"Hello? Who is this?"
"Hey Dad." The voice was familiar and he instantly knew who it was.
"Oh, hey Sevy."Bruce relaxed just a bit.
At the sound of her name, Tim and Damian, who were sparring, dropped their weapons and listened in.
"Um, I'm not sure if you remember, but there's a second mission debriefing and luncheon today at the HQ..."
"Oh, yes thank you for reminding me. Should we come as you-know-who or as the simplistic family?"
Tim looked weirdly at their father, before heading off to ping the call.
"They know who Batman is , so it doesn't matter. You could bring your suits if you wanted to, or you could dress casually like the rest of us."
"Where is it? You, um never told us."
"Timmy's probably pinged my phone by now." She chuckled and immediately Bruce whipped his head to see Tim on the Batcomputer with a location in an unnamed lake and a small looking facility in it. Of course he did.
"Don't be late. The food's gonna get cold."
"Did-did you cook?"
"The desserts only. I'm more of a sweet-tooth than you are."
"I doubt that."
"Hey, um, have you told Jay?"
"He thinks it's a joke, and refused to talk to me for a week."
"Great. Guess I'll have to tell him. Doubt if he'll bother to even look at me."
"I told him about the silver-bike lady. He'll definitely pay attention to that."
"Thanks for the tip. Now get over here, I've got six people dying to meet you guys."
"We're on our way." With that, Bruce shut the phone and looked over at his two youngest. Dick was in Bludhaven and Jason was doing whatever he wished. So it was only him, Damian and Timmy who were at the Manor.
"Get upstairs and change into something presentable."
*******************************************************************
The system inside the HQ scanned them, before pulling up the barrier again, letting the Wayne trio go. Bruce stared at the small facility,wondering why it was as tiny as it was, with only an empty lounge ,when suddenly the floor beneath them opened up, revealing a set of spiraling stairs. They descended, and what they saw blew them away.
Holograms, huge screens that spanned entire walls, exoskeletons in cases, a dozen hi-tech monitor-less computers, AI systems- this place was a techy gold mine. Immediately Tim looked like a kid in a candy store.
"Whoa! They've got exoskeletons! And AIs!And ohmigod interactive holograms!"
Suddenly another voice interrupted Tim's excited chatter. "I see you're just a big a nerd as I am."
A tall woman seemingly popped out of nowhere, her cornrows shining under the LEDs as she tilted her head, a smirk on her face. She wore a simple violet t-shirt with a leather jacket and black jeggings, but there was something about her that just screamed 'I'm a nerd that can also rip your face off'.
"I'm Briar Cruz, Sevy's tech nerd and unofficial, unpaid therapist."
"Therapist?" Bruce asked, confused. His daughter seemed so fierce- did she need a therapist? It'd make sense, though, after all they put her through...
"I'm just kidding ! Sevy would rather swim with hungry sharks than open up about her emotions to a stranger that's registered to take away your job. Y'know what, don't tell her what I just said, she'll skin me alive." Briar laughed shaking the fourteen-year-old's hand.
"Noted." Tim said. This woman had a screw loose somewhere, but she seemed nice. Bruce decided to ask the woman where everyone else was, but she had already begun talking away.
"Oh! We're gonna eat lunch first, by the way. The others were training while we were waiting for you." She began leading them further into the facility, which was deeper underwater. Fish swum by the plexiglass windows, and they internally marveled.
"Oh,sorry if we're tardy." Bruce quickly said.
"Please, you came just in time! It was Sevy's turn in the lock-tank right as I went to gather you guys!" Briar cheerily said.
"Lock-tank?" Damian furrowed his eyebrows. "That sounds a bit hostile...."
"Oh, it's our escape training. We lock up the person, blindfold and put her in various situations where she or he must escape or suffer a slow death and today, we were doing the lock tank! I went first and dried up to get you guys, but the lock-tank is basically where you chain, blindfold and tie up the trainee and put them in a tank of water. They gotta get out ASAP, otherwise the water instantly freezes!" She said cheerily.
Bruce was horrified. "And you're saying that Sevy is in it now?"
"I'm not sure, it takes time to get the chains and blindfold on and secured, so maybe not yet. Oh, don't worry, if something goes wrong, we can immediately drain the water and we've got an infirmary wing." Briar chuckled, leading them into the training room.
This woman had several screws loose.
"Oh look, she's doing it right now!" Briar smiled, and Bruce looked to see five other people surrounding a large tank with a timer in the center of the training room. He peered over their heads and saw his daughter in the tank, struggling to open her chained hands. Red started blooming in the water from the chains which were definitely digging into her skin.
Bruce nearly lost it as soon as he saw the red ,shoving a shorter, redhead girl aside. "Get her out of there!" he shouted.
"Dude relax! It's just our training!" A guy grabbed him from busting open the tank and getting his daughter out of there, and there was a struggle that continued. Damian and Tim worriedly watched their sister deal with the chain, when suddenly they saw something extraordinary.
She expertly broke the chains with a twist of her hands and a sharp downwards motion, before immediately making her way down to her leg cuff, which she systematically opened up as fast as she could, the timer counting down the last ten seconds.
Ten.
Nine.
Eight.
Seven.
Six.
Five.
The legcuff clicked open, dropping to the bottom of the tank, and immediately Sevy went for air. She burst through the open top of the tank, gasping for air, before ripping off her blindfold.
The timer disabled itself and she coughed up water, catching her breath. "Oh, hey guys! You made it!" She greeted them. Her eyes had flashed with something Bruce couldn't put his finger on. "Just give me a sec, will you?"
Bruce and Tim were frozen with how calmly she handled her situation, and Damian just looked at her with a bit of pride in his eyes that he would never, ever voice due to his own.
"Christopher! You chained me up too tightly, you idiot!" she seethed at the redhead boy who was standing next to what looked like his twin.
The boy named Christopher meekly shrugged his shoulders. "For the chains, I deeply apologize, but least that'll help with your scandalous persona! Imagine the headlines: Sevanna Wayne likes it rough and kinky!" he mocked her, a stupidly wide grin on his face.
Sevy growled at him, before throwing the chain into the other boy's face. It hit him in the nose, and he immediately cradled it. "Ow!"
"You practically asked for that, Chris." Briar laughed, and the girls helped her down from the tank, before throwing a towel and some gauze her way. She wrapped up her wrists, which were bleeding, before wringing out her deep red-brown hair. She stepped onto a square grill, and immediately hot air rushed out, drying her up in an instant.
Sevanna then turned to her family. "This is the rest of my team- a couple of them are complete douches- " She turned to glare at Christopher, whose nose was bruised from the blow, "-but others are actually really nice."
Damian huffed. "All of them seem to have a few screws loose." he muttered.
She turned to all of them. "Guys, this is Bruce, my old man, and this one is Timmy, and this little ray of sunshine and kindness is Damian." she gestured to each one of them.
"T-t" Damian muttered.
"Now you guys introduce yourselves."
Immediately they smiled warmly at the trio, before one by one they introduced themselves.
"I'm Andre. I'm the guy you held captive for three days. Don't worry, no hard feelings." His green eyes lit up, his dreadlocks bouncing as he shook each of their hands. "Great to be working with you, really! Typically, I'm the guy in the chair or I help Sevy out whenever she goes out to catch and interrogate people for our missions."
"Hi, I'm Selma. I'm typically Briar's aide and the lead of gathering intel." A woman in a hijab waved from her seat, smiling graciously at them. Damian looked at her for a while, before looking away, deducing that she too was Arabian.
"Bonjour, I'm Jean-Pierre, or as Sevy likes to call me- the stupid lovey-dovey Frenchman. I'm usually the one dealing with stakeouts, disguises and comms." Called over a tall blue-eyed boy with a scar through his eyebrow. He made his way over, shook each of their hands with a nod and left the room with Selma.
"I'm Morgan, I'm the mechanic and engineer along with my stupid twin Christopher over there. I don't think he really needs an introduction, but he's usually better than this." Morgan said, rubbing her neck.
Sure, they seemed to be a playful crew of misfits, but Bruce didn't miss the way their eyes flashed when he dove in to try and save Sevanna. Bruce didn't miss their calculating looks when they first stared at him, reading his body language along with his sons'. He didn't miss the way they all looked at Sevy with satisfaction when she hauled herself out of that tank, and he could easily tell they could be a deadly force if any of their crewmates were in jeopardy.
He remembered the first time he saw them- a seamless group of masked agents that fought like tigers and had each other's backs, and knew that Sevanna led a group of incredible agents.
They suddenly heard Jean-Pierre's shout. "Lunch is served!"
Sevanna smiled. "Don't you worry. The stupid lovey-dovey Frenchman is a great cook." She led them towards the kitchen, where there was a large table laden with several delicious looking dishes, a roast turkey and clean white plates.
"I heard that." Jean-Pierre huffed, feigning hurt. Sevy scrunched up her nose at him in response, just being a complete tease. Damian looked over the food, but before he could complain, he heard Selma call him over.
"The vegetarian stuff is here, if that's what you're looking for."
Damian took a seat next to the Arabian woman, slightly uncomfortable. She reminded him slightly of his own mother- an Arab fighter. "You okay?" Selma asked him, noticing his tenseness.
"Yes." He simply said, waiting for the others to take their spots. He watched Sevanna sit in between Morgan and Andre, and Timothy sat next to Briar and the injured Christopher, striking up a conversation about the technology here. Bruce decided to sit by Jean-Pierre, who was near Damian, and he started listening to the Frenchman fondly tell him about how the various nicknames Sevy gave to all of them.
Selma pushed the dish towards him. "Youngest go first."
"Thank you... you're Arab, right?" Damian asked.
"Why yes!" Selma brilliantly smiled at them, before starting up a conversation with him about what it was like to be a part of the TMC
Damian slowly eased up to this woman, having a slight liking to her sheer friendliness and transparency.
"Honestly, it can be a hassle here if you don't drink- Briar over there is the real alcoholic; she just loves to spike every drink she makes!" Selma laughed.
" ME?" Briar acted hurt. "Have you seen Morgan?! She emptied the wine cellar AND my fridge in less than an hour!"
Morgan just shrugged. "Your fault you let me in there." she scoffed.
"I didn't let you in there, you busted the lock!"
Bruce smiled slightly at the friendly atmosphere. He thought it'd be more serious and tense, considering the fact that they were CIA and a trio of vigilantes (the two didn't mix well), but it wasn't.
It was welcoming, warm, and amusing, which just reminded him that there was more to Sevy's team than just crime-fighting missions- there was also a family bond. There was lots of teasing for sure, but it was light-hearted.
This versatility of their team, their ability to switch from different personalities in less than a second was incredible- and that also meant that Sevanna clearly had several facades. But with each, she had a connection to her team. A connection that Bruce didn't have with his own daughter, a connection he didn't even have with one of her facades.
He could see how much the team meant to her. He understood that she always rushed to their rescue first without much of a thought to her own life- like back in the hangar, when she was fiercely onto Bruce as he tried to snatch Andre, not caring that he was twice her size and armed more heavily. He understood that Sevanna loved them and went full-on warrior mode whenever one of them was in danger. That no matter how much they bickered, they were closer to her than he ever was.
They were there when Sevanna came to them, upset. They were there when she was beating up criminals and scouting for information. They were there through her training, and they had her back through hellish missions around the world. They were there when he wasn't, always at her side, ready to pick her back up if she fell, ready to protect their leader at all costs.
No wonder she wasn't very comfortable near Bruce or the rest of the family. All she expected from them was disappointment. That's all they ever gave her.
Tim watched the bickering escalate with amusement, looking over at his father to see if he was enjoying it as much as he was. When he saw that Bruce was deep in thought, with a trace of sadness over his eyes, Tim was confused. Damian just had an eyebrow raised, not noticing his father and focusing on the arguing.
Sevanna muttered to herself. "At least Morgan didn't spike the dark roast coffee..."
Morgan grinned to herself as Briar looked at Sevy in shock. "Betrayal! You're supposed to be on my side! And I did that only once!"
"After you had a near seizure after having vodka and black coffee put together!" Sevy huffed, taking a bite out of her slice of bread. "And Morgan, don't think yourself any better. You knowingly drank that spiked coffee and were hyperactive for a week!"
"Hey! Whose side are you on?" Morgan complained. Jean-Pierre cut in, quickly changing the topic.
"Remember Luxembourg?"
Immediately the table burst into laughter. They began explaining to their guests the incidents that occured in Luxembourg, where they were on a mission to take down a counterfeit money operation- and there were many hilarious mishaps.
"And then Andre face-planted during the Streussan gala!" Jean-Pierre wheezed.
"Hey, you were the one that nearly had a chocolate overdose when we went to that factory!" Andre spat back.
"Hey, at least we weren't like poor Sevy- she got chased three miles by a mob of men!" Christopher hooted and Bruce raised his eyebrows, looking at his daughter, who was bright red. Damian stifled a laugh, and Timmy leaned in, interested to hear this part of the story.
"Jean-Pierre, that one is on you !" Sevy huffed.
"How is that one on me?!"
"You literally told them I won the pageant and was giving out free kisses just to see me get chased by a horde of hormonal men!" She snapped.
"Like you Americans say- sucks to suck."
"Y'know, your daughter didn't speak to Jean-Pierre for the rest of the mission- and she even shoved him off the boardwalk!" Andre chuckled.
Jean-Pierre took this in stride. "Yeah, remember! I nearly drowned!"
"Oh please, it was knee-deep water." She brushed him off.
"There were sharks!"
"There are no sharks in Luxembourg, you idiot." Sevy spat.
"I could've have died!"
"Like the stupid lovey-dovey Frenchman said, sucks to suck." Sevy shrugged, before getting up to grab the desserts.
"You little-"
*******************************************************************
Everyone was gathered around the glass briefing table, Sevy at the head, explaining their plan to take down the next right-hand man- Triggerfinger.
Selma had tracked this man down to a sports car dealership building, and Sevanna laid out the plain in a very transparent and clear manner, and even Damian found himself nodding along.
"We hit the dealership three nights from now- that's when they're gonna hand off the gold-codes up the chain to the Viper. The previous tactic- us sneaking inside while the Bats distract- is very good, I'll give you that, but now they'll ramp up their security and expect someone to break in." Sevanna pulled up a picture of the dealership's internal structure.
"So what would we do?" Tim asked. "That's the only way we can secure the gold-codes and divert their attention."
Briar spoke up. "The day they're handing off the gold-codes is the day the dealership is getting a new shipment of cars, specifically Maseratis and Bentleys. They're using the car shipment to cover up their real business." She put that new bit of dug-up information on the screen, and everyone was silent, thinking for a few minutes.
"Where are the cars being supplied from?" Sevanna asked.
"Straight from the shipyard in Central City at 10pm." Briar replied. Immediately Sevanna smirked.
"How about we use their cover against them? Think... NYC. " Sevanna tilted her head, a knowing look in her eyes that the others immediately picked upon. A vicious smile popped up on the boys' faces, and the girls shared a glance at one another, everyone figuring out that the other was thinking the exact same thing that they were.
"I call dibs on the Maserati!" Chris shouted.
Bruce and the boys were still confused, so Morgan decided to clear it up,not looking up from filing her nails. "There was a drug dealer who used a car dealership as his cover in NYC, so the team snuck into the place in a car shipment. I was stuck in the stupid Mini Cooper with Jean-Pierre. Poor Chris was stuck in a used Range Rover that reeked of weed."
"But this time, we'll use their own cover as a distraction, not a way to get in." Sevanna said. "There are sport-cars, Tesla's and other hi-tech cars that we can hack into. They'll cause the distraction, and then we'll get in along with the vigilantes. Batman, Robin,Christopher and Andre can engage directly with the crims and clear the path for us to get to the gold-codes. Briar and Selma will be our guys in the chair and get the escape route ready. Morgan and Red Robin will grab the codes. I'll go after Triggerfinger with Jean-Pierre."
"That's a good idea." Tim said, thinking it over, putting the puzzle pieces together. "Okay, we're in."
Bruce nodded. "I guess it's time for us to go, then. Are you coming with us?" He asked Sevanna.
She briskly shook her head. "I've got more digging to do. You guys can go. Relax for a bit. You guys deserve it."
Bruce nodded, trying to be supportive. "Just, be careful."
With that, Bruce left with his two boys trailing behind him.