It's been two years since Jade, Lian, Cass, Alec, Mara, and Damian had reached Gotham. The first year went through rapidly and without any issue. Now the second was a mess of huge proportion.
First, the Bataclan had to get used to the idea of new neighbors who knew their identities. Batman even invited Doctor Fate to Gotham to do the secrecy spell. As for John, he investigated and worked hard to see how to deal with the curses on Gotham, under the careful eye of Batman. This time around, he truly had to do the work, as in the previous future they had never dealt with this issue, as Gotham was already gone- destroyed by Darkseid. For Gotham's society, he was a British noble that came from old European money. Which was not wrong, he did have a British title thanks to his ancestor Johanna Constantine. The money, on the other hand, had been gone for a long time. He accumulated it back after taking down various cults and corrupted coven. What was left from giving out money to those they hurt, he kept for the kids... it was a lot. For some reason cults adore gold.
On the good side, Jason was doing great in university and Cass has finally finished her GED. She was a very smart girl and had a lot of support. She had also learned English and has moved into Chinese, though she still prefers to sign. Dick had graduated from Gotham University, with Roy at his side. Both of them were brilliant and already knew most of their classes because of Bruce and their vigilante work. Dick continued working with the Martha Wayne Foundation Branch in Blüdhaven and overseeing the Flying Graysons' Circus. While Roy took a cushy position in Wayne Technology. Tim had decided not to graduate early, after finding that he was finally enjoying high school- he had become fast friends with Stephanie and Harper. Cullen Row even finding his place in Damian's little group of friends.
Now, for the hard issue...
John's work had to be paused because the members of the Court of Owls had escaped prison, aided by the original Talon. A Talon the Bataclan had thought dead. It seems that he had faked his death.
Dick did not take that well...
Batman stopped John's research and took all of the kids out of the streets; he was not risking any of them. Not against the Court of Owls! He even brought Barbara, holder of the Batgirl and Oracle moniker, back to Gotham all the way from Boston- where she had been studying law at Harvard.
To say that things were tensed between Dick and her was an understatement.
The breakup had been ugly, with her not trusting that Dick and Kory were only friends, and him not understanding why Barbara felt insecure. The fact that Dick had begun dating Kory recently did not help the situation. That's why, even though, Alfred and Bruce have been inviting her to come to the Wayne Manor and get to know the new kids, she had only seen them a couple of times. Because of that, she was mostly working with Batwoman and the Birds of Prey- who Bruce had invited to Gotham to aid in the hunt for the Court of Owls.
With so many heroes bunkering in Gotham, the Titans taking care of Blüdhaven, they finally managed to find them. Luckily for the Batclan they were holding a meeting and the Talon was there. Catching them would be easy, as the only combat expert in the group was the Talon. Unluckily for... well, everyone, the whole place exploded taking them all out. The batclan was barely able to escape.
"What the fuck is going on?!" Redbird cursed.
"Flamebird!" Nightwing exclaimed as his little brother descended from the sky, wings spread and eyes shining blue and green, he looked like an angel descending from heaven.
"I just came from Arkham! Firefly rigged the whole city!" Flamebird told them. "We need to find the bombs and disarm them!" Batman growled.
"It won't work," Damian frowned. "The bombs were made to create a chain, the moment the first one blows up," he pointed to the raging building behind him. "They will all lock down and blow up. The only reason why they are not blowing up right now is because Firefly wants to create as much chaos as possible, spreading fear in the hearts of everyone. That's why he rigged them to explode with time in between each explosion."
"What about Superman? He can take them all to the sun!" Black Canary pointed out.
"Gotham infrastructure is filled with lead, he is blind in here," Arsenal explained to his step- mother, no matter how angry he is at Oliver, Dinah will always be his second mom.
"How did we not catch this?!" Batgirl, Barbara, exclaimed in frustration. "Because we were too busy looking for the Court of Owls!" Bruce growled.
"That's not the only issue," Flamebird sighed. "The bombs are a mix of explosives, fear gas, joker gas, and bane venom..."
"Fuck!" Redbird cursed.
"God dammit!" Arsenal was not far behind.
"What do we do now?" Cheshire crossed her arms over her chest. She knew that Lian and the rest of the kids will be safe bunkered in the Batcave.
"We can use Flamebird's power," John told them, appearing from a portal. "I can't cover the whole city," Damian explained with a sigh. "Not now."
"The 'not now' being key," John pointed out. "I can't do anything for the curses in Gotham, they are too intertwined and old. But I can transfer them to someone whose blood has been in Gotham for as long as the curses, whose blood has been spilled in this city for centuries..."
"You want to put the curses in Flamebird?!" Nightwing exclaimed, rapidly stepping in front of his little brother. "Not happening! How dare you?! I trusted you!"
"Relax! It won't affect him! The Holy Flames of his will purify the curses and in return he will gain pure raw magic... a lot of magic..." John explained.
"You want to recreate Apokolips," Damian murmured stunned, realizing Constantine's plan. "That much magic will be a lot for my body to handle, I will need to release it in an explosion of power."
"Your Holy Fire will purify the drugs in the bombs, the Hell Fire will deal with the bombs and the Phoenix Fire will heal anything and anyone who was damaged by the previous two flames. It will also aid with the total renewal," John continued with a big smile. "It will save everyone and this time, unlike Apokolips, you have the Grey Lantern Force which will keep everything balanced and guide your flames- you won't need to rely on luck." Or have your great-grandparent guide your flames like they did in Apokolips, was left unsaid but heard by Damian.
"I... that might work..." Damian muttered to himself. "I was out for a couple of weeks after Apokolips though, I will need someone to keep an eye on me and my flames."
"We will do that," Batman told him.
"Wait! Are you seriously agreeing with him?!" Nightwing exclaimed turning around in disbelief.
"You do not need to do this, Dami," Blackbird signed to her little brother, appearing from the shadows.
"She is right! Fuck the plan!" Redbird cursed. "We won't do something that will fucking risk you!"
"He will do it," Cheshire sighed. "That's Flamebird for you, he won't rest if he knows he can do something to help someone. I know him too well to delude myself."
"This is my city now, allow me to protect it," Damian told his family.
"I am proud of you, son," Batman, no Bruce, nodded his head. "Be careful."
"Always," Damian smiled. Before turning to Dick, who looked ready to kill Constantine. "I will come back, akhi. I am the Flamebird to your Nightwing after all."
"Baby bat," Dick brought him into a tight hug. "I love you, little brother," he murmured in his ear in Romani.
Damian and John then disappeared through the portal. "How do we know when it's done?" Dinah asked after ten minutes of tense silence. Then the whole city was covered in green, blue, and golden flames. "Well, that was self-explanatory."
As suddenly as the flames were gone, Captain Marvel appeared above the hero group. He wore a frown on his face, as he landed in front of Batman.
"Master Batman, Mr. Constantine left Master Flamebird with us and took his kids with him back to the Constantine Mansion." Agent A contacted him via coms. "Master Flamebird is doing well, though it seems that he is in a deep sleep at the moment."
"After what he did, he'll need to sleep for a while to recover his strength," Captain Marvel commented. "What was Constantine thinking? The plan was to keep Flamebird's abilities a secret, not publicize them via another Apokolips!"
"Hey!" Redbird snapped at him. "I do not care who the fuck you think you are! But Flamebird is a fucking hero!"
"You guys do not know what he did," Captain Marvel realized. "I don't think Flamebird or Constantine know either... but it will put Gotham in everyone's sight."
"Explain!" Batman growled with a batglare, ready to jump on the batmobile and rush towards his son's unconscious side.
"Flamebird's Holy Fire didn't only purify the drugs in the bombs, it was used to purify the impurities of the contaminated air, water, and earth- a total renewal," Captain Marvel explained to the total wonder of the group of heroes in front of them. "He also detoxicated fully and completely anyone that was into drugs, normal ones, bane venom, even those jokerized behind aid are back to normal. The kicker is that the Hell Fire, thar burns everything, used with the Phoenix Fire, which heals everything, and the Grey Force, that balances everything, served to create a type of vaccine which prevents any kind of neurological toxin."
"In other words, no one in Gotham can get affected via drugs, poisons, fear toxin, joker toxin, or venom," Dinah murmured in shock. "That's a miracle."
"Also, something that cannot be copied, as the bomb was a combination of fear, joker, and venom toxin. Not to mention, Damian had to consume a lot of curses to be able to achieve that," Captain Marvel. "Not that it will stop people and governments to copy it."
"Can you put the whole city under a secrecy spell?" Batman was quick to work, compartmentalize the fact that his son was a miracle worker for later. Right now, Gotham needs his help. "That will keep everything contained in Gotham."
"Just like gothamites fucking like," Redbird snorted.
"I can, but how will you explain the flames?" Captain Marvel inquired.
"Explosions, that is normal for Gotham," Batman explained. "And your appearance helps us, we will say you kept it contained, making it so that the flames could not harm the city."
"That will only deter the civilians, not the governments," Captain Marvel warned.
"They won't get nothing thanks to the secrecy spell," Nightwing shrugged. "Any evidence of us being drug and poison immune will disappear thanks to the secrecy spell."
"Tell the Justice League Dark that I will be out for a while," Captain Marvel told Batmam. "Putting a whole city under secrecy spell is not something I've done before; it will exhaust me. Especially, one linked to an old magical city like Gotham, drenched with so much blood and that has been cursed for so long. At least, it will make the secrecy spell wards around the city as powerful as the ones around the al Ghul blood line and Nanda Parbat."
"Thank you," Cass signed as Captain Marvel flew away, he signed 'you're welcome back'. "What now?" Dinah turned to Batman.
"Now, I get to my son," Bruce answered.
---------------------------------------------
As Captain Marvel had said, the effects of Damian's work were seen immediately. Thanks to the secrecy spell it was kept within Gotham and when the government tried to dig deeper into from where the flames had come from, as Captain Marvel is well known for his thunder, the gothamites stuck close to each other and threw them out of their city.
One thing Gotham and her people know is that outsiders are not welcomed, they never cared about them. So, they learned to stick to themselves and survive. Thanks to Batman and the Bataclan they've also learned to thrive. And if there's something that the gothamites are sure about is that Flamebird is part of the Bataclan, and that he is the to thank about their good luck.
Of course, they will not sell him out to the fucking government that had all but forgotten about them!
Poison Ivy had paid Batman a visit one night on a rooftop, thanking him and Flamebird for the work they did in Gotham. She can finally sleep in peace, without nature screaming at her in pain. It gave Bruce a better perspective on her as a villain, if he could not sleep at night because he could hear mother nature being tortured like that... he respects her deeply for being able to come back from that, even before the aid she had from S.T.A.R Labs.
Many heroes also paid visits to Gotham, but not to Batman. They stayed in the Batcave, where Damain slept in peace, always with a Bataclan member next to him. Poor Lian, could not understand why her adored godfather was sleeping for so long. When two weeks passed with no change, the Bataclan began to panic.
"Shouldn't he be fucking awake by now?!" Jason cursed, as he paces through the Batcave.
"Language, Master Jason," Alfred scolded absentmindedly, mostly in reflex, his attention was on Damian's vitals.
"Fuck language Alfie!" Jason protested heatedly. "My little brother is unconscious, and we have no idea of when he will wake up!"
"Maybe the issue was how he got the extra power," Tim theorized, checking his vitals, and comparing them to before the event.
"Explain," Bruce demanded in his Batman persona, he has been like that ever since Damian went through Constantine's portal.
"I once asked him if his power could be considered magic, he told me that his flames were magical, but they were not magic," Tim began to explain. "Warlock and witches use sources of magical beings or powers around them. Like demons, angels, spirits, etc. Damian's flames are magical, but unlike Constantine who needs to summon Hell Fire from a source in Hell..."
"Damian is the source," Dick interrupted in realization. "He produces them from his core. He might have absorbed the magic from the curses, which allowed his flames to reach all of Gotham but that raw magic did not produce more flames. As magic can't create magical flames like that."
"He depleted his flames..." Batman thought out loud. "How can we speed up their creation?"
"Can we even do that?" Mara asked, finally taking her eyes from her fallen brother, and speaking up. "Akhi doesn't even know how he produces them. He told us they are simply born within him."
"What about putting him in the furnace?" Cass signed. "He can absorb those flames?"
"It needs to be a magical source," Roy shook his head. "His flames are not normal fire; they have magical properties."
"What about Hell?" Jade asked, silencing everyone. "Hell Fire comes from that kingdom... and so does the source of Damian's powers."
"Jade!" Alec snapped, realizing where she was going with that. "You are betraying akhi's confidence!" He told her in the league dialect.
"What are you three... no, four hiding?" Batman growled, noticing Cass shift as well.
"Dami did not want to keep it a secret," Cass signed. "He most likely just forgot to mention it."
"It's not like we hide it," Alec grumbled. "If you so called detectives did not deduce it by now, I am very disappointed."
"Ah, stop it you fool," Mara sighed. "You see, when we call Ra's the antichrist, it is not an insult... but the truth."
"Ra's is the son of the Devil?" Tim inquired in disbelief, as Bruce froze. "Oh, my... what the fuck?!" "Language," Alfred scolded him, but he looked pale and had to seat down.
"Great-grandparent is a very nice... fallen angel," Mara decided to go with that title. "After akhi's death, before waking up in Apokolips, he ended up in Hell. They got to know each other and akhi convinced great-grandparent to chance how Hell is run."
"We have tea with them every month," Alec answered. "Very nice," Cass signed.
"That's why he can use Hell and Holy Flames," Jade continued. "He is a Nephilim, the chaos shard awakening the angel DNA in him and allowing the transition to Nephilim. Not to mention, it also gave him Phoenix Flames."
"Why did he keep it from us?" Dick asked dejected, he did not care that the devil's blood runs through his veins- this is his baby bat!
"Changes? What changes can hell undergo?" Tim asked dumbfounded, stuck on that.
"Well, Hell is now designed to test people and help them become the best possible versions of themselves," Jade explained. "As soon as you get to Hell you will be judged and be given a certain number of years to pay and be tortured for your crimes. After those years are served you will be put in a fake version of Heaven, where you will be tested through various situations. Depending how good you behaved in Earth will serve as a baseline to "determine how hard or easy your test is." At the end of each test, the person will undergo an evaluation and then be rebooted in a new scenario with a vague memory of what they did right and wrong the last time around. The scenarios will be designed by a demon architect, while rank-and-file demons will play the roles of humans in the test scenarios."
Everyone stared at her in complete shock and disbelief before Jason broke the silence cackling like a madman. "Of course, it would be him the one to change fucking Hell," Jason snorted, shaking his head in disbelief.
"He was afraid at first," Jade turned to Dick and Bruce. "He was this being of fire that razed through Apokolips and had the al Ghul blood in his veins... if you added Lucifer to the mix, he feared that you would think he truly meant to do what he did in Apokolips. That you would treat him with more scrupulous you already have, simply because of who his mother is." Jade sighed, shaking his head. "As time passed, he simply did not know how to bring it out... this situation took it out of our hands."
"It does not matter," Bruce, this time as a father and not as Batman, said firmly. "It does not matter what blood runs through his veins, what blood runs through all of your veins," Alec and Mara straightened up at that, but Bruce was referring to every single person in the cave. "Are your actions. We all did things we regret, but after realizing the wrong of our actions we strived to do better. To be better. Damian did better, every single step ever since leaving the league. I'm sure he did stuff he regrets, that will haunt him for life, in Hell. But I do not blame him for that, what he did, he did to survive. And after that he tried to be better, he must have failed, made mistakes along the way. A lot that none of us were there for. Be it in Hell or space, but he came out a better person. You all did. For which I am very proud."
"Dad," Dick murmured stunned, finally realizing how much his dad has changed, finally being able to let go of all his anger and resentment about the past.
"Baba," Mara murmured, finally accepting him as a father and not just seeing him as her akhi's father.
"We all are," Alfred added, smiling proudly at the growth of his son and grandchildren. "Master Damian is no longer alone, so if we need to go to Hell, so be it."
"Hell has nothing on Gotham!" Jason exclaimed.
"I'll contact Constantine for information about Hell," Tim quickly took out his computer and began to work.
"I'll look after the inventory of weapons, make sure everything is ready," Roy assured them.
"I'll help," Alec told him. "If great-grandparent believes they can take on the Bataclan they have another thing coming!"
"Be careful with that," Titus said from the ground. "They'll hear you and scold you during the next tea party."
"W-what the fuck?!" Jason cursed; Alfred was too stunned this time to correct him.
"Did Titus just speak?" Bruce asked faintly, turning to Jade, who looked as shocked as everyone else. "Did you know about this?"
"No, none of us did," Jade answered honestly.
"Titus and Alfred the Cat, were gifts," Cass signed. "They came to Dami one night, he tried to be sneaky. But no one can sneak past me."
"I am a hellhound," Titus answered. "I'm also a bonded partner to my Master Damian." "Kind of like familiars?" Tim asked him with curiosity.
"Similar," Alfred the Cat answered from Damian's bed. "Though, we do not die, we can be killed but we will simply be revived. When Master Damian dies, we will die with him."
"Also, we do not make our master more powerful, working like amplifiers the way familiar do," Titus continued, laying down at the end of Damian's bed. "It is the other way around, we become stronger thanks to our connection to our master. The stronger they are, the stronger we are, making us powerful partners to protect our master."
"Oh, I'm a Bastet." Alfred introduced himself and continued when Tim opened his mouth to ask a question. "No, I am not a God. But I am a magical creature that guards the gates to the afterlife and specialize in protection. Our original one, the one you consider a Goddess and is to us the Great Mother, is Bast. She is the only one strong enough to be seen as a Goddess, mostly because she bonded with the God of the Sun... maybe I'll reach that kind of power after Master Damian reaches the maturity of his powers."
"Ok... I think my brain has just exploded," Roy stated, as he sat down. "This is too much."
"Mate, you do realize that my brother has a pet bat-dragon," Jason turned to Roy raising an eyebrow. "A hellhound and bastet is not that farfetched."
"Let's compartmentalize now, deal with it later, and figure out why they are revealing themselves now," Batman interrupted, seeing as the two of them would end up arguing with each other- those two have become quick friends, ever since Roy had moved into the manor. "Why are you doing this?"
"Master Damian does not know about our true nature," Titus answered, lowering his ears in depression. "Master Lucifer made us promise to keep it a secret until the time was right."
"They needed for all of the secrets to be revealed and for the whole family to unite for Master Damian," Alfred the cat continued. "Then, once Master Damian has finally accepted his origins, we would help him make the transition to Nephilim complete."
"It's not complete yet?" Dick asked worriedly.
"The shard of chaos aided to wake up his angelic DNA and powered up those powers, but he still only had one-fourth of angelic DNA," Alfred the cat explained.
"With the angelic feathers Master Lucifer has given us, one white from before the fall and another black from after the fall, Master Damian will complete the transition!" Titus wagged his tail excitedly. "He'll then renew his depleted flames and wake up!"
"Before doing anything we will need to do more research," Alfred brought them all to a stop, being a true bat and prioritizing to be prepared. "After that, we will proceed the safest route."
"About that..." Alfred the Cat purred. "We already gave him the feathers."
---------------------------------------------
"Hey, son," Bruce smiled as Damian woke up slowly, he was the only one at the Batcave- they made a schedule so at least one person would be with him at every moment. "Good to have you back. How do you feel?"
"Tired," Damian answered groggily, and then chuckled. "Which is ironic as I've been asleep for over a month."
"How did you know? Were you aware of what was going on around you while you were unconscious?" Bruce asked him confused and curious at the same time.
"No, but I aided a being of great power while traveling through space. They are the ruler of the Dreaming, the place we all go when we sleep," Damian answered. "As a boon for my aid they allowed me to be able to make conscious decisions when I am in their kingdom... as long as I follow the rules. I spent most of it with Luciene in the library, they have a collection of every story that ever happened. Jason would have loved it."
"That he would," Bruce smiled at his considerate son, shelving this Dreaming situation for another day. One thing he has learned is to take one thing at the time and not rush it when there's no need. "We met your great-grandparent, they and Alfred bonded quickly. I think that friendship has the whole family scared."
"TT- It has the whole of Hell scared shitless," Damian tched. "Alfred has a sainthood pending for when he dies, a saint and the devil being best friends... I think that even Heaven is weary of that bonding relationship. Why do you think I tried not to introduce them before? Which is why great- grandparent pulled one over me."
"Alfred is going to be a saint? Well, that is not surprising if I am being honest," Bruce murmured stunned, but not that shocked. It was Alfred after all, he is the overlord of the Wayne Manor. "You already knew about Titus and Alfred the cat? Sorry, the Bastet. That's why you didn't say anything? Not because you were afraid of how we would react?"
"Baba, you love us more than anything," Damian smiled at his father softly. "You might not cross the line of not killing for us, but not because you do not care. It is because you care that you would not do so. It took me a while to understand, but you do not want our memory to be tainted by something like murder. You would accept us no matter our past or what blood we carry. You would do cheat, beg, and lie for us. I never feared your reaction... I just feared the combo I knew shido and great-grandparent would make." Bruce smiled, eyes watery, as he caressed his son's soft hair. "As for Titus and Alfie, yes I knew since they one what they were. I have the blood of Lucifer Morningstar running through my veins. I knew that Titus was a being of Hell. I just allowed them to keep their game because it amused them."
"That would be something you would do, my sweet considerate son," Bruce praised Damian softly, making him blush slightly- which had Bruce look at him fondly. "Are any of your pets not what they seem?"
"Well, Bat-cow is one of the remaining Cattle of Helios, an immortal and perfect cow," Damian answered, taking his father by surprise. "After the old gods died, most of the mythical beings died slowly, only a few of them survived. As for dragons only the bat-dragons' species is alive on Earth at the moment. Don't worry, I made sure that Goliath's thunder is well-protected. As for Jerry, he is not a Turkey. He is a caladrius."
"A caladrius... as in the snow-white bird that is said to be able to take the sickness into itself and then fly away, dispersing the sickness and healing both itself and the sick person?" Bruce asked in disbelief.
"Yes, he is," Damian answered. "Not a surprising partner for me. He does help me with my healing missions, takes a load off my back. It also takes the suspicion from me, no one expects a powered being now that they have a mythical being flying around and healing people. How are things in Gotham? I might have gone overboard."
"Might have?" Bruce asked in amusement. "You did, but do not worry. Everything went fine. As always, the government and the public in general did not pay attention to Gotham, out of sight out of mind," Bruce informed him drily. "The secrecy spell we had Captain Marvel do is working and is keeping things at bay, though we are keeping an eye on things. As for your life, luckily, it's summer so we are simply telling people you've locked yourself in a room painting every day. An eccentric young artist is not that far-fetched, not when you've done various interviews saying how much you love to paint and how you get so immersed in your art. We are planning on doing an art show during your summer vacation as well."
"Good, donate every penny gained to charities and the Martha Wayne Foundation," Damian hummed. "I must have collected a lot of pieces during these last two years we can use to alleviate suspicions."
"Do you... feel different?" Bruce finally asked his son carefully.
"Not really," Damian answered. "I was already in the process of... evolution? Should I use that word? Oh, well, what I am trying to say is that I do not feel that different. Maybe I will feel different later? I will tell you."
"Good, I am taking your word for it," Bruce kissed his son's forehead. "What?" He asked when Damian gave him a look. "Ok," he sighed. "I will try to take your word for it, but I will most likely check on you from time to time."
"Now that's the baba I know," Damian chuckled. "Hey, now that I think of it, I feel different."
"Do you hurt anywhere? Should I call Leslie? Alfred? Your great-grandparent?" Bruce began to panic.
"Call down!" Damian sighed tiredly. "Nothing feels, if anything I feel great. It seems that the Grey Lantern Force is no longer working overtime trying to balance the flames within me. My Nephilim body, yes, I know about that. The king of the Dreaming told me about that. Well, my Nephilim body is strong enough to hold my flames. It no longer hurts without the intervention of the Grey Lantern Force. It feels... good."
"I'm glad," Bruce smiled relieved and happy for his son.
"Mmm, how are my siblings doing? You? Alfred? The Justice League?" Damian asked his father.
"Your siblings are worried," Bruce admitted. "None of them has taken a mission outside of Gotham or Bludhaven. We even have a schedule so that you will not wake up alone," he confessed, gaining a soft but true smile from his son. "Alfred has honestly been the rock holding us together, he did have your great-grandparent to lean on. Lucifer... he has been visiting a lot. He has taught us various demonic etiquette lessons, much to Alfred and Tim's delight. A lot of your behaviors, which Alec and Mara do not share, so they cannot be from the League of Assassins, make a lot of sense now."
"I've tried to adapt as much as possible, but I am great-grandparent's heir. There are some things I cannot ignore or change of how I behave," Damian confessed.
"You've done an incredible job so far," Bruce told him softly, grateful of all those therapy sessions with Dinah, which allowed him to be more open with his children. "Well, the league, our league, is worried about you. I've had a lantern in Gotham daily, which honestly was quite upsetting. They are very annoying! Especially, Gardner and Jordan!" Bruce was supposed to be complaining, but how could he not smile when the son that has been unconscious for a month was laughing so carefree? "Diana and Clark have moved semi-permanently here to support me," he told his son softly, smiling fondly at the memory of his best friends. "What?" He asked his son when this hummed knowingly.
"I mean when are you three going to get together?" Damian asked his father. "Do not look at me like that baba! You three are made for each other, like pieces of a puzzle."
"I've been seeing Selina, Clark is married, and Diana is an Amazonian," Bruce tried to wave his son's claim away as ridiculous.
"Jon told me that his parents were having issues and they were thinking of divorce," Bruce looked at his son surprised, Clark had not told him that. "Diana is an Amazonian, but also a demigoddess, she has some liberties that the others of her tribe do not. As for Selina... I like her very much, we all do... but do you love her? Hear me out!" Damian stopped his father when this one was quick to open his mouth to protest. "You two have something special as Catwoman and Batman, you trust each other's back in a way mot-Talia and you never did. But a relationship based on chases over rooftops won't survive. You are not just Catwoman and Batman, you are Selina Kyle and Bruce Wayne. A woman who loves to be free and a man who needs stability. No matter how much you care about each other, you are two very different people." Damian smiled at his father, who did not say anything as his son's words were true. "You ran to her because she is someone, something, you knew and were familiar with, because you were afraid. Do you need to be afraid with Uncle Clark and Aunt Diana?"
"No," Bruce answered softly, with a wry smile. "Since when did you get so wise?"
"Me? I've always been wise," Damian answered primly, causing his baba to laugh. Damian smiled at his father and spoke. "Think about it, there's no rush."
"I will," Bruce sighed with a soft smile. "Now let's call your siblings, otherwise they'll have my head."
But it was too late, as they both heard various "Dami!" being yelled and then a lot of footsteps thundering down the stairs of the Batcave. Bruce smiled as his family reunited, finally complete after so long. He'll think about his relationship with his best friends later, for now he'll enjoy this peace.