CHAPTER FOUR
Father tapped his fingers on his desk and didn't spare a glance at me. The conversation that was taking place was perhaps the most tedious experience of my entire-
"Are you sure you're feeling sick?"
"Yes, Father." I replied monotonously.
"Very well, then. I should be back by four. If not, then I'm dead."
I could hear Alfred chuckle in the distance, but I didn't laugh. Bruce got up from his desk, and walked away without another word.
"Would you like any sort of medication to help settle your stomach, Master Damian?" Pennyworth asked.
"No. In fact, I think it's best if I'm left alone tonight. I get very grumpy when I'm sick." I informed him.
"The proper word for you would be grumpier, Master Damian." Alfred insisted, and chuckled some more. I simply rolled my eyes. "Well, if you need me, you know what to do." he said, and began to walk away, his shoes clicking on the floor of the Batcave with the noise echoing off the walls as he did.
I went to my room, and simply waited. I passed the time by playing with a few gadgets, mindlessly flipping channels on T.V., and looking back at the alarm clock. I spent a good two and a half hours inside of my room before deciding it was time to suit up and leave.
The manor was full of cameras and other means of security. Hacking into it was a simple feat, despite Bruce believing I couldn't bypass it. I overheard him conversing with Pennyworth once that he called it a "parental lock", apparently making it so complex that even I couldn't get past it.
I hate being viewed as a child.
My biggest worry would now be Alfred. The man wasn't too different from Father, now that I thought of it- he seemed to appear from the shadows out of seemingly nowhere.
I slowly opened my door, tip-toeing down the hallway, constantly glancing back and forth. It felt as if I were a naive young child who was sneaking down the stairs to find out what presents he got for Christmas, only to discover Santa wasn't real.
I could hear noise from one of the living rooms, and as I turned the corner, I saw Pennyworth as still as a statue, resting on the sofa. He was watching Pawn Stars, and the owner of the shop, Rick Harrison, was scolding his overweight son for purchasing an old vending machine that would take a lot of money to restore. I rolled my eyes.
The excessive amount of sugar and lack of hydration that is a result of consuming a soft drink would make it obvious that the death machine is not worth purchasing in the first place, I thought as I quietly crept past Alfred.
I then proceeded to move quickly throughout the manor, pushing the bookcase that lead down to the Batcave to the side, and entering before pushing it back into place. I ran to get my uniform on and gathered the appropriate gadgets before opening an exit and leaving.
Now, I had to worry about Bruce seeing me.
I made my way throughout the city as stealthily as I possibly could, returning to the roof I met Jason Todd upon. He wasn't there. I checked the time- it was 11:22. I hid in the shadows for some time, keeping track of the time. At 11:24 exactly, Todd seemed to have almost launched himself onto the roof, making a smooth landing as he did.
"I know you're there, Robin. Come on out."
I rolled my eyes, slowly stepping out of the shadows. "May we please talk somewhere a bit more private?"
"Follow me." Jason turned around and jumped off the roof. I did the same, keeping an eye out for Bruce. I swear I saw him at some points, and I was paranoid he was following me, but I couldn't tell whether or not my eyes were playing tricks on me.
Jason led me halfway throughout the city before entering the shattered window of an abandoned apartment complex on the sixth floor. I followed, and he grabbed a board, covering the window, and he shut the raggedy old curtains on the window next to it. He put his grapple back in his coat, and then from what I could see from the moonlight that shone through the holes in the raggedy curtain, began to pull something else out. I tensed, grabbing a birdarang.
"Relax, kiddo." he commanded, and showed me the item he pulled out.
It was a can of Coca-Cola.
"Go on. Take it. I thought we should have a drink."
"Don't like soda." I crossed my arms over my chest, remembering my thoughts about the Pawn Stars incident from earlier.
"What eleven year old doesn't like soda? Sheesh." he said, putting the can down on a desk by a computer that looked like it dated back to the nineties. "Whatever. More for me."
I was going to ask him how he knew my age, but I decided against it. He sat down in the torn up fabric chair by the desk, and jiggled the mouse next to the computer. The screen illuminated.
"Now, I would try to act all cool and be like, 'Back in my day we had all of these crappy ol' computers.' But I was born in '99, this piece of shit is older than me. Also, I never had the experience of using a computer as a kid considering the fact that I was fucking homeless." he chuckled. He clicked on an icon with a camera, and twenty-four different areas in Gotham were shown.
"Here's the locations I think the Joker is most likely to be. Also, I hacked into Bruce's city cameras three nights ago so you wouldn't be caught doing anything. You're welcome." he smirked at me.
I wanted to slap myself in the face. How could I forget about Bruce's city cameras? I am such an idiot.
"Thank you."
"So, why do you want to be on the Team?" Jason asked, eyes not leaving the screen.
I didn't answer.
"Well?" he finally looked over his shoulder.
"You will find the answer to be ridiculous." I replied.
"I've seen some pretty ridiculous shit in my day, kid. You're not gonna say anything that's going to phase me."
"It's not so much being around the 'hot chicks' and 'cool dudes'," I quoted, "it's… well, to make things simple, I am treated like a baby. To join the team is to show signs of maturity and being an adult, as you have to be a certain age to join. If I can prove I'm old enough to join a team of superheroes, I can prove I am not a child and I do not need to be babied. That being, I do not need Dick cooing over me, or Bruce not taking me seriously. In all stances but biological, I am not a child." I explained.
Jason grinned. "I like the way you talk. I get why you denied the drink now." he said, cracking it open for himself, "I think I'm still mentally fifteen. Good, but shitty age. You're horny but you find every girl to be annoying, you're energetic yet tired, and you're confident yet you have a low self-esteem. But that's not why I'm not mentally fifteen. It's because that's how old I was when that son of a bitch murdered me. And I'll never be over it until he's dead." I could feel him starting to get angry, and he took a deep breath to calm down.
"Do you have any sort of plan?" I asked.
"His bitch is still somehow locked in Arkham. I was thinking maybe we could kidnap her and use her as bait."
"You mean you want to take Harley Quinn out of the place she's contained in? Are you crazy?" I demanded.
"Yes."
I sighed, rubbing the bridge of my nose.
"I think he's making a plan- a big one. He would've broke Harley out with him when he escaped on Valentine's Day, unless he had some other idea in mind. He loves the bitch, that's for sure, loves her in some sort of fucked up and extremely unhealthy way, but basically what I'm saying is that our gal should've been freed by now, even though it's only… what day is it?"
"February fifteenth. Well, actually, it'll be the sixteenth in a few minutes."
"Right." he nodded, "We need to get her before he does."
"She might kill us." I pointed out. I've never encountered her personally, but Father has shown me the results of his battles with her in the past. She was probably as insane as the Joker, if not more.
"It'll be the hottest way to die, then." Jason chuckled.
Again, I rolled my eyes. I wasn't looking forward to the day where I would begin to develop sexual attraction towards females- I'd imagine it'd be rather distracting to any task I'd try to be focusing on.
"Take a joke, bud." he said, and laced his fingers together.
"Now we just have to figure out exactly how we're going to get our crazy lady out."