Chapter 21 – Uncle Jason

Mar'i was determined. Her father was a wall of 'no'.

"No," he said. "You're not going out. You need to heal."

Mar'i frowned.

"I thought you weren't going to have any say on what Nightstar does."

"Yes. But, I'm still your father and I'm not letting Mar'i go out and get even more injured. You've already had days off school because of this and you'll heal quicker in bed."

Mar'i frowned at him. She wasn't happy with that answer but she did understand it.

Mostly. She felt like she was going to go crazy staying in this apartment. It didn't help that Damian was in and out all the time.

Damian was in right now, having walked in during the afternoon with a sketchbook and pencils in his arms. He had claimed the couch as his and spread out all over it.

It vaguely reminded Mar'i of a cat. Cats did that kind of thing, didn't they?

"Look, you and Damian can keep each other company," Dick said, sounding frustrated. "Just, don't burn the apartment down or anything."

"What are you talking about, Grayson?" Damian stated from his seat. "I'm going out."

"Damian," Dick sighed. "I thought Bruce took your Robin costume?"

"Would you let that stop you?" Damian questioned in return. "I'm going to meet up with Colin and we'll patrol a few streets."

"As Robin?" Dick looked over the couch but didn't see any sign of a red and black uniform.

"No, as the tooth fairy," came the sarcastic response. "Yes, as Robin! I have a few uniforms hidden away that Father doesn't know about. -tt-"

Mar'i couldn't help giggling at the amusing response. Also, the image of Damian jumping across rooftops in a tutu and wings.

Dick couldn't do anything to stop Damian from going out. Damian was in perfect condition and Dick wasn't his father. Also, Damian wasn't wrong; in his shoes, Dick would be doing the same thing.

Mar'i, on the other hand, was injured and his daughter.

"Mar'i, you can have mission control," Damian said.

Mar'i gave him a confused look. How did he plan to get her to the safe house?

As he heard her unspoken question, Damian picked his bag up off the ground and pulled a laptop out of it. It was some of the latest technology, fast, reliable and strong. Due to software Damian installed on it, it would be able to pick up the vigilantes' signals and all Mar'i needed to communicate with them was a mic. Damian just happened to have a pair of headphones with a mic attached.

Dick stopped arguing. He could see these kids were stubborn and having Mar'i in front of a computer might be better than leaving her in the apartment, bored.

'A bored Grayson was a dangerous Grayson', as Alfred had once said to Bruce many, many years ago. Although Alfred had used the word 'kid' or 'sidekick'; it was a long time ago and Dick didn't recall the saying correctly, just that Alfred had been talking to Bruce about him.

Mar'i was bored. Damian and Abuse were the only ones really talking to her but there wasn't much to talk about. Nothing seemed to be happening on the streets as most criminals were laying low after the sinkhole incident. There were rumours floating around that it wasn't the last. That more were going to happen.

Additionally, there were rumours floating around that the sinkhole had been created by the government, by any one of the crazies from Arkham and one theory even placed Bruce Wayne's company behind it. That latter one was people making a connection between Wayne Industries' people reaching out to help those; some called them a 'clean-up crew' for Wayne.

Her earpiece crackled with static. Then, a familiar, smooth voice which promised trouble spoke.

"Have I got the injured Princess?"

Mar'i instantly perked up. "Uncle Jay?" Now, this couldn't possibly be boring!

Jason, or Red Hood as he was currently out on the streets, chuckled.

"'Uncle Jay', you know, I didn't think I'd like the sound of that."

"Dad considers you a brother and that makes you my uncle," Mar'i said, "the name stays."

Jason chuckled again.

"Relax, Princess. You can call me Uncle. Besides, I'm calling you about family matters anyway."

"Calling?" She touched the piece in her ear. It wasn't exactly your usual phone. In fact, "this is supposed to be a secure line."

"I hacked it."

"Not going to tell me how?" It might come in handy but the negative response on the other end was what she expected. "Figures," she muttered.

"Listen, I have a plan."

"A plan for what?"

"Put simply, to annoy Bruce." X'hal, she could hear the grin. This uncle was the best uncle.

"You need a plan to annoy Bruce or you already have one?" Mar'i question.

"Princess, if I didn't have a plan, would I be calling you?"

"Yes."

Silence sounded on the other end for a few moments. "...okay, I'll give you that one." He had part of a plan to annoy Bruce.

Jason thought something where Bruce would have to be up early after a big night out as Batman. Whatever it was, would have to be important enough that Bruce would have to say alert during it.

He had been thinking something involving a business meeting, which he could get Tim or Damian to arrange.

Mar'i vetoed that plan. From her dad's stories, Mar'i had painted a picture of Bruce Wayne as a man who could bluff his way through a meeting, even when exhausted. At the very least, Bruce could get Alfred to call him in sick or something like that.

Jason had been disappointed to hear that. He had to admit, Mar'i was right.

"I have a better idea," Mar'i pointed out. Jason was doing this to get back at Bruce for doing what he saw as kicking Damian out and her plan would give those two a chance to sort things out.

If her dad didn't force them to do it beforehand.

"Even Alfred would be okay with that plan," Jason mused at the end. He contemplated it for a few moments. "Okay, let's do it. But, how do you plan to get Damian there?"

Mar'i laughed. That was the easy part.

This was not going to end well. That thought flashed across Dick's face as he entered the apartment via his bedroom window to find his daughter sitting on his bed.

"How did you get in here?" he asked, surprised. She was supposed to be in bed, if not communicating with the equipment they left on the kitchen table.

Mar'i gave him a flat look and floated on the spot. Sometimes her dad was a real idiot. She was a literal 'Flying Grayson'.

"Right," Dick sighed, moving further into the room. "I assume you have something to say?"

"Alfred's hosting a family breakfast, well, more like an early brunch, tomorrow morning and I want to go."

Dick was shocked. He hadn't heard about this.

"Who invited you?" he questioned.

"Dad," Mar'i huffed in a whining tone. "You told them I'm part of the family. They're now treating me as part of the family." Actually, only Jason was but she wasn't going to tell her dad that. One out of the three brothers (who weren't her dad) was great. "Can we go?"

Dick rubbed the bridge of his nose. He was tired and this meant getting up very early to drive to Wayne Manor.

"Who knows, it could be a chance for Damian and Bruce to talk."

"Yeah, like that's going to go well," Dick muttered under his breath. A little louder, he said, "sure. Let's go." He had been trained to operate on little sleep.

Damian cracked open an eye to purple, flickering flames. Alien green eyes stared at him and a familiar grin lit up the face before him. Damian had seen that grin on Grayson's face a few times; it meant trouble. In fact, he could see it right now; Dick was standing at the entrance with the same expression on his face.