Rather Be On Top

chapter five

Bruce sat at the table for breakfast.

It was early morning in Gotham City and as usual, he waited for the next Wayne child to make his appearance and eat with him. One by one, they all came in at their designated times. Clockwork. Dick then Damian, on to Tim, and finally, Jason.

Reading through the newspaper like he has been since forever, he rose a brow at the next heading. Dick caught sight of the look, as always, attentive of others around him. "What is it? What's so interesting about the news today?" Damian also joined in on the conversation. "Father, I don't see why you need the papers. That is what the television is for, is it not?" Jason shot the youngest a look. "Because only you'd watch a boring news channel on a tv instead of normal kid things." Tim snickered quietly to himself before throwing in his own retort. "Like what? Cartoons? Kids shows? Emotional superhero movies like 'The Avengers'? Boring."

Dick gasped dramatically before pointing at Tim. "How dare you insult such great movies!" Bruce sighed and brought all eyes on him again. "I just find it odd. Renegade's been inactive for about a month already? He suddenly dropped off the radar, but for what reason?"

Jason subtly side-eyed Damian in question becaude it was the truth and reporters finally noticed the topic and question.

Where did the rising villain Renegade go?

Tim hummed and perked up. "Maybe he's plotting some sinister plan to totally annihilate all heroes!" They all burst out into fits of laughter at the comment. Dick rolled his eyes. "If I were Renegade, I'd just, I don't know, be a classic villain and torment one person for the rest of my life." Jason piped in with a grin at Bruce. "Like the Joker?"

The eldest nodded. "Exactly like the Joker. If not iconic, then super flashy. I'd like mess around with everyone and everything." Jason agreed, "Yeah, I can see that with you. A prankster villain." Nods went all around and Tim returned to his thinking out loud. "But seriously, I think we should all be careful. I'll send a notice to both leagues later as a precaution. We still don't know much about the guy. He's still dangerous until we gather more intel."

Damian also nodded, slowly, thinking to himself as well, then he smiled and looked up at everyone sitting around the table. "For pretending to be civilians, you're all doing a lousy job at keeping your hero identities a secret." Dick grimaced before lightly facepalming and shaking his head after. "You're right. We really suck at this. Think of it as light conversating from a family of detectives?"

"That works."

It was a Saturday morning at Wayne Manor.

Everything was normal and right. The family had the choice of mingling with the other members or visiting friends.

Damian had chosen to hanging out with a friend later during the day. He and Jon would meet up at a city in Metropolis. "Speaking of heroing. Father, I would like to ask a favour? May I use the zetatubes just once to get to Metropolis? Kent and I will have dinner together."

Bruce gave it some thought and after a long minute of deadly cold staring from his son he was forced to give into the terrifying and pressuring look. Dick hugged Damian from behind after Bruce left the room. "Looks like our little brother's going on a date~." The other two joined in on the kissy noises and lovey faces. "Yeah, whatever, whatever. We're just celebrating the day we first met, alright? Nothing more than that."

"An anniversary! Even better!"

Oh, but it was something special to both of them. And while Damian hated himself for what he was going to do later that night, it had to be done.