For a moment his breath came quick at the thought of him having to move again. He had no plans for where to stay once Lex had offered his home. Money would have to be acquired, a place for Damian to sleep would be needed. But then his training took over.
The head was gone from the body and it was spread, speared onto the porch. What was most unusual was the fact that it looked like something had taken a bite out of its chest. Not the work of the league.
He calmed as that thought took precedence in his head. Then turned curious as to why such a small town was conforming to the stereotype horror movie murder. It looked to be the work of a man yet that bite mark... Bruce walked off as his thoughts turned to what Lana was saying yesterday. Chloe came up with a whole bunch of unbelievable stories. Perhaps she knew what happened here too.
Be started back to the manor, amusing himself with ideas about what Damian had done to Lex while he was at work. Knowing his son Lex would be in bed the rest of the day complaining of sore muscles. He kept the smile on his face as his shadow dared to walk closer.
Sighing internally at the fight that was about to take place he continued his façade of pretending he hadn't a clue. The body drew nearer and Bruce readied himself for a fight when familiar perfume assaulted his senses.
"Talia," He greeted.
"Beloved," She walked easily next to him. Her long hair tied according to her buisness attire and looking just as beautiful as always.
"Dare I ask the nature of your visit?" He didn't slow down for her despite her walking in heels and refused the car that was dawdling close to them.
"I came to see my favourite boys. How is our son?" Playing it casual. How very like her.
"He's taken a liking to the native animals of Smallville. I forced him to apologise when one of the farmers caught him chasing their chickens," That elicited a laugh out of her.
"How very like him. He always was too curious," They stopped to oversee one of the many fields of Smallville. "It's nice here. I can see why you wish to stay."
"I don't," She already knew this "It's merely temporary." The car had stopped a ways up and seemed to be blocking him in. "I take it you know about the murder."
She nodded "Such brutality. I'd have admired it were it not for the crudeness of their work," So like Talia to make death seem like an art.
"I take it yours will be more precise," The real reason she was here.
"Of course. Though it needn't be. You know this," He swept his hair back from the heat.
"I've told you, we can't work," He let her clasp his hand gently as she relayed her regular argument.
"As I've told you, I accept that you stray now and then. So long as you return to me I see no reason why we can't work. Damian would flourish well with both parents there to guide him. To see him come into his inheritance properly," He felt the usual coarse of anger but didn't let it show.
"Which is why he's to be guided by only one of us. I'll not have him grow in blood Talia," She didn't even flinch at his retort.
"He already grows in blood. You know he took his first man that day you left and still you try and keep him from me. He's an Al Ghul, to deny him his birthright you are going against your oath," She seemed to get riled now. The passion of her installed words dripping from her throat.
"He's a Wayne too. And I've sworn no oath to you or your father-"
"He has though," She cut in "As soon as he struck that first man dead he bound himself to our cause. As for you, don't you remember the oath you took for me that very first night," Unfair. "You swore your love for me which binds you just as much as him to the league. To do as you are now means death. Come back with me," She urged "Finish what we started all those years ago."
"What you started," He let his denial show through every second his body stood standing. "I'll have no part in your usurpation," he careened sideways slightly as her fist hit his jaw. Spitting blood he didn't retaliate. Not when she would cut him down so easily whilst he fought her lackeys.
"It's my birthright. Spit those vile words again and I'll make this town run red tonight," He didn't doubt her. Her snarl turned soft as she turned her persuasion back on "Since I know you won't expect the first punishment for your defiance tonight. Let's hope you can see sense soon beloved," She kissed him on the cheek and made her way to her waiting car.
Bruce waited until she was out of sight before abandoning the route to the Luther house and sprinting towards the Kents. Mrs Kent told him Clark was at college for another couple of hours but invited him in so she could mother him a while.
"Here," She handed a muffin along with an ice filled rag for his jaw "How on earth did you do that?"
He held it to his aching skin "Walked into something," His excuse was awful and Mrs Kent saw right through it. Mr Kent didn't seem all too pleased with it either.
"We don't want any trouble coming here," He warned. Bruce nodded his understanding.
Clark came home laden with Lana on one arm and Chloe the upcoming reporter. "What happened to your face?" he worried.
"It's nothing," Bruce waved off even as Mrs Kent refilled his rag.
"Doesn't look like nothing. Say, you didn't have anything to do with that murder did you?" Chloe asked. She was already dissecting him with her eyes.
Bruce scoffed a "Hardly." As Lana stood firm that he wouldn't do such a thing.
"Did you get in a fight?" Clark peered.
"Well obviously Clark," Chloe pointed out.
"Not exactly," Bruce corrected "It's why I came here. I need to talk to you. Damian's mother's in town and there's something I need to ask you," He tried to convey his need for a private talk which was well received by Clark.
"Did Damian's mother do that?" Lana asked aghast.
Clark seemed to be thinking of a way to get some alone time with him as Bruce said "It was my fault. I should know to keep my mouth shut by now." The occupants of the kitchen seemed uncomfortable with his reply. Even Mr Kent softened slightly at him.
"Why don't we talk in the barn. Chloe I'll be back in a minute alright," He kissed Lana's cheek and towed Bruce out to his loft. Bruce tossed the rag aside as Clark made himself comfortable "What did you want to talk about-"
He pounced on Clark wielding a knife he may have stolen from the Kent's kitchen to his throat "What are your intentions with myself and Damian?"
"I don- What?" He stuttered as the shock of being threatened breached his brain.
"Don't play dumb. I see you outside our window. I know you've gotten rid of at least three assassins since we've been here. What's you game?" He pressed.
Clark froze "You saw me? But I never hear-" he stopped and calmed slightly realising that his excuses wouldn't work on Bruce "I'm helping you. You have a son, it seemed like the right thing to do."
"So you're not just getting rid of the competition to claim the bounty yourself?" He relaxed his hold slightly as genuine confusion shot through Clark's face.
"You have a bounty? What did you do?" The truth was written all over Clark's face. He really was sincere in his bid to help Bruce.
"Doesn't matter. Are you really only doing this because it's 'the right thing'?" Clark nodded. Bruce brought the knife down. It seemed some things that look too good to be true can happen. "Well then," he cleared his throat and got down to buisness "I have a proposition for you."
Clark didn't move to throw him off his lap despite the fact Bruce wasn't threatening him anymore. "If it's about laying off those assassins you can forget it. If one of them does get in it's not just your life that's at risk. Lex is my friend," Bruce nodded.
"I know. But it is partly that. You see, my ex has a rather unorthodox way of trying to get our family back together. When the attempt to hold Damian hostage and me to negotiate my way back to her fails she employs a different technique. Tonight someone's going to die. It won't be me or Damian but it'll be someone in Smallville. There's going to be more than one body by the end of the week and-"
"Wait! Is she the one that killed that man?" The hope in Clark's face was slightly unnerving. How many unusual murders happened in Smallville.
"No. That was someone else. Talia's not as sloppy as that. In fact apart from the high profile ones she's rather discreet when it comes to murder. It usually looks like an accident. My point is, if you can sniff out an assassin in Lex's back garden then you're probably more than capable of preventing someone from dying tonight. At least until I can come up with some sort of plan," Clark was frowning.
"So you want me to stalk people's houses in case someone turns up to kill them?" Bruce nodded "But what about you?"
Believe it or not, Dami and I are more than capable of looking after ourselves," He saw the protest of Clark's lips and hurried to speak over him "If it makes you feel better about leaving your post I can have Lex bunk with us," He smirked at how well that was going to go down.
Clark thought about it for a while before agreeing to scour the town. "Just what kind of person was your ex?"
"Someone you don't want to mess with," Bruce promised. "I'd better get back. Tell Lana Lex wants her at the manor at nine tomorrow morning."
Clark looked unhappy with the idea of his girlfriend once again going to Lex's but kept quiet as Bruce went back to the Kent's house to say his goodbyes. "I'll see you at the Talon tomorrow," Lana grinned.
"You work there?" Chloe interjected.
"Just got hired," Mrs Kent gave him a congratulatory muffin. "You're gonna make me fat," He whined but ate it anyway on his way back.
Damian jumped into his arms as soon as he saw him coming up the drive "You're late," He accused.
"I was busy. But tomorrow we'll have all morning together," He promised "Lana's taking up Lex's attention so why don't I teach you some flying moves," Damian lit up and instantly forgave him.
Rambling about his day with Lex and how poor a student he was had Bruce in stitches by the time he actually saw his friend comatose on the couch. He prodded Lex gently as Damian went to fetch Bruce a drink.
"No more," Lex whined turning away from Bruce's insistent touches.
"Come on Lexy. Up, up up," Lex groaned and tried to swat him away. "If you can still move your arms then Dami went easy on you," Bruce grinned. "Come on, I need to talk to you."
One eye blearily stared accusingly up at him "What?"
Bruce smirked but grew serious quickly "You're gonna need to sleep in our room tonight. Or vice versa, some recent complications have sprung up which put your safety at risk."
This had Lex sitting up as sharply as he could "What sort of complications? What happened to your face?"
Bruce made a mental note to check how bad it was after he filled Lex in on the brief version of Talia's visit "She'll try and take one tonight and just because Dami and I aren't on that list doesn't mean you're not. It's better if I can see you if we're attacked," Lex nodded as Damian scampered in with a water bottle.
"Mother's not going to take me is she?" He'd hear some of it then.
"No. It means we're going to have to be even more careful though. We can't have you running off anywhere alone. From now on you either stay with myself or Clark," Damian's eyebrow's went up in question "He's an ally now. He's going to try and help us."
"What was that about Clark?" Lex queried.
"I was telling Damian that I think it would be best if he went to a couple of Clark's lectures when you went out of town next week. Also that he's going to start coming to work with me. It's not that I don't trust you-"
"I get it Bruce. I'm not as badass as you," Lex joked and held his hands out for Bruce to help him up "As for the sleeping arrangements I'll have another bed put in my room. There's no way I'm giving it up just because we have to room."
"Fair enough," He turned to Damian "Looks like you won't have to long to walk to wake Lex up now." The boy smirked and cast his evil gaze to Lex.
"What?"
Damian was bouncing on the bed as Bruce checked the entry ways into Lex's room. One of the upsides was that he was allowed to use Lex's luxury shower which he indulged in for a whole hour.
"Dami," Bruce called and had the boy over in seconds. He looked out the window with him and pointed out a couple of strategic points Bruce had almost missed.
"So what's with the bat wings?" Lex called.
"Covers the scar," He traced the ones across Damian's shoulders.
"And you chose bats because..."
"I'm afraid of them," He carried Damian over to their bed "When I was travelling one of the things they taught was that I couldn't let fear control me. I had to control it. It meant a lot of scarring nights trapped in bat caves but now... I don't mind them so much. Getting them to cover the scar seemed right at the time."
"It must have hurt," A brief image of Talia's blood drenched blade came to mind.
"It did. But its controlled. Damian has the same on his back," He turned the boy around to show Lex the two little wings that stretched across Damian's upper back "he couldn't stand the thought of not having one so I let him."
"He's a kid. Didn't he scream?" Bruce shook his head as Damian puffed his chest up.
"No," He stated and pointed to himself "Strong."
"He made the tattoo artist cry because they were a different shade to mine," Bruce grinned. Lex rolled his eyes at how typical that response was.
"You know, I thought you'd changed when I first saw you. You have a kid and you've been on so many adventures that I don't even want to know about. But you are exactly the same as when you left. More so. It's like your time away allowed you to come into yourself," Bruce shrugged not knowing how to reply to that. "It must be nice to know who you are."
"You know who you are too Lex. Anyone who lives and rebel's under the stern gaze of Lionel Luther knows who they are. They have to, otherwise they'd be just like him," He comforted.
A comfortable silence descended on them which was broken as Lex announced "I think that's enough bonding tonight. I'm gonna try..."
"Yeah," He held the covers up as Damian burrowed himself beneath them. "Night Dami," Bruce muttered and ruffled the boys hair.
He took up his post at the window after locking the door to watch out for any attempt of Talia's. The night was long and little happened. When morning came Damian came and burrowed into his lap for a while before jumping on Lex to wake up.
"I'm going to end up killing him," Lex muttered as he stalked past.
"Good luck," He waited for Lex to get ready before they all had breakfast and went to Lex's training room. "Right," Damian was jumping in excitement "I think we'll start with a flying side kick. See if you can get that bag from here," He showed Damian the stopping point and let him loose.
Lex busied himself on the other side of the room. Setting up his equipment as he was prone to do when Lana was coming over. Bruce wondered if he knew that she felt somewhat the same about him. Having been privy to some of their interactions it was clear to anyone that watched there was something there between them.
"Penny for your thoughts?" He turned at Clark's greeting.
"What?" Clark rubbed his neck unconsciously.
"Lex says- never mind. I wanted to tell you about last night," He lowered his voice so as not to be overheard by Lana. The girl was glaring at them from her stance across the room with Lex.
"Did something happen?" He hoped from the lack of emotion on Clark's face that the attempt had been futile.
Clark brought him a little bit further away "They went for my parents," He hissed.
"I'm sorry," Was all he could think to say. Talia actually targeted people she knew Damian had taken a liking to. Low blow.
"Four of them attacked my house. It was only after they figured out people weren't coming back out that they stopped," Clark made himself visibly calm down. "Will they come back tonight?"
Bruce didn't know and told him so "I've never met anyone that could hold off so many attackers. Talia only employs the best and usually they get the job done. She may try again," Clark nodded. He most likely suspected as much.
Damian wandered over from his exercise "Hello," He greeted "Are we going to the farm?" He addressed to Bruce.
"No. You're coming to work with me this afternoon remember," Damian sighed and nodded. His disappointment evident on his face.
"Everything alright?" Bruce nodded.
"Actually. I have another thing to ask you," Clark narrowed his eyes at another one of Bruce's requests "I'm going to be working most days and Damian gets bored easily. If he was in a productive environment he probably wouldn't tire so easily."
"What are you getting at?"
"Can you take him to some of your lectures next week?" Clark looked to be about to protest "He likes you and I know from experience that you can bring kids into college so long as they keep quiet. Please, it's just Lex is gone next week on some buisness meeting and I need to leave for a while as well."
"Just a couple of days," Clark warned and Bruce nodded his agreement. He turned to Damian "How would you like to come to college with me?"
"Will there be talks on history?" Bruce translated and Clark nodded. Damian looked excited again "Is it on Greece? Rome? Who are you studying?"
Once again translating Clark answered "You'll just have to find out." Bruce took Damian over to the punching bags after that to work on his stances "Where did you learn to fight? I realise now I never asked you."
"I went travelling. Picked things up as a hobby whilst I was doing so," He showed Damian how to lift his legs higher for certain kicks.
"Is this whilst you were in college? Lex said you were at Princeton together and I wondered how you fit all your travelling in around your course," He spied Lex watching them from his side of the room.
Waving at him to show he knew he said "I dropped out. Lex and I were friends before college if that's what your trying to figure out."
Clark blushed "How'd you know I was fishing for Lex?"
"You're rather obvious," Bruce smirked as Clark reddened further. "He's told you and so have I. We used to be in school together. He transferred and we met up again in college. If you want school photo's you're going to have to wait until I go home. I don't have any on me at the moment."
Clark laughed "That's alright."
"Anything else you want to know?" Judging from the look on Clark's face there was tonnes of things he wanted to know.
He stalled a while before choosing his next one "Lionel. You don't trust him, why?"
Bruce bit his lip thinking how best to phrase his opinion "I knew him when Lex and I were younger. The man may have changed now but my perception of him will always be that of a professional manipulator. He removed anyone he thought an obstacle and took anything he could for leverage."
"Is that why you don't want him knowing you're here. You think he can use something against you?" Bruce nodded gazing absent-mindedly at his son. Clark caught the direction of his gaze "I doubt he'd use Damian. I know him a bit and from what I do he wouldn't use your son."
"Others have. What makes him any different," He shook himself from the image of Talia that was always at the forefront of his thoughts "Besides if he discovered I was here. Really discovered, then I'd never be free of him. He'd be nice to me and dote on me whilst I was here and as soon as I came into my own..." The intentions were clear.
Clark looked him over "How famous are you?"
"Depends on what you read," Bruce looked to change the subject from his secrets and caught the frustrated look Lana was sending them. "Trouble in paradise?"
Clark frowned and looked over to where Lana was furiously punching Lex's gloved hands "She's not happy I wanted to come over."
"Why's that then?" He wondered how much Clark sensed about Lana and Lex's relationship.
The man shrugged "She said I was smothering her. Even when I told her I was coming to see you, not following her, she was still upset. I just don't get her."
"Women are such mysteries," Bruce observed with a smile.
"Tell me about it," Clark muttered. He tried for a joke "At least Lana doesn't try and kill me when we've had a disagreement though huh?"
Bruce kept his easy going smile "Talia's not trying to kill me. She's trying to win me back. All this," He waved his hands "Is just her way of showing her love." Clark looked horrified "Still, you have a point."
Clark looked to be trying to ignore what he just learned "I don't suppose you have any advice?"
Bruce shook his head "I've given up on them. If you want advice, go to Lex."
Clark cringed "I think I'll pass. His advice is awfully cryptic. Sometimes I just want to shake the answers out of him."
"You're Lex sounds much more interesting than mine," Bruce observed and sent a funny look over at Lex to put him off his training. It worked judging from the pained look he sent Bruce's way.
"I'd best be going," Clark suggested as Lana sent them another pointed look.
"Good luck," Bruce said. Clark understood that it wasn't about Lana. "Oh and Clark. If things don't work out with Lana, I'll be more than happy to show you what the other gender has to offer," He suggested and watched Clarks eyes go wide.
"You're- Oh." Clark ran out of the training room so fast he was almost a blur.