Chapter 11:
Daphne woke up with a cold the next day, but she refused to stay in bed. Bruce had forbidden her from doing any chores. Since it was still Winter Break, she didn't have to worry about school. She dragged herself to every corner of the manor to keep her mind busy. Damian was occupied with some books he was reading and she didn't want to bother him. Finally, she got bored.
"Alfred, let me cook!" she complained after tea.
"You mustn't, Miss Daphne. The Master is expecting a guest tonight at dinner," Alfred replied.
"Who?" the girl asked.
"Miss Vanaver…" Alfred replied.
He was already preparing to cook dinner. The girl sighed. She took an ice-cream, receiving a scold from Alfred. She grinned sheepishly before running away. She made her way back to her room to watch cartoons. Damian was sitting on her bed with a book in his hand. She didn't say anything. She sat beside him and turned on her television. She glanced up at him once in a while.
"Is there something on my face?" he asked her.
"Oh,…no…it's just that, I was wondering why you're here…" she replied.
"No reason…I thought I'd come see how my servant is doing…" Damian replied calmly.
Daphne jumped when she saw what was beside Damian the whole time, his sword. She got out of her bed and backed away in an instant. The boy knew why but he didn't hide the sword.
He asked, "Still scared of this?"
She nodded once and explained, "It scares me at how quick it could cut anything…"
"Hah…I see…" Damian muttered, observing his sword.
Daphne bit her lower lip. The boy opened his mouth to say something but had second thoughts. He took his leave instead. Daphne blinked a few times before proceeding to lie on her bed. She smiled to herself even though she was actually still scared of what had happened just now. She fell asleep in an instant.
When she woke up, she heard some voices outside her room. She peeped through her door and saw a blonde woman in a white dress with Bruce. She assumed that the woman was the Vanaver Alfred mentioned earlier. They walked passed her room to another part of the manor. Daphne took her leave to head to the kitchen. Her stomach was grumbling. Alfred was busy washing the dishes.
"So you fell asleep?" he asked the girl.
"Yes. I feel a lot better now…" she replied, stretching her arms.
When she was busy munching on her favorite vanilla chips cookie Alfred had baked for her, Bruce called for Alfred to prepare some popcorns. He also told the butler to open up the screening room.
"They're watching a movie?" Daphne asked.
"It would seem so…" Alfred replied, looking at the excited girl.
"I'll send them the popcorns!" the girl said happily.
She took the two big bowls of popcorns that Alfred had prepared and headed straight to the screening room. Bruce called for her to join them. She sat between the two males, smiling happily. The two talked about Charles Dickens all through the movie. Daphne only listened and watched since she had never read any of the books. When it was close to the end of the movie, she had fallen asleep again due to her cold.
"I'm gonna put her to bed," Bruce said to his son.
"You're putting her to bed?" Damian asked.
Bruce picked her up into his arms. "It's not like I've never done it before. That one month before you came by, she was always by my side, waiting for me to return from my patrol. She ended up most of the nights asleep on one of the chairs in the Batcave," the man replied.
Damian stared at the sleeping girl. She cuddled herself closer to Bruce's chest, smiling. For some reason, the boy felt his stomach coiled. He ran away to get to his room. Bruce smiled at his reaction. Alfred came in to get the bowls.
"I sense someone is jealous, Sir," he remarked.
"I don't know whether he's jealous of me tucking her in bed, or of me cuddling her like this…" Bruce replied, chuckling.
"He is just a boy, Sir…" the butler replied, smiling.
In the middle of the night, Daphne woke up from some rustling noise. She got out of bed to see what was happening. She saw a figure passed by her bedroom door.
"Robin?" she called.
"Shhhh…I'm going out," the boy said.
"Wait!" she called but was too late to stop him.
He climbed out of the veranda and started running up to the gate. Daphne jumped down too. She started to follow him. She got to the gate but noticed that Bruce was there. She hid behind a tree. Robin was electrocuted by the gate's alarm system. He fell onto the ground hard.
"That's a lot better," he sighed.
"You didn't really think I'd let you sneak out again?" Bruce asked him.
Robin got up and turned to Bruce. "You've got me under surveillance? It's not enough to make her spy on me?" he asked.
"I thought we were making some progress," Bruce replied.
"You showed me a movie… and that gives you permission to keep me a prisoner in my own house?" the boy demanded.
Bruce squatted down to his height. "It's for your own protection," he put his hand on the boy's shoulder.
Robin pushed his hand away. "Bad enough you won't let me out in public as Damian. The least you could do is let Robin have a life," the boy complained.
Bruce grabbed the hand that Robin was pointing at him. He looked sternly at his son, signing that he didn't want to continue the argument. Robin pulled away.
"If you were a little more trustworthy, I would," the man remarked.
"You've never trusted me," Robin replied.
"Trust has to be earned, Damian," Bruce said.
"That works both ways," Robin replied and walked away.
Daphne came out of her hiding. Bruce looked at her. She bit her lower lip before running after Robin.
Knowing that she was behind him, the boy remarked, "At least he trusts you to spy on me."
Daphne looked away, saying, "I wanted to do it. Before you came here, there were just adults here. I didn't have a friend of my age. Now that you're here…"
Robin cut her off, "I don't want to hear it! I never consider you as a friend. Who would want to have a weak girl like you as a friend?"
Stunned by his words, the girl stopped. She stared straight ahead before muttering, "I'm sorry." Then, she walked away.
Damian thought of what he had said. He was angry at himself for bursting out like that. He dragged himself to his room, thinking that he could just apologize to her some other time.
Delphinium was working with the Court of Owls. They had been working on some kind of project to resurrect the dead. They had been showing progress since before she started working under them. Her main reason was to help bring them down, using her own method, without involving Batman. It seemed that the Court's main goal was to eliminate Batman as he was the only one that was dragging them down. Delphinium was trying to find out their weaknesses so that she could stop them. As far as she concerns, her sister may be a target too because she bears the Phoenix name.
"Delphinium, Batman is on the move and so is the boy," a man in an owl mask said to her as she was busy observing one of the dead body.
"Hmmm…are they together, Talon?" she asked.
"No, Batman has taken the bait to the museum. The boy, he sneaked out a few minutes ago. It seems the orange haired girl didn't follow him this time," Talon explained.
Delphinium raised a brow and nodded. She fixed her mask and asked, "You're going to approach him tonight?"
"Yes. I would need to keep Batman busy. Send out some talons after him," the man replied calmly.
The girl nodded. As she looked away, she sighed. She was actually really worried about Damian and Daphne. She looked up at the casket in front of her. She walked around the underground facility, observing each of the caskets to find the best talons to send out.
"I'll send them out soon. Three would be enough, right?" she asked.
"That would be more than enough… Make sure you record the hours they could survive," the Talon replied.
Delphinium could feel his smirk through his mask. She sighed and resumed her work. A man in a white suit came by, the Grandmaster.
"How is progress?" the Grandmaster asked Delphinium.
"Good enough. We're sending out three tonight to see how long they would last," the girl replied.
The Grandmaster nodded. "Keep up the good work."
"Hmm," the girl muttered.
Daphne waited patiently for Nightwing to bring back Batman. He had called for help after an ambush at the museum. They came back in his Batmobile.
"Master Bruce!" the girl called as she rushed to his side.
He forced a smile to the girl. "Dick, I need to discuss something with you. Where's Damian?"
"See for yourself, Bruce…" Nightwing replied.
Daphne stood there. The two male ignored her. Bruce didn't want her to know about the new threat. She blocked out their conversation. She didn't feel guilty at all for not looking after Damian that night. She was still hurt by his statement, but somehow, she felt something was missing without him around. She dragged herself back to her room. Bruce was in his son's room, waiting for the boy to return. Dick was getting some medical equipment to fix the man up.
"Care to join? I think Bruce is going to need you," Dick said when he saw the girl passed by.
Daphne forced a smile. "I don't want to see Master Damian yet…"
"Come on," the young man insisted.
He shrugged and smiled at her. Sighing, Daphne forced herself into Damian's room. It was dark. As Dick started to stitch Bruce's wounds up, Damian slipped into his room through the window. Daphne switched the lights on as Bruce ordered.
"Where were you?" he asked the boy.
"What happened to you? Are you okay?" Robin changed the topic.
Daphne stood beside Bruce. The boy took one glance at her before turning back to his father.
"You don't get to ask questions. Now, where the hell were you?" Bruce asked again.
"Out," Robin answered short.
"Where?" he asked again.
The boy insisted, "Just out."
"'Out' has suddenly become a more dangerous place," Bruce said, noticing a sai slipped in his belt, he snatched it. "What's this?"
"That's mine," Robin said.
"I don't think so," Bruce replied.
"So, what are you going to do now, build a dungeon and lock me up in it?" the boy asked, angry.
Bruce looked sternly at his child. "Despite what you may think, I'm your father, Damian, not your jailer," he muttered.
"A biological accident does not make you my father, and it's sure as hell doesn't make me your son!" he shouted.
Daphne widened her eyes at his statement, glancing up at the father. Bruce sighed. He mentioned about a school in Switzerland that is run by a retired general who knows far better about discipline than he does. He warned Damian that it was the place where the boy would be if he ever pulled out another stunt like this. Then, he exited the room. Dick walked away after him and closed the door. The maid was left alone with the wonder boy.
"Are you okay?" Daphne asked the boy.
"None of your business," he replied coldly.
"Master Bruce was worried about you. He thought that you were in a situation like him just now," the girl explained.
Damian ignored the girl and went to eavesdrop Bruce's conversation with Dick. Daphne didn't know what he had heard, but she was sure it wasn't something he wanted to hear.
"What's after the Batman?" he asked the girl.
She shook her head. "I don't know. He didn't tell me anything. He just told Master Dick…" she muttered sadly.
Robin didn't say anything after that. He took off his mask. The girl took that as a sign to exit the room, but before she could, Damian stopped her.
"What I said the other day…" he drawled.
"Hmm?" Daphne turned to him.
"It's nothing…" he muttered, putting his cape on the bed.
Daphne nodded. She exited his room. Bruce and Dick were still outside of the boy's room. She forced a smile to them and excused herself to head to her room.
"What happened to her?" Dick asked.
"Something about what Damian had said to her. He can't even take care of one girl…" Bruce sighed.
"He's just a kid, Bruce. You can't expect too much from him…" Dick suggested.