Author's Note: Sorry about not updating yesterday! My day ended up being crazy and I didn't have time to finish the chapter until this afternoon. Thank you to MaikoYuukamiMegumi (Damian is definitely become more like the little kid he actually is instead of a robot. And writing interaction between Damian and Jason is definitely fun), soccernin19 (Thank you! Writing interactions between those three has been one of my favorite parts of this story!), and IndiaMoore for reviewing the last chapter! I own nothing.
Damian woke to sunlight filtering through the gaps between curtain and window. He felt relaxed for the first time in a long time, all cuddled up with his head resting against Dick's chest. Jason was snoring softly in the chair, his neck tilted at what appeared to be an uncomfortable angle but otherwise the only sound in the room was soft breathing. He laid there for a moment, savoring the peace he hadn't felt since long before Talia had come to rouse him late at night. He knew once he got up it would be a long time before things were peaceful again. Keeping that in mind, the boy considered simply settling himself more comfortably and drifting off to sleep. That was when a cell phone trilled from somewhere on the floor. The ringtone was an annoyingly catchy theme song Damian thought was off some cheesy live action Batman cartoon an author in Gotham had written while Dick was still a kid.
"Shut it off," Jason moaned petulantly, not opening his eyes even as he squirmed around in the chair uncomfortably. Dick mumbled something incoherent in response and buried his head under a pillow instead of searching for the phone. Damian glanced between the two of them for a moment, waiting for any sign of action on their parts, and then groaned.
"The pair of you are insufferable," he muttered and slid out of the warm bed, shivering when his bare feet reached the wood beyond the rug. He shuffled his way sleepily around the bed to yank the offending object out of his older brother's abandoned blue jeans. It took him less than a minute to crack Dick's code and then he was answering the phone a moment before it went to voicemail.
"Richard Grayson you had best have a good reason for hacking into my computers and setting off alarms at just after eight in the morning," Barbara Gordon's voice snarled at him over the phone.
"Whatever are you talking about Gordon?" Damian demanded bluntly, not awake enough to even attempt tact. In the stunned silence that followed Dick was suddenly wide awake and scrambling for the phone.
"Nice job," Jason said with a smirk while Dick scrambled out of the room, mumbling apologies to Barbara the entire time in an increasingly frantic tone.
"What?" Damian inquired innocently and snuggled back under the covers with the sinking feeling that his only chance to go back to bed had been ruined. His suspicions were confirmed a moment later when Dick came back into the room, pale as milk.
"We've got a problem," he said. Suddenly Jason was looking wide awake, jumping to his feet and then wincing as his body protested the sudden movement. Damian smoothly slid out from beneath his covers, shivering slightly at the loss of warmth. "Someone hacked into Babs's system and set off the alarms. She thought it was me because she traced it back to my personal laptop." He hesitated and then added, "The one I left in Bludhaven." Jason stared at their older brother as if trying to understand what was going on. Damian frowned.
"Can't she trace it back?"
"She's trying," Dick replied, rubbing the back of his neck for a moment and looking down at the floor. "I'm going to head down to the Cave and see if I can get help. The two of you should probably eat some breakfast and then figure out each other's fighting techniques or something." Then their oldest brother turned and walked out of the room.
"Is he serious?" Jason asked after a moment, dark eyebrows arching up toward the white fringe flopping across his forehead.
"I believe so," Damian said after a moment of consideration. Jason growled, irritated, and ran a hand through his hair.
"Someone besides him hacked Barbara's super secret all-powerful Oracle network and we're just supposed to sit around twiddling our thumbs and pretending we aren't perfectly capable of working together after last night."
"I don't think," Damian said, holding up Dick's phone so Jason could see. "That it matters what he wants us to do."
A wide grin spread across the older boy's face as he reached over to ruffle Damian's hair, ignoring the younger boy's retaliating smack. "Did I ever tell you that you're my favorite?"
Jade Nguyen was cruising through Gotham at just after eight in the morning. She'd wanted to arrive sooner by Melinda, royal pain in Jade's butt, had gotten sick and no one else had been able to cover for her. And Jade really needed to keep that job. She'd called Roy, apologized, and promised to come as soon as possible but the delay still irked her. Now her eyes felt like sand from driving since midnight but she was in Gotham. The GPS voice on her phone, the one Artemis nicknamed Carol, instructed her to turn left. Jade did and watched as massive gates seemed to rise up to meet her. Beyond that was Wayne Manor, a dark shadow looming over a pristine lawn.
She stopped the car several feet away from the gates, put it in park, and reached for her phone. A swift movement unlocked it and she dialed Roy's number. He picked up after the second ring with a slurred yeah that sounded half awake. "Good morning," she told him, a fond smile crossing her face.
"Jade?" Roy suddenly sounded much more awake and her smile widened.
"Yeah, it's me." She paused a moment for that to sink in, then added, "I'm here."
"I'll get Alfred to open the gate and let you in," Roy told her and she heard the scuffle of movement.
"I'll see you soon," she told him and hung up as the gates groaned open. She drove through and parked in front of the front doors, stepping smoothly out of the car. Roy met her at the door, hair still tousled from sleep. Jade hugged him tightly and he buried his head in her dark hair. "I've missed you," she whispered into his chest.
"I missed you too." They separated after a moment and Roy guided him into the Manor. "Ollie's still sleeping," he told her as he held the door open for her. "Dick is awake and in the Cave trying to work some problem out with Barbara. He said Jason and Damian were awake but I haven't seen them yet."
"I can fix that." Jason's voice echoed off the high ceiling of the room as he descended from the massive staircase, light circling around his head like a halo. The irony was not lost on Jade. Behind Jason was a small boy with dark hair and wary green eyes. His entire posture said he was ready for something terrible to happen and Jade recognized the fluid way he moved from her time as one of the League of Shadows. Jade focused her eyes on the boy's and she smiled gently.
"Hello," she said, remaining completely still so as not to startle him. "My name is Jade Nguyen." Roy wrapped his arm around her waist and the boy's eyes tracked the motion before assessing the newcomer. Through all the scrutiny Jade did not twitch. At last the boy relaxed, giving her a slight nod in acknowledgement. Jade's smile widened and Jason reached over to ruffle the boy's hair. That earned him a grumble and a swat that wasn't nearly as hard as it could have been.
"This is Damian," Jason informed her, wrapping an arm around the boy's neck in a playful headlock that had Damian scowling up at him, irritated. "My baby brother. Dami-"
"Don't call me that," Damian interrupted and Jason rolled his eyes.
"Fine, Demon bird, Jade is Roy's fiance. I'm assuming she's here to help Arrow boy break the news to Oliver Queen."
"Must you persist with the ridiculous nicknames?" Damian protested, seeming not to care why Jade was in the manor.
"You let Dickiebird use nicknames."
"Grayson is different," came the crisp reply. The boy finally had grown tired of the headlock and rammed an elbow into Jason's side with an irritated frown on his face. Jason twitched a little but otherwise ignored Damian's escape attempt, instead tugging the boy down the stairs.
"Whatever. Come kiddo, breakfast first and then we'll stick our noses into Dick's super secret business." He head for the kitchen, Damian still pinned at his side. The pair were almost into the next room when Jason called over his shoulder, "Good luck with Oliver."
"Thanks a lot," Roy muttered even though Jason probably could hear him.
"Everything will be fine," Jade told him, leaning into his side. "Now where can a girl get a nap before we have an intense conversation with your mentor?" She was pleased to see some of the worry fading from Roy's eyes.
"I think I know just the place."
Timothy Drake was having trouble sitting still. Normally on long plane rides he would either work on cases or read whatever novel he was working his way through for school or pleasure. Today's plane ride was different. He couldn't focus on Crime and Punishment, his version of reading for pleasure. Instead his mind swam in circles, consumed by the knowledge that someone in the Justice League had kept the knowledge that Bruce was alive from his children. Someone had left them to mourn and struggle on, knowing the whole time that Bruce was alive. Tim had never really hated someone before and the feeling was something bitter churning in his stomach.
"Do you need something?" a brunette haired hostess asked him as she walked by with a trash bag.
"No thank you," Tim replied, managing a weak smile for her. She smiled back and moved on, leaving Tim to squirm a little in his seat. For the first time ever he found himself regretting not allowing Dick to sneak a couple movies on to his tablet. At least they would have passed the time. He turned back to his book but the words turned the nonsense in front of his eyes. He snapped the book shut in frustration and glanced at his neighbor who was sleeping soundly. He wished he could do the same but he doubted he would be able to sleep. Worse yet, if he did manage to drift off into dreamland he'd probably only become trapped in a series of horrifying nightmares. Those nightmares were one of the main reasons Tim often avoided sleeping.
His lips twitched silently as he acknowledged the fact that he was disobeying Bruce's orders. Granted, the order to sleep had been given a little over two weeks ago but Tim was still disobeying. Instead of resting he was hyped up on coffee, excitement, and fury. For the first time he was beginning to understand how Jason had felt when he'd come back to Gotham only to discover that the Joker was still alive and there was another Robin. The betrayal was a constant stinging to Tim and he wasn't even all that close to most the members of the Justice League. Dick would be devastated by the news. Sure Tim's older brother would be glad Bruce wasn't dead but the knowledge that the League had purposefully withheld information from them, and not at Bruce's request, would be an open wound. Jason would be furious if for no other reason then because the news would hurt Damian. Tim's homecoming would not be the happy affair he'd been hoping for when he'd first set out to prove Bruce was still alive. Instead it would be more like a waking nightmare.