Making Waves

Chapter 6

"Poetic, right?"

Dick pressed two fingers to his temple in exasperation, but he was smiling a little. Jason swiveled to the side and put his legs up where Damian was sitting moments ago. When Alfred returned with his coffee, he shifted to the front of his chair and leaned back, propping his elbow up on his stomach to read his book with one hand. They sat in silence comfortably for some time.

Dick was grateful for moments like these where they could just exist without being at each other's throats. It was nice, as close to a normal sibling relationship as they could get.

"Cass is usually up by now," Dick remarked, breaking the silence.

He had missed his youngest sister. She was the only one in the family, other than himself, that freely gave physical affection.

Jason glanced at him over the pages but didn't seem too annoyed by the interruption. Pissing off Damian seemed to have put him in a good mood.

"She and the others are at the mountain with the rest of the team," Jason said, then tilted his head thoughtfully and smirked, "Demon fucked up and replacement's paying the price with extra training sessions. It is a good morning, Alfie."

Jason winked at Alfred in the corner and got up, still reading his book as he walked out of the dining room with his coffee. Dick rolled his eyes.

"Do you need anything else, Master Richard?" Alfred asked.

"I'm good, Alfred, but thanks," Dick replied, getting up as well. He was done eating and there was really no point sitting at the table alone. "Do you know where Bruce is, though?"

"I believe he is downstairs," the man said, collecting the last of the plates.

Dick said his goodbyes and made his way to the study, first stopping by his bedroom to grab a duffel bag. After he aligned the hands on the clock to the proper times, 10:48, the panel on the wall slid open and Dick stepped into the elevator.

"Bruce?" he called out into the dimly lit bat cave, once he had reached the bottom.

A distant grunt signaled that the man in question had heard, and Dick followed the sound. He stopped short of the main computer, placing a hand on Bruce's shoulder. The older man was in business attire and facing the large screen. Multiple opened files littered the desktop and Bruce seemed to be reading them all at once.

"Are the rogues planning something?" Dick asked, after taking a cursory glance at the contents of the files.

"Possibly. There's rumors that Fries and Cobblepot have been meeting consistently at a bar on fifth street, but nothing concrete," Bruce replied, his voice distant.

Dick hummed thoughtfully.

After a beat, Bruce paused his investigation and swiveled around in his chair.

"It's good to see you Dick," he said, his eyes looking just fractionally softer than usual, but the change in expression conveyed a lot.

Dick sent him a quick, small smile.

"You too, Bruce."

Bruce looked at him expectantly, knowing that his visit wasn't just an excuse to see his family, and Dick huffed.

"I got these off some no-name bank robbers a few days ago," he explained, holding up the duffel bag, "And I was hoping you might have an idea of what they were."

He gently dropped the bag in Bruce's lap, and the older man unzipped it. Gingerly pulling out one of the guns, he eyed the weapon. His gaze roamed critically over the muzzle, stopping at the strange liquid where the magazine clip was usually found.