Chapter 24 - [Insert Vigilante Name Here]

Mar'i was late for school but no one seemed to care. She guessed that coming in on crutches and looking like she had lost a few rounds to a truck or something helped. Many people just seemed surprised to see her at school.

She had to admit, it would have been nicer to be at home. She couldn't float while at school so she was stuck using a crutch to get around.

"Girl, you shouldn't be here," Nikki commented as she took Mar'i's books from where they were balancing precariously.

"How are you even upright?" Tegan questioned, looking Mar'i up and down. With a foot in a cast and the opposite arm in a sling, Mar'i was finding remaining upright difficult after trying to get to classes on time. She had almost exposed her powers a few times as she used them subtly to stay standing.

"It's not as easy as it looks," she responded nervously. It was uncomfortable and made her body ache. Above-human strength didn't help when crutches and overly-conscious steps jarred and poked at every bruise and sore part.

"Maybe you should get a cute older guy to help you out?" Nikki mused with a flutter of her eyelashes.

"What 'cute older guy'?" Mar'i asked with a sinking feeling in her gut. A face flashed into her mind, one with tan skin, dark hair but light eyes which had seen the world.

"Colin! Duh!" Nikki responded with a grin. "Come on, you two'd be totally adorable together."

Tegan rolled her eyes while Ellie sighed and shook her head.

"Not everyone wants to be matched up," Ellie pointed out.

"You're just saying that because the guy I matched you up with was arrested three days later for selling drugs."

"And why do you think that is? I turned him in," Ellie responded as if it was obvious. She snorted. "He tried to hide his stuff at my house. I'm not getting into any of that."

"So you got one bad boy. That doesn't mean all guys are bad," Nikki countered.

"Can we talk about something else?" Mar'i sighed. Maybe she needed to find other people to hang out with. Ones not so interested in 'dating' and 'boys'. Mar'i felt she had other things to be interested in. Like being a vigilante. Like whether the light her powers emitted helped plants to grow and whether her dad would let her buy an excess of household cleaning products to experiment on their effects when used on plants.

There was silence for a moment before Tegan spoke up.

"What do you guys think about art as a career?" she said quietly.

It took a moment for that to sink in before Ellie responded. "You'll have to be a little clearer than that. Like painting?"

"I was thinking more like comics or animating..."

"Sounds awesome," Mar'i said. "I can't even imagine doing anything like that."

"Maybe," Tegan said, not sounding confident about that at all, despite being the one who wanted to do it. "But, I don't know what Gotham's art programs are like."

"I've heard they're good," Nikki responded. "But I've also heard they're not."

"Everyone has a different story," Ellie mused.

"Helpful," Tegan sighed. Mar'i paused and leant against the wall as she pulled out her phone.

A quick text later and she had a little information on the best art colleges as well as how Gotham measured up. Damian had the list memorised, for some reason.

"Now that's helpful," Tegan commented with a grin.

Mar'i floated over to the couch and planted herself on the cushy seats. Her dad eyed her with envy. She knew it was because she was more mobile with her leg in a cast than he had ever been.

"That's my 'normal girl' quota for the rest of the week done," she pointed out as she just relaxed.

"Your what? There are quotas for normal?" Damian questioned in confusion.

Dick laughed.

"Not exactly. She's just complaining because school is 'boring'," he explained with air quotations.

"Oh. What was that text for anyway? Thinking of going arts student instead of science?"

"Arts?" Dick questioned.

"Someone at school asked. She was thinking of doing arts. I get the feeling her parents don't like the idea." Mar'i knew what that felt like. However, Tegan was probably going to have it rougher than her and her 'I want to be a vigilante' determination. The other girls suspected that her parents were going to throw her out if she didn't 'get a real job'. At least Mar'i knew her dad wouldn't throw her out for any of her choices.

"Understandable," Damian commented. Mar'i and Dick gave him confused looks.

"But, you like art?" Dick questioned.

"And you knew enough about the course," Mar'i added.

Damian smirked at them bitterly, not letting his own confusion show.

"I meant, it's understandable how she might not have her parents' blessing." He suddenly seemed to shrink under the sympathetic looks coming from both Graysons. It made him nervous and he grabbed his laptop, intending to leave.

Maybe he would spend a few hours with Colin.

"Damian," Mar'i whined as he started to leave. She realised too late that they had somehow, unintentionally hurt him.

"Damian," Dick stated, his voice normal. "Sit down."

"I'll see you in a few hours," Damian responded, ignoring the order.

"Sit. Down." Dick's voice slipped into a deeper register. It was something closer to Batman's voice than his own.

The voice combined with Dick moving to stand in his path meant that Damian found himself back on the couch.

"What's going on?" Dick demanded to know.

"Nothing," Damian insisted. Dick glared. He didn't believe that.

"Is something going on with Bruce?"

"Father mentioned that I should assist him with his next case," Damian muttered. "As Robin."

Mar'i grinned. Despite Damian's mood, this sounded like a good thing.

"What's the catch?" Dick asked as he knew Bruce well enough to know that Damian wouldn't be upset about this unless there had been some kind of condition.

"I don't know. I just don't feel happy about it. It's more annoying than anything."

Dick's eyes flashed with realisation. He should have known that this was coming. Although, he had expected a fistfight or something between Batman and Robin to bring this up. It seemed Damian's current distance from Bruce was working in everyone's favour as it kept both stubborn father and son from trying to kill each other.

"What is it?" Damian asked, noticing the thoughtful expression on Dick's face.

"Damian, do you want to continue the fight against crime?" Dick asked.

"Of course!" Damian's reply was instantaneous and forceful. Mar'i didn't blame him as she had to swallow her own immediate response; her dad wasn't asking her.

"Do you want to be Batman's Robin?"

Damian was silent as he thought about that one. He didn't really have an answer to that. He decided to go with what felt natural to claim.

"-tt-. Of course. It's the stepping stone on my becoming worthy of baring father's mantle."

"You want to be Batman," Dick stated with a sigh. He was frowning.

"I don't care if you don't agree," Damian countered. "It's my life. My choice."

"I know."

Mar'i felt a little like third wheel. This wasn't a conversation she could follow properly, even with everything her father had told her. She had noticed that Damian's speech had momentarily shifted to a more formal way of speaking, complete with a lit not quite American and more British.

"Why can't he be Batman?" Mar'i asked. She felt like she was intruding however, she also felt she needed to remind them that she was there. So she said the first thing which seemed relevant to the conversation. "He's already proven he can do it."

Her dad stared at her for a moment, processing what she had said. A moment later, a wide and mischievous smile grew on his face. Both the young adults on the couch shared looks before Mar'i asked what he was thinking about.

"I have a plan," Dick said with a grin, proceeding to outline his idea. Damian's expressions went from surprise to acceptance with a little bit of excitement sparking in his eyes.

"Could I really do that?" he questioned.

Mar'i wondered that too, even as her dad nodded. If she had pulled that kind of thing under Dick's nose, her dad would probably have killed her.

Her trail of thought went from that to her uncles.

"Maybe we should let Uncle Jason and Tim in on this?" she suggested. "Otherwise, they could mess everything up."

"If we have to," Damian said with what was supposed to be a disgruntled sigh. The grin on his face ruined the effect.