Batfamily Short Stories

Just Business

"In order for you to insult me, I would first have to value your completely idiotic and frankly pointless opinion."

Twelve year old Damian's eyebrows shot up at the sharp words that had just exited Tim's mouth. The older boy was staring down one of the higher-up board members in a Wayne Enterprises' board meeting.

Damian, being bored, had sat off to the side to gossip with the rest of the family on the group chat while Tim took care of business. And for being only seventeen, Tim was doing a rather marvelous job at holding his own against the board.

Damian knew he was only there because Bruce needed someone to keep an eye on him and Alfred was gone for the day, but he hadn't expected it to be this entertaining.

The board member, Mr. Krazowik, was a snide, haughty man that Damian had disliked from the first moment he had set eyes on him. Seeing Tim put this man in his place made Damian feel rather good.

"By positioning me as Co-CEO of Wayne Enterprises, Mr. Fox and my father have entrusted me with keeping this company running smoothly and efficiently," Tim went on. "In the past few weeks I've been in this position, I have not seen my father's standards being upheld in your division, Mr. Krazowik."

The rest of the board members looked at one another in an awkward silence as Mr. Krazowik struggled to come up with a reply.

"Mr. Drake, these-"

"That's Mr. Drake-Wayne to you, Krazowik." Tim snapped.

Mr. Krazowik cleared his throat, obviously not taking the situation very seriously, "Mr. Drake-Wayne, these allegations you have set against me are completely unnecessary and disproved. I have meant no offense to you, but I'm simply stating what is true."

At this, Damian began coughing harshly into his hand. Tim looked up at the ceiling with a heavy, long-suffering sigh, as if he was asking any higher power for strength.

Mr. Krazowik looked over at Damian with pursed lips and said dryly, "Are you well, Mr. Wayne?"

Damian waved the man off as he got to his feet and moved to stand at the head of the table before clearing his throat, "Fine, Krazowik. I just seem to be allergic to your massive amounts of bull-"

Tim cut off his younger adoptive brother by hitting his hand against the table, causing the rest of the people in the room to flinch slightly.

"Sorry," Tim said quickly, looking at Damian with a warning glare. "Hand slipped. Damian, did you have something you wanted to say about this professional interaction?"

"I wouldn't say much about the professionalism in the room, but yes," the corner of Damian's mouth twitched as he spoke, "I did."

With that, Damian brought a remote out of his pocket and pressed a button. The window shades immediately lowered themselves and a power-point appeared on the screen just behind Tim and Damian.

"You might wish to take a seat, Mr. Krazowik." Damian told the older man with a sly grin as he took a laser pointer from his other pocket. "If you would be so kind as to turn your attention to the screen, you can see the obvious fluctuations of 3-8% in Wayne Enterprise's net income within the past several years, while the gross income as not fluctuated more than 1.72% over the same time period."

Mr. Krazowik's eyes hardened, "Mr. Wayne, are you implying that-"

"Oh, I'm not implying anything." Damian interjected. "I'm proving the obvious."

"More importantly," Tim said a bit too casually as he lowered himself into his chair, "Is that my power-point?"

"Was." Damian corrected. "I'm borrowing it."

By the time Damian had finished with the power-point, even Tim was begrudgingly impressed with the kid's skills. Sure, he had stolen Tim's power-point, but he had used ideas and wording that Tim never would have considered to prove his point. Also, the fact the Mr. Krazowik was now the color of a roasted beet certainly helped Tim's mood.

The rest of the board sat speechless, trying to comprehend how Damian had so fluently proved that Mr. Krazowik had been embezzling money from Wayne Enterprises right under their noses.

Getting to his feet with a poorly-concealed smirk, Tim got to his feet as Damian crossed his arms with a smug grin.

"Mr. Krazowik," Tim said, sliding his hands into his pockets as he looked down at the red-faced man that was squirming in his seat, "You're fired. Effective immediately. Pack your office and be gone by noon."

A look at the clock showed Damian that it was 11:29, hardly enough time for the disgraced man to empty his office. The younger boy nearly laughed aloud as Mr. Krazowik scurried out of the room.

Tim clapped his hands together, looking over the room with a suave smile, "Now, if there are no further issues to be resolved...?"

Not a single sound could be heard from the rest of the shocked board.

"Excellent," Tim went on, taking his coat from the back of his chair. "If you'll excuse me, I have lunch plans. I'll be in my office all day tomorrow if there any allegations against me for this action. Thank you all for coming."

Pulling on his coat as he moved towards the door, Tim continued, "Damian? You coming?"

Damian smirked as he took his own coat and followed after Tim, "Absolutely."

Tim nodded to the secretary at the front desk as the two brothers passed by before taking out his phone and scrolling through his contacts.

"Hey, Bruce," Tim greeted his adoptive father while pretending not to notice the way Damian's eyes lit up. "The board meeting finished up early. How do you feel about meeting us for some lunch? Damian's got a pretty neat story to tell you."

After Bruce's muffled voice came through the speaker, Tim grinned, "Don't worry, it's a good story. How about the cafe down on Broome Street? Great. Meet you there."

Damian looked up at Tim skeptically, "He's actually coming?"

Tim nodded, "Yup. He's excited to hear your story."

Damian shrugged, "It was your power-point. I just... expanded on it."

"Do I hear you being modest?" Tim asked incredulously. "You?"

Damian huffed, "Whatever."

"You did really good, kid," Tim admitted, putting a hand on Damian's shoulder. "I'm... impressed."

Damian raised a dark eyebrow, although secretly he was enjoying this praise quite immensely. "Drake?"

Tim hummed.

"Remove your hand before I rip off your arm and beat you with it."

Tim sighed as he returned his hand to his own pocket, "Fair enough."