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Damian woke up and chose chaos.
Let me rephrase.
Steph woke up and chose chaos.
Two months ago.
Now, it was December first and Jason and Dick’s prank war has been going on for two months. It all started when Red Hood stole Nightwings badge, and replaced it with a fake toy. Since then, it has devolved into things going missing around the house and showing up in a criminal’s base. Occasionally, you would hear a shout from the other side of the mansion as one of the boys found themselves to be caught in a trap.
It was funny… for those who weren’t involved.
Although if you asked Alfred, he would tell you the boys were enjoying themselves.
Thus, we are brought to December first.
When Damian woke up and chose chaos.
He walked through the halls of Wayne Manor like he always did. It was a lot more lively now because everyone was staying over for the holidays. Alfred had his hands full taking care of the place while Bruce was out on a week-long work trip. Thus, the children were left unsupervised for the majority of the time. Not that Damian minded. He enjoyed all the attention off of him. Instead, it was all focused on bets surrounding who would end the prank war.
He passed a doorway and ducked as a batarang was thrown out into the hallway. Alfred walked past with a sigh as he pulled the weapon out of the wall and continued walking down the hallway.
“Where is it!” Jason shouted as he stormed out of his room.
“Where’s what?” Dick asked, leaning against the wall, watching his brother search frantically.
“ Where’s my gun ?” he seethed, picking up another projectile to throw at his brother. “And my mask ?”
“I don’t know, why was my room rearranged?”
“It was already like that.” Jason replied, searching through yet another box.
“Uh-huh.” Dick mocked as he left the room. “Your mask and guns are in the safe. You have two minutes to get to it before the safe is dropped in the ocean.”
Jason cursed and rushed out of the room, pushing past anyone in his way.
Damian watched as he ran off, knowing full well that his things were stashed away in the batcave where they go.
“Hey, Damian,” Dick smiled, ruffling the younger’s hair.
Damian smacked his hand away and nodded in acknowledgment.
“Richard.”
“How’s your holiday going?”
“December starts today, meaning the holidays didn’t start until today. If you’re asking how the first few hours of my life went, I woke up, had pancakes and studied for school.”
“That sounds like fun!”
“Why did you lie to Todd about where his stuff is?”
“It’s all part of the prank, don’t worry.”
“Prank?”
“Yeah, it’s all fun and games… mostly.” Dick stared off at the direction Jason ran off, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration before putting on a bright smile and ruffling Damian’s hair again. “I’ll see you later, then!”
Damian watched him walk off and decided to go the opposite direction. He saw that the lounge was free;, he could sit in there and enjoy some silence.
When he got there, he sat on the couch and pulled out a knife. He rolled it over his fingers similar to how one would a coin. He just sat there, bored, staring out the window for maybe a couple hours. He could’ve gone to the batcave to train but he didn’t really feel like doing that. Maybe it was because he actually did enjoy the manor being full of people. It got boring sometimes, when it was just him, Duke, Alfred and Bruce.
When Steph walked in, he looked up and sheathed his knife. Usually, he would’ve just let her be, but face it, the kid was bored. Although if anyone found out, they wouldn’t live long enough to speak a word of it.
“Hey, Damian,” she greeted, sitting down on the other couch, a mug in her hand.
Damian nodded in response, staring at her. Waiting.
She looked up and smiled warmly.
“What are you up to?”
“I was playing with knives.”
Steph hummed at that.
“It was you, wasn’t it?”
“I’m not rightfully sure what you mean,” she grinned into her mug.
“The prank war. You started it.”
“Depends on if you’re going to tell them.”
Damian hummed to himself, an idea churning through his mind.
“I won’t if you help me pull one of these pranks on Drake.”
Steph hummed again.“Perhaps. For a price.”
Damian turned around to glare at her. She was smiling up at him, a mischievous glint behind her eyes.
“No.”
“Then I won’t help you.”
“Then I’m telling Todd.”
“You wouldn’t dare.”
“You don’t know what I’m capable of.”
The two glared at each other until Steph gave in.
“Fine. I’ll help you.”
Damian gave a triumphant grin, crossing his legs on the couch. Steph set her mug on the coffee table and leaned forward, making eye contact.
“We’re going to need a large box and a lot of wrapping paper.”
<–~–>
The manor was in a panic. Why, you may ask? Well, one of them was missing. But that’s not the full reason they were panicking. It was normal for one of them to go out for a few days, they all had their own lives after all. But this was different. Because it was the youngest that had gone missing. And that meant one of two things.
The first one was he got kidnapped. That was unlikely, though, as he wouldn’t go down without a fight or at least alerting someone . The other option was he ran away. That was also unlikely for its own set of reasons.
But it had been a week since he left. There wasn’t a note, no reports on him, nothing. Everything led to a dead end.
To put the icing on the cake, Bruce was back.
He pulled into the driveway and climbed out of the car. All the kids collectively decided to not tell Bruce. If he found out that Damian was missing, there would be a lot more to worry about.
And so, when the head of the household walked through the front doors, the house went silent.
“Alright, what’s going on?” he asked the kids who were all standing in a row, backs straight.
They all glanced at each other, trying to come up with a collective lie. Steph was the first one to speak.
“Welcome home, Bruce! How was your trip?” she asked, a smile on her face.
“You guys did something,” Bruce narrowed his eyes at his kids.
Honestly? It was amazing how he managed to stay sane with these lot.
“Wait. Someone’s missing…”
“That’s ridiculous!” Tim chimed in.
“Yeah, we’re all here and accounted for!” Dick added.
“You’re going insane, Bruce.” Jason nodded.
“Where’s Damian?”
“Who?” Steph asked.
Bruce shook his head and turned to Alfred.
“Alfred, where is Damian?”
“I’m afraid I do not know, Sir,” Alfred replied.
Bruce grit his teeth.
If this is how they were going to play, then he was going to have to play dirty.
“No going out for a week until he’s found. Whoever tells the truth is off the hook, but everyone else is grounded and will stay in their rooms until Damian is found.”
The group fell silent. He couldn’t be serious. If the youngest didn’t want to be found, he wouldn’t be found. How do you tell the Batman that his only biological son had disappeared. You can’t. Not without some sort of punishment, even if he said he would be lenient with those who told the truth.
“Dick was with him last!” Jason pointed at the oldest.
“Hey!” he shouted. “I didn’t do anything to him!”
“I saw him going to the lounge,” Duke added. “But that’s the last I saw of him.”
A couple others nodded in agreement.
“Steph went there shortly after,” Tim pointed out.
“Yeah, but he wasn’t there.” Steph crossed her arms over her chest.
“But he didn’t come out, so he had to have been in there,” Babs added.
“When was this?”
Everyone went silent again.
Bruce held up his fingers and started counting down. Right before he got to one, Dick spoke up.
“A week ago.”
Bruce sighed and the kids all stiffened.
“Where have you checked?”
“The entire mansion, top to bottom and the entire city. Twice.” Tim reported.
“Get ready, we’re checking again.”
The kids nodded and rushed to get their suits.
All except for Steph who headed towards the christmas tree.
<–~–>
“Hey! Stop tripping over yourself!” Red Hood yelled at Red Robin who nearly fell off yet another building.
“Stop yelling!” Red Robin replied, holding his hands over his ears.
“Stop fighting .” Nightwing scolded, scanning the city. “Oracle, you got anything?”
“ Not yet ,” Oracle’s voice came over the coms.
Batman gritted his teeth as he jumped off the building, landing in front of a couple civilians. It was daytime and none of them wanted to be out here right now but one of them was missing .
“Have you seen this kid?” Batman asked, holding up a picture of Damian. The civilians shook their heads and Batman moved on to the next group of people. Someone has got to have seen him .
“If we don’t find him-” Nightwing growled as they reached yet another dead end.
“Hey, mister detective,” Red Hood addressed Red Robin. “Why haven’t you found anything yet?”
“It’s amazing what happens to the brain when you’re running on zero sleep,” Red Robin snapped. “Someone’s been taking my coffee.”
“If you weren’t hooked on that crap, then maybe you would be helpful right now!” Red hood shouted, towering over Red Robin.
“Oh, I’m not being helpful? You’re the one yelling at me instead of searching for the kid!”
“Wow, go place the blame on me. Sure. Let’s all blame the person who realized he was missing in the first place!”
Red Hood was getting ready to punch Red Robin until Batman placed himself between the two, giving both of them a look .
“We don’t have time for this. Get searching, both of you.”
<–~–>
Throughout the next week, Damian still hadn’t been found, Tim’s coffee kept mysteriously disappearing, Bruce was stressed out of his mind while he, Dick and Jason worked constantly in his office trying to find Damian. Everyone else searched the city top to bottom, even going beyond the city limits to see if he might have wandered out there. Meanwhile, Steph kept mysteriously disappearing. She would leave with a plate of food or a plate of cookies and return half an hour later without the dishes and a large smile on her face.
Dick confronted her about this on the fourteenth. Exactly two weeks after the youngest had gone missing.
“Stephanie.” Dick blocked her from entering the lounge room.
“Richard.”
“What’s with the plate?”
“Dinner.”
“I can see that.”
“I’m glad.”
Steph tried to step around him but got blocked.
“Where are you taking it?”
“To the lounge.”
“Why?”
“What’s with the questioning?”
“What’s with the food?”
“The lounge is better than the dining room.”
“How come you’ve never eaten in the lounge before?”
“The tree is calming.”
Steph tried to push Dick out of the way but he just closed the door.
“You know something. I know you know something. I’ve watched you take Tim’s coffee. I’ve watched you disappear when we hit yet another deadend. What do you know ?”
Thinking she was found out, she sighed and went to reluctantly explain what was going on when Cass and Babs came up behind her. Each of them had their own plates of food.
“Do you mind moving for us? We’re trying to eat in peace,” Cass said motioning for Dick to move out of the way.
Unmoving, Dick looked at the three girls, examining them. Although he missed the surprise that crossed Steph’s face, instead only seeing a firm confidence.
“You heard her,” Babs said, adjusting her glasses. “We’re having girl time.”
With one last look, he shook his head and walked off. They were hiding something, but he would need backup to figure it out.
The girls watched him mumble as he walked off. Then they entered the lounge, all sitting around the large present that was just small enough to fit under the tree.
<–~–>
“I want in.” Duke said the next day, blocking the girls as they were walking through the halls.
The girls all had a different expression. Steph looked shocked, confusion painting her face. Cass was stone-faced with a questioning gaze. Babs had a mischievous glint in her eyes, a knowing smile on her lips.
“Depends on what you want in on,” Babs replied simply, folding her arms across her chest.
“I know where Damian is.”
The girls grinned, a plan forming in their minds as they pulled Duke into a secluded room to speak more privately. This was going to be fun .
A few feet away, Alfred nodded and checked off a box on his list.
<–~–>
Tuesday the sixteenth.
It had been thirteen days since Tim had drank even a sip of coffee and fifteen since he had gotten more than a wink of sleep.
That said, he had been hallucinating. Hard . At first, it was small stuff, normal for him. Just a bat or two, maybe a person who wasn’t there, a bad guy, even. But after fifteen days without anything keeping him going besides his insomnia and stress, Tim had started seeing things that he should probably get checked out for.
He had seen Damian walking around the grounds with his animals. And he would’ve thought it was real because Duke said Damian was seen out there. But Bruce was still worried and searching high and low. (even contacting other cities) So that wasn’t real.
He also kept hearing Damian’s voice. Especially around the tree. Maybe someone put something on the tree to make his hallucinations worse. But without any further leads, and nothing to do but sit and wait (Bruce had put a strict lockdown on the manor when not even Superman could find Damian), Tim chatted with the tree. It was a good conversationalist.
“What time is it?” the tree asked.
“The clock is a bit blurry… but I think it says twelve ninety-eight.”
The tree laughed, a loud, cackling laugh.
“Where’s the sun outside?”
“Let me check.” Tim walked to the window and tried to look outside but winced as he caught sight of the sun, blinding him. “Just on the horizon.”
“Rising or setting?”
“Why is a tree so curious of the time of day?” Tim snapped, turning to the tree. It had a face now. It was a cartoonish face with giant eyes and a grinning smile.
The tree laughed again.
“What day is it?”
Tim narrowed his eyes at the tree. Maybe there was someone hiding in the tree. He would have to tell Bruce. Maybe Jason or Dick. Neither of them would care all that much, though. They would tell him it was just him hallucinating. (it probably was)
“It’s the sixteenth.”
“Good, good. Nine days left.”
“Nine days until what?” Tim asked, but the tree fell silent. “NINE DAYS UNTIL WHAT?!” He went to strangle the tree, making a few ornaments crash against the floor.
Alfred had to pull him away from the room.
<–~–>
Jason was getting pretty tired of all of this crap. He had wanted a relaxing Christmas and instead, the child had to go missing. It didn’t help that the manor was on lockdown. They were only allowed outside in pairs. Tim wasn’t allowed out at all due to his mental state. Dick would always pair up with Jason while Steph and Cass traded off pairing with Duke.
But Jason had other plans for this time. This time, he would go with Duke. Because Duke knew something. Duke knew where Damian was. It was as obvious as the sky was blue. And Jason was going to figure out what he knew. Jason had a plan .
“Pair up, we’re heading out.” Bruce announced, putting on his batman suit.
He was the only one who didn’t need to pair up. Although, tonight he would be pairing up with Dick.
“Hey, Duke,” Jason called, his helmet held under his arm. “How about we pair up this time?”
Duke looked up and furrowed his brows.
“I patrol during the day.”
“That’s not a problem.”
Come on. I need to see what you’re hiding.
Duke thought for a moment and then nodded.
“Okay. Let me tell Cass that she’ll have to go with Steph tonight.”
Jason smiled to himself.
“I’ll see you at dawn then.”
Duke nodded as he went off to find the girls.
—
The following morning, Red Hood and Signal stood on the rooftops, searching around. Suddenly, Signal took off in a direction, forcing Red Hood to follow behind.
Red Hood watched Signal dip into an abandoned warehouse and followed behind. Although, the warehouse was pitch black with a single desk in the center with a tablet sitting atop of it. Instantly, Red Hood knew it was a trap. He stayed with his back against the walls as he circled the room, searching for any sign of Signal. There was none.
Suddenly, the tablet turned on and a familiar face appeared on the screen.
“Hello, Red Hood.”
The man in question whipped his head towards the tablet, although he didn’t leave the safety of the shadows. It really was a trap.
Red Hood didn’t say anything, but the kid on the screen didn’t mind and kept speaking.
“I’ve heard you’re on our trail.”
Searching the room, there was no sign of anyone else. There wasn’t a tripwire anywhere in the room. What was going on?!
“Now, I have a proposition for you,” the kid said. “You can either join us, or face… consequences .”
Red Hood paused as he stared at the screen.
“What kind of consequences?”
“I think you know.”
The evil gobbling of a turkey cut off whatever thought Red Hood had. The sound didn’t come from the video call. It came from above him.
He looked up and saw two beady eyes staring down at him.
“What’s your decision, Hood?”
The man in question turned back to the screen.
“Tell me what’s going on.”
<–~–>
It was the twentieth of December and Dick was stressed. Probably not as stressed as Bruce, but he was almost there. While Bruce was off getting as many leads as he could, Dick was watching everyone with extreme caution. They were keeping something from him. Call it older brother instinct, but he knew something was up. The way they kept disappearing into the lounge. Never at the same time, but it was still strange.
It seemed him and Bruce were the only ones out of the loop. Even Alfred was being suspicious. No one was in the same room at the same time, at least one person was always in the lounge, sitting by the tree. And when they weren’t there, they were giving false leads.
“Damian’s been spotted by the school!” Duke would call over the coms.
Dick fought the urge to roll his eyes as the team (minus Tim who was still on lockdown) ran down to the school. They were good actors, Dick would give them that. But not good enough to fool him.
“He’s not here!” Cass called from around the corner.
“Not here, either!” Steph called from the playground.
“He’s not inside, either,” Jason sighed as he walked outside, followed by Babs.
“It was another dead end, Signal,” Babs sighed, shaking her head at Batman who stood on the roof.
“We’ll go check again another day.”
“Why don’t we just give up?” Jason asked. “Clearly he’s not here, he isn’t anywhere so we’ll just stop looking.”
Dick balled up his fist in anger.
“ What did you say?” he asked through gritted teeth.
“I said, let’s give up the search.”
The entire group fell silent, watching on. Jason was holding his ground fairly well, his height making it easier to stand up to Dick. The man in question, however, was fuming. After a few seconds of thinking it over, he slammed his fist into Jason’s jaw, effectively making him fall back a step.
“Woah, someone needs better control of their emotions,” Jason smirked.
“Jason, that’s enough.” Babs cut in.
“I agree,” Signal said, pulling his helmet off. “I think it’s time he knew.”
—
Dick paced the room as the entire family (minus Bruce, Tim and, obviously Damian) sat down on the couch or floor.
“What is it?” Dick stopped, narrowing his eyes at his siblings. “What are you keeping from me? Is he…” he stopped himself. The word dead dying on his tongue.
“No, of course not,” Steph said sympathetically, a flash of guilt on her face. “Damian’s… uhm… how do I put this…”
“He’s in the manor, still,” Duke cut in. “He hasn’t left.”
“But he’s not in the vents.” Dick stated.
“That’s not the only hiding place,” Cass grinned.
“We’ve checked every hiding place!” Dick replied. “No matter how smart Damian is, with all of us searching, he couldn’t have switched hiding places that quickly !”
“Unless he was hiding somewhere we couldn’t look.”
Dick narrowed his eyes in confusion before they widened in understanding.
“Oh.”
<–~–>
It was officially Christmas Eve and Bruce was thinking about ditching the holidays all together. This wasn’t time to celebrate. It was time to be alert. It was time to keep a watch on everyone and everything. He had the Justice League keeping an eye out in their cities but that could only go on for so long. It wasn’t their fight.
It was while he was sitting in the batcave, watching the screens to make sure he had sights everywhere that there was a knock on the wall, signaling someone’s presence.
Bruce turned around and sighed, watching his kids walk in.
“Still haven’t found him?”
Unfortunately, it was a common thing to hear recently.
“Actually…” Steph began, rubbing her neck with a sheepish smile. “There’s something we need to tell you.”
—
“Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?” Bruce asked after they explained what had been going on for the past month. He had to apologize to the League for making them help on a fruitless search.
“Because…” Steph glanced behind her and Dick spoke up.
“Because she was asked not to.”
Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose. He at least had to give it to them. They were cunning and smart. But…
“You too, Alfred?”
“I decided to respect the young master’s wishes, sir.” Alfred replied.
“Does Tim know?”
That’s when the cave was filled with laughter and cackling.
“Nope!” Steph laughed.
Again, Bruce sighed. Tomorrow was going to be great .
<–~–>
FINALLY !! Tim thought as he saw a cup of beautiful, hot, steaming coffee on the table. It was the strong stuff, too. He had managed to get a couple hours of sleep last night, but a little caffeine never hurt anyone. (yes it did, case in point: Tim)
He sipped on his coffee as the rest of the family came into the kitchen. With the caffeine working itself into his system, he was able to actually function like a (mostly) normal human being. Everyone looked tired, yawning as they came in and tired smiles on their faces as if something had been lifted off their shoulders.
“Have you found Damian?” he asked them. He knew the search had been going on while he was… out of commission.
The family looked up as if they hadn’t realized he was there.
“Uh…”
“Nope!”
“Not at all.”
“Haven’t seen him.”
They all spoke at the same time.
“Ooookay then?” Tim replied, taking another sip of coffee. (had his coffee always tasted this good?)
They all sat down and ate breakfast, not speaking. Although some of them kept giggling behind their hands.
Tim thought nothing of it.
Once they were done eating, however, they all but forced him into the lounge.
“Merry Christmas!” everyone shouted as they pushed him towards the large box under the tree.
He had seen that box a million times before, but never realized it was for him. He looked up at the tree to make sure he wasn’t still hallucinating. The lack of cartoonish eyes told him he was, in fact, seeing reality.
Tim looked down at the box.
“Come on!” Steph all but whined. “Open it!!”
Tim rolled his eyes at her enthusiasm before he undid the bow on the top of the box. That’s when he realized something. The box didn’t have a bottom. Carefully, he lifted up the box slightly, suddenly very nervous of what was underneath.
He didn’t even get to completely lift the box before there was a child lunging at him.
“MERRY CHRISTMAS DRAKE!” a gremlin shouted at him.
Tim froze for a second before he pushed the child off of him.
“What just happened?” he asked, still in slight shock as he looked over at the family and then back to Damian what that heck ?
“You just got pranked!” Damian replied, looking very smug.
“That was not a prank.” Tim replied.
“Sure it was!” Steph replied, cackling like an idiot.
“Ah. You were behind this.”
“Was not!”
“Uh-huh. Just like you weren’t the one to start Dick and Jason’s prank war?”
The boys in question both turned to glare at Steph.
“It’s Christmas. No fighting,” Bruce idly reminded as he opened one of his presents.
“I’m going to kill you !” Jason shouted as he chased Steph out the door.
The rest of the kids followed behind while Bruce stared down at a sketch of the family drawn by each of the kids. He smiled to himself.
Merry Christmas indeed.