Bat-Brats

[Barbara Gordon]

That was it. No witty comments from Damian this time. He sat with his arms crossed, looking at the richly weaved rug. His father was dead, before he even really knew them. Growing up with Talia had deranged his little ten year old mind, but what the others didn't know, was that Damian not killing them all, taking up the mantle of Robin; that was really him trying. Maybe it wasn't good enough.

But for now he said nothing, looking at no one and waited for Nightwing to respond.

Barbara sat in equal silence, with apparently nothing to add after Stephanie's explanation. There was a look of worry in her face, as she eyed the younger members of the family, carefully taking in each of their postures, before also, looking to John.

He would have to understand the level of sensitivity with this subject. She'd give him a chance to handle it gently, but she'd hate to have to inter-vein should he hold up with his 'too early' crap. This was important.

[John Blake "Nightwing"]

"Yeah-no that was...that was...dangerous." Blake sneered, raising his head slightly, squinting again in the sunlight, blinking a few times before letting out a breath. "Okay," he said, pushing his hands to the air, "Okay this is what we're going to do. New plan. We...ignore the hole. We suit up as soon as nightfall hits and we find out what that bastard is planning."

He didn't exactly KILL Bruce per say, he wanted to say, he just kind of assisted in his death. But he wasn't going to pick apart their mentor's death. He breathed outwards again and finally collapsed in a chair. His elbow slipped onto the table, head cradled in his hand.

"I really don't..." Need this right now... he was going to continue. But he bit his lip and straightened up.

"Okay...yeah that's what we're gonna do, okay?" He peered at Barbara. The Oracle. Maybe she had a better answer than just sneaking around.

[Stephanie Brown "Batgirl"]

Dangerous, but necessary. Now seemed a poor moment to point out she was one not broken bat. At least it was an all inclusive 'we'. That said, it wasn't very confidence inspiring to see their fearless leader looking to Babs.

"Suiting up is good." She nodded, slowly lowering her arms. "Any chance it'll be ready by tonight, O? Also, I'll need to take the bike, since I got kicked out by mister I-like-pointy-things." Comic relief, it's all she could think of.

"Do you think we should..." She shrugged. "Someone she tell Gordon, shouldn't they?" She glanced at Babs. Her dad was the commissioner after all.

[Barbara Gordon]

Barbara herself looked conflicted. Bane wasn't a friendly foe in the least, and she was willing to bet with Batman gone, the rest of the bats were going to become a viciously hunted group. Meanwhile, Babs would be sitting in front of the computer, listening to all of their communications cut off one by one.

She wanted to help. To physically do something... But she nodded, looking John in the eye as he turned to her for answers.

"Good a plan as any. I'll do some snoopin' around. See what information I can scoop. If Bane's back and doing something, I'll find the people who are going to slip up." she tapped her finger against the side of her face thoughtfully as she regarded Stephanie's mention of the commissioner.

"I'll tell him." she promised, "You guys should head back to bed and rest up for next nightfall. He's in the narrows you said? I'll go down and take a look tomorrow. As for your suit, I'll see what I can do and let you know by tonight." she decided, and extended a hand to receive the bag she'd looted.

It was undetermined, even to herself, if Barbara was just planning on making a trip to the Narrows because it was really necessary, or if she just wanted to get out and actually feel some action. Even if it was just taking a look around and asking the uhh... locals some questions.

She practically dared them, she was ready for the wheelchair objections. She was by no means defenseless, but it was a sketchy concept nonetheless.

[John Blake "Nightwing"]

"Yeah bed, that sounds like a WONDERFUL idea right now."

John groaned and leaned back on the chair before blinking a few times and whipping around to Babara. "Whoa, whoa...no." He placed a steady hands towards her. "Babs, you can't. You can't. It's not cause'a the chair. It's because Bane is DANGEROUS. Stephanie and I wouldn't go down there alone." He shot a dirty look at Stephanie before returning about Barbara.

"Look, I'm not letting anyone in this weird twisted family get hurt. Except maybe Damian. But we don't like him anyway so..." He raised an eyebrow towards the bratty youth before returning back to Babara. "Babs, please, I'm begging you." He reached out a hand and placed it on her arm.

"I'm not going to lose anyone again," he said firmly.

[Stephanie Brown "Batgirl"]

Back came the folded arms as she got a dirty look from John, eyes narrowing as he turned away from her. Figures, loverboy was caught up in Babs. Stephanie didn't like the idea of her going down alone to the Narrows any more than he did, but she was an adult now - it was her right to choose, not his.

For that matter, wasn't Stephanie? She was at college now, living and going to school by the money Bruce had left aside for her - hardly the fortune Damian probably had, but it was the only reason she was about to go to school. Just because she didn't work didn't mean she wasn't an adult - and as such it was her right to choose for herself what she was going to do. She had listened to Bruce as a teenager because... well, he was Bruce. And she hadn't even listened well to him. Hadn't he told her to give up this superhero crap?

So why the hell should she listen to John? He wasn't Batman - what made him the leader of this outfit?

Picking up the bag, Stephanie moved around John, pushing at his arm as she placed the materials into Barbara's lap. "Talk to you later O."

She stepped back, about to go for the door when she glanced at Damian alone on the couch. The kid was ten, and his father's murderer was on the streets growing in strength. If anyone thought for a second he was going to go catch some Z's now...

"Damian, I'm going to start pulling up the Bane files in the Cave. You want to help, you're better with the computers?"

[Barbara Gordon]

Barbara glanced to the spot where John's hand rested on her arm, but instead of looking bedazzled, concerned on soft, Babs took on a much different approach. She looked.. amused. A spark lit in her eye as she raised a brow. Defiance.

"How do you propose to stop me, John." she asked in a voice that was a little too sweet for her norm. But it wasn't unkind. She shook her head, slipping the glasses from her face and holding them in her hand. "Honestly. It's not like I'm going to fight Bane myself. I'm just going to take a look around, ask some er.. locals. Bane won't be hustlin' around in the day time anyways." she assured him, with the most comforting smile she could manage.

"Go back to sleep John." she attempted to soothe, before Stephanie dropped the bag of loot in her sack. Babs noted that Stephanie seemed to have little intentions of sleeping, but otherwise didn't say anything. She doubted there was much of anything convincing that she could manage to talk her into getting to bed.

Damian, on the other hand was still sitting, slumped on the couch with arms crossed and a cold look in his eye, visible even with the mask. His gaze met Stephanie's for a moment, as she offered. His glare didn't soften any, but there was a small part of him that was reached. He pressed his lips together, and pushed himself up from where he was sitting.

"I know everything about him already." he growled between gritted teeth, stalking past Stephanie, while tugging his hood up around his neck. It was cold, but had revealed that Damian had previously researched the man that was in part responsible for his father's death.

And meanwhile, Alfred, that rat bastard, stood there watching them all anguish over Bruce's death, perfectly silent with no intentions of revealing the truth. Watta dick.

[John Blake "Nightwing"]

John rolled his eyes. Defiant, stubborn, they all were pains in his ass. The youth raised his eyes slightly before giving away his concerned look to the red headed girl. "Sit," he said, tossing his hand towards Stephanie but never moving his eyes from Babs, "We still have business to discuss. That means stay put until I convince miss stubborn here to...well stay put."

He shook his head. "Babs," he said sternly, "I'm not kidding. Locals in the Narrows are drug pushers and psychopaths, maybe a doctor or two walking to work if you're lucky. I know you're not helpless, Babs but for GOD'S SAKE don't do anything stupid."

He turned to Damien and Stephanie. "Know? Yes," he hissed towards the child, "But that man is probably the scariest most intelligent thing on two legs to ever step foot into Gotham City. He killed your father, killed Bruce Wayne and shattered an empire. You want to take him on?"

He scoffed. "There's no way even I'D take him on myself," he said with a sneer. He turned back to Babs. "I'd go to bed if i thought leaving you three along wouldn't cause extra trouble. Besides I know you, you'd be off the the Narrows before my head hit the pillow. Then I wouldn't be able to sleep knowing you're down there! I'd just toss and turn thinking about you." He shuddered. Bane was horrid, there was no way around that. With Bruce dead the four of them were Gotham's only hope.

[Stephanie Brown "Batgirl"]

Stephanie watched Damian going off, and for the first time felt a slither of worry for him. Damian was hard - way tougher than her, of that she was pretty darn sure, but guilt and worry and sleep deprivation were making an ugly mixture in her stomach that didn't bode well for good night sleep any time soon.

Lips pressed together as she was given the order to sit. Stephanie Brown, glorified watch dog. John got to be mad - so did she.

"Very delicate reminder, John. No need to beat around that bush there. Unless you forgot, he'd only ten years old!" She found herself yelling without ever meaning to. Up until that moment, she hadn't realized just how much was pent up inside her. All of this brought up things she'd rather keep stuffed down inside her subconscious - her faked death, not being there to try and save Bruce, Bane walking around with utterly no fear, John acting like Bruce. It was hardly Blake's fault at all, but he was the only thing she could direct all it at. So she did.

"Don't think for a second any of us forget who this guy is. Just because you were here doesn't make you the top authority. You want to lead us? Stop yelling and ordering and help us! Because if you keep treating us like shit, no one's going to listen. Your not Bruce. Stop wearing all his worst features."

She stood panting for a minute, seething. It was unlikely the outburst had earned her anything but disdain, but she didn't care. She was done being the comic relief. "We can go together if you want, Babs. Me and the drug dealers and psychopaths are pretty close, considering I live there. But... later. Anyone needs me, I'll be down down stairs."

She turned, heading for the door.

[Barbara Gordon]

"That a wheelchair joke?" she asked, raising a brow. Now it was Barbara's turn to throw out some comedy relief, but she doubted it would lift them out of their tense little hole. It was a bad joke... But hey, if anyone had the right to make tasteless jokes it was her.

Damian stopped in the doorway and turned, but not fully, pivoting his torso to better glare at John after Stephanie had made her case.

"I was more advanced than any of you by the time I was six years old, I was driving by the time I was eight, while you guys were still sucking your thumbs, matching your shapes and learning to use the potty. I can handle myself just fine." he hissed, turning on his heel, making his cape whip sharply, and taking his full exit. His words were harsh, but he seemed to have made something of an effort to exclude mentioning Stephanie directly.

Barbara sighed, dropping her gaze as a silence fell over the room, and when she rose her head, she gave Stephanie a supportive, but bland smile. It was hard to manage true happiness after what had just happened, so instead it was appreciative. She'd talk to Stephanie about her offer later, but for now she had a seriously damaged John to talk to.

"You can't keep me inside forever John." she reminded him softly. She was a grown woman. She had been Batgirl... She was the Oracle for cryn' out loud. She liked the concern, but at the same time a small part of her was annoyed. He was controlling her... but it was understandable. Barbara couldn't exactly outrun anyone, which left her fighting instead. It was a sketchy idea.

Babs gently put a hand on his face, just at his jawline, and said, "Go to sleep John." once again. Her tone was different this time. Pleading, careful, and submissive. She wouldn't go out alone to the Narrows today, and she needed him to believe that. See it in her eyes and believe it.

But this wasn't her making a promise.

[John Blake "Nightwing"]

"Please," John said, rolling his eyes before turning a cold look towards Damien, "Damien, shut up please." He rubbed his temples, the budding light starting to pour in through the windows. Every muscle in his body heaved and sighed, calling to him to....

"Go to sleep John."

He blinked a few times almost unsure if his brain or Babs had spoken. He dipped his head in a nod. "I will," he said, raising up and rubbing his hair, "But only for you. Not because I actually need the sleep or...y'know the sun is burning my retinas." He yawned dramatically before turning to the two 'kids.'

"The two of you," he said sternly, "I SWEAR if I hear anything break down there both of you are getting your asses kicked out of here." He wasn't serious but his tone sure said he was. He turned a smile on Babs again.

"Think you can handle things?" he said, sweeping his hand across the back of her chair as he walked out of the room. "Babs, please make sure that if you do go down there...just promise me you'll be careful and keep in touch? Okay?"

[Stephanie Brown "Batgirl"]

Stephanie didn't miss the fact that she wasn't specifically targeted in Damian's tirade. If the rest of it hadn't been so condescending, she might have been touched.

Knowing John's threat was hollow - she didn't even live here, and she'd already proved she could break in - she continued on, not interested in listening on lip smacking soul leaking romantic talk. Not that she was feeling bitter about anything in that department. Of course not.

She headed down the hall from whence she came, looking at the hole as she passed, heading for the computers. It had all been rather amusing, if intense, at the time. She dropped into a chair, punching in her username and overlong pass-code, grateful she hadn't been removed. She let it do the retina scan, and then she was in. Pulling her legs up underneath, Steph let out a long aching sigh, and into the search typed, Bane.

This was one long freaking break in operation.

{Stephanie exit }

[Barbara Gordon]

"You bet, hottie!" Barbara teased, making a clicking noise with her teeth and tongue, winking and throwing a 'gun shot' finger gesture directed at John. It was overly cheesy and dramatized and imitation of the way a chauvinistic man would speak to his lady in some moronic meat-head movie. She was teasing him. Mostly.

She wasn't under John's control, and she wasn't stupid. So it was likely that Babs would do whatever she wanted to. Much like other members among their present Bat-Family. Damian appeared to have been gone a few moments ago already, and Stephanie was taking her exit now.

"Looks like it's time for me to head home." she allowed a tired smirk to herself. Maybe catching a couple Z's before heading back to work wasn't such a bad idea after all... Sleep sounded... Well it sounded far away, but good. She'd been up with Stephanie all morning doing this crazy invade the bat-cave plan.