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Chapter 15: Family Matters

"So you just let him meet Bane?!" The youngest among them growled, leaning forward in his seat. It was only to be expected; after all, Damian was every bit as dramatic as his father.

Jason shrugged. "Didn't really have much of a choice. Besides, it pisses you off, and that's all the incentive I needed."

Ignoring Barbara and Stephanie's snickers, Damian glared at him. "You're a dick, Jason."

"I appreciate you noticing."

"And this is why I tend to stay away from the manor," Helena muttered from where she sat next to Barbara, making sure only the red-head could hear her. "It's like watching 'Real Housewives' or something."

Barbara suppressed another laugh. "Honestly, boys, what is your problem with this guy? Other than the fact that he bruised your ego," she teased.

Tim, ever the strategist, tried to keep his annoyance towards Danny Johnson out of his expression as he gave a reason. "It is an unnecessary risk and liability to have an unsupervised civilian consistently bring dangerous villains to visit children."

Stephanie raised an eyebrow questioningly and leaned back leisurely in her chair, resting her feet on top of the dining room table the Batkids were all seated around. "It's not like the villains are seeking these kids out, though, and isn't Jason going with him for Bane anyways? Wonder Woman was there to watch Cheetah, too, and it's not like the Sirens are that crazy."

"Deathstroke and Deadshot countered each other," Cassandra succinctly added, shrugging as everyone stared at her in surprise for speaking up about it.

Dick returned his stare up towards the ceiling as he drummed his fingers mindlessly on the tabletop. "Connor mentioned that Superman had gone in his civilian persona to monitor Luthor when he visited that kid in Metropolis, but nothing happened at all. Well, unless you count the prison murder…"

"That didn't endanger the kid," Jason pointed out.

"... and Flash freaked out over Captain Cold after he was kicked out of the room, but everything was fine," Dick finished, ignoring Jason's interruption. "Johnson's been lucky."

"He didn't let a kid meet the Joker!" Barbara supplied helpfully in an amused tone, but the glint in her eyes belied the seriousness of her words.

The room was silent for several heartbeats before Damian (of course) spoke up. "And how do you know this?"

Babs waved her hand nonchalantly. She was aware that Jason and Dick at least knew by this point, and probably Helena and Cass as well. "Ivy overheard his boss ask, broke his phone against a wall, and asked me to get him a new encrypted one so people couldn't steal the numbers he has on there."

"And you just did it?!"

She shrugged. "Danny's a nice guy; wasn't gonna let him go phoneless for long."

"You know him?" Tim asked this time, while Damian glowered at her from his seat on the other side of the table.

Babs smiled slyly. "We've spoken."

"Oh, quit baiting them, Babs." The Batkids all turned towards the entrance as Kate Kane entered the room, followed by Alfred, who quietly waited by the doorway to observe his charges. She paused to ruffle Dick's hair, drawing a quiet complaint from him, before moving to take the empty seat between Jason and Damian. "If you guys have such an issue with Danny Johnson, why don't you confront him about it?"

Tim crossed his arms and huffed in frustration. "We already tried that."

Kate rolled her eyes. "No, the four of you kidnapped him."

Damian narrowed his eyes and grit his teeth. "Why is she even here?" He asked the room at large, gesturing at the newcomer. His question merely made Kate laugh.

"To mediate between you and Jason," Stephanie deadpanned.

"I'm afraid you're mistaken, Mistress Stephanie," Alfred spoke up from his spot with a slight smirk. "That would be one of my duties."

Jason grinned and clapped his hands. "Ten points to Alfred!" He proclaimed, which drew chuckles from the majority of the assembled Batfamily.

"Thank you, Master Jason," the butler commented wryly, "though if you would come with me, I believe you are late to meet with Mr. Johnson and Mr. Bane."

"Awesome." Jason stood and made his way over to Alfred and the exit. "Ladies, nice to see you; Tim, not so nice; Damian, try a chill pill next time."

Bane hadn't been that big of a deal, in all honesty. Jason was wondering why he even bothered to come. He lounged in a corner of the kid's hospital room with Danny while Bane and the kid talked about his serum and (more on Bane's part) why there was no way in hell a seven year old would be given the addictive drug.

On the bright side, playing bodyguard was more fun than being stuck in the Batfamily meeting. From the desperate texts Dick was sending him every few seconds, coupled with the short, sarcastic ones by Cass and Helena keeping him up to date on the events occurring at the Manor, the meeting had turned into a madhouse (as usual). His phone buzzed again from where it was resting on his thigh, and Jason sighed defeatedly.

Dick is hanging from the chandelier. Damian is duct-taped to his chair. Kate is taking a business call while under the table, Cass had informed him.

I HATE THIS FAMILY, Dick had somehow managed to type.

Is there any way I can be disowned? Helena shared his annoyance towards most of his family, but at least she hadn't had to live with them.

He had muted all of them about five minutes ago, though. The real message that had made his phone go off drew his attention with amusement.

I just walked in with Duke and it's like last Thanksgiving all over again. How did you escape?! Luke Fox had sent, along with a picture of the room and all its chaos. Dick was indeed hanging from the light fixture, and only Damian's head, from above his mouth, was visible through the tape he was tied down with. Both redheads were underneath the table, Stephanie looked like she was laughing on the floor, Tim had buried his head in his hands in frustration. Only Cass was still properly sitting in her chair, her expression unconcerned about the craziness around her. Duke asks to be un-adopted, Luke added.

That one drew an audible snort from Jason, enough to draw Danny's attention away from his child and villain charges. "Everything okay?"

Jason glanced at him briefly before turning back to the phone and typing out a response to Luke and Helena: Don't you think I've already tried that? "Yeah, siblings are just being dramatic again."

He looked up in time to see Danny's mischievous smirk. "So the dramatics run in the family?"

Jason rolled his eyes and slipped his phone into his pocket, leaving him free to cross his arms in defense. "They do in the one of us that is actually related to our parent."

Danny was quiet for a minute as they watched Bane giving the young kid a ride on his shoulders around the hospital room. "It's nice to see Ian excited; apparently he's been pretty closed off for the past few weeks." He paused again, leaning back in an attempt to be nonchalant. "Dick, Damian, and Tim – the other three who kidnapped me – they the siblings you talking about?"

"You're a clever one, Johnson."

Danny shrugged. "I try to be. It's a necessity when you live with the Sirens." A call of his name from one of the doctors who was fiddling with the devices next to the kid's bed had Danny leaving Jason in solitude in his corner of the room.

The vigilante huffed and turned his attention towards the window overlooking Blüdhaven harbor. He wondered how Johnson would react to the fact that Bane had just given a sample of his Venom for the technicians to re-work in the lab to try and help the kid. No, he wondered how the League would react when they found out.

That though kept Jason in a good mood for the rest of the day.