne Enterprises in March, and fell into helping Bruce figure some paperwork out.

"Maybe Tim is doing it just because it gives him time with Bruce, but it's not a bad thing. If my dad had ever let me near his work, I would probably be wearing a badge rather than running the University library."

"Or a shroud," Todd said darkly.

"Let it go, Jay, or you might be the one taking away his choice."

Damian could not breathe for fear of being noticed. For the first time in his memory, his dreadful need to know there was another person nearby had paid off. He had learned just how pathetic Drake was. Of course, he would need to find the proof before using it as a weapon. Perhaps that was what part of Father's locked files on his computer were. A two-fold test.

Prove he can hack into the computer, and find the evidence he needed to manipulate Drake into a mistake.

Before Todd could answer, an alarm went off.

"That's the clinic! Leslie's in trouble!" Todd exclaimed.

Tim

Robin was closest when Leslie's alarms went off. Oracle, Nightwing, Batman, and Phoenix all told him to be careful. Batgirl was only a few minutes away, but it was Dr. Thompkins' clinic. No one demanded Robin wait.

The clinic was brilliantly lit up against the dark of the street. Most of the street lamps were broken, or missing completely. Tim made a note to get the city moving on that, again. He set up his camera in his mask to record. Not for the first time, the thrill that his evidence could be used in court, within reason, filled him. When the VPA act went into effect that winter, a second law was passed allowing evidence from the vigilantes to be used in court. Not everything could be used, because some of the evidence was gained in unlawful ways (tapping someone's phone without a warrant), but crimes caught in public places could be recorded and the video presented to the courts by Batman.

This was one such case.

The Clinic's windows were smashed, the main entry doors were hanging brokenly open. Robin carefully slipped around the patches of light from the windows, searching for the perpetrators. Inside the clinic, Dr. Thompkins' overnight nurses were comforting a frightened pair of street kids who had been present. Leslie, who lived above the clinic, was also there, dressed in sweats and a t-shirt as she examined the burly man who served as security for the clinic in the middle of the night.

The thieves or vandals were gone, so Robin entered cautiously, taking time to scan every broken window, smashed in door, and the trail of debris left behind.

"It's Robin!" One of the kids exclaimed, eyes wide.

"Ah, thank you, Robin. I'm afraid the brutes are already gone," Dr. Thompkins sighed. She gestured to the security cameras, which Robin had installed himself. "They shot that out, and they were in the computer room. Carl made a valiant attempt to stop them, but they pistol whipped him. I want him to go to the emergency room, once we know we are secure."

"I'll be alright, Doc," Carl said. "I've had worse."

Jason had recruited Carl off the streets. He turned out to be a Gulf War Veteran, who had not had the support he needed when he came home. The Waynes had anonymously paid for his rehab and then got him the job at the Clinic. He had been there for six months now, and had stopped three attempted robberies.

"None the less, you should get checked out. The Wayne Foundation will pay for the medical costs, you know," Leslie said. The Foundation paid for the whole clinic. Which reminded Tim that the current president of the Foundation, Tiffany Fox, was moving on into her chosen career in social services. Her college bound brother had no interest, and was going to college to be an engineer. Neither of her younger two sisters were ready for that responsibility.

Tim reviewed the room and frowned. This was suspiciously like the Youth Center, which he had checked out right before this.

"Is this an extortion ring?" He asked bluntly. Leslie cringed.

"I told them they couldn't get anything. Everyone knows Batman protects the clinic."

And the Youth Center, Robin thought. That was strange. For over a year, the Center and the Clinic had been relatively unbothered, except by the drug addicts who would do anything for their next fix. Batman had placed his mark on those buildings, and everyone in Crime Alley knew that meant do not touch, or you become Bat Enemy number one.

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