Chapter Text
Four opened their journal to a fresh page and settled on top of the desk. No one else was in the office right now, which she was thankful for. Looking around to make sure that they weren't going to be bothered, their attention fell to the fresh page of the journal, what to write, what to write. Four scrawled out in big loopy letters An Encounter with a Bat. The hot orange pen they had been writing with decided to give out and Four snapped it and tossed it onto the floor, knocking papers and files off of the desk to scramble for a new writing utensil. What they found was a boring black ball point pen that smudged when they rested their hand on the page, but it was what it was right now. Sighing, Four started to write:
“Another beautiful day in Gotham, the birds were chirping, the criminals having been out all night slinked back to their lairs to hibernate for the day. Batman waltz into the fucking building ready to tear it down. Alfred had been right, his plan of crashing the Batmobile into the building was dumb. He regretted spending time on those plans, what he did not regret was making his gorgeous boyfriend Superman sit through his two hour long powerpoint on why this particular plan was on par with his other plans of how to take down the justice league if the need ever arose. To be quite honest he didn't even get to slide 4 before superman had distracted him and well, let's just say it had been quite an eventful night for both parties. He got shocked out of these thoughts by an annoyingly cheerful woman.
She looked like her name was sunshine in my ass, she was positively dripping with enthusiasm, it was suspicious. Nobody was this cheerful in the morning. Sunshine turned and looked at Batman, with a smile that looked like it got carved onto her by the smiling god himself.
“I assume you are here to see the CEO then?”
It was embarrassing for him to admit he stared at her mouth slightly agape. No hello. No oh wow it's the famous billionaire! The nerve of some people he thought absentmindedly before beginning to growl and lean into Sunshine’s space before remembering himself, where he was and how he was dressed. Gah! He should've listened to Supes and let him tag along on this mission.
“Grrrr… er um yes, I Bruce Wayne the famous billionaire, gothams resident tired dadTM am here to see the ummm”
“ The CEO of the Guiding Lights Foundation?”
Sunshine supplied him with all to cheerfully. Batman clearly made a mental note to suggest to the CEO to admit her to Arkham, she clearly needed to be treated for this smiling disease she obviously had caught from the smiling god.
Batman frowned. He was really really depressed now. Today was not going the way he had hoped. Maybe he should just stick to working at nights like an actual bat. He looked at the sunshine looser and said, “Ummmm yes”
He thought that was rather elegantly put. Sunshine or Susan as her nameplate that was conveniently located at her desk read, got up and went over to a phone on the wall. But her tone didn't match what you'd show your boss as respect.
“You should get down here someone is asking to see you”
Batman sighed he'd have to face a goon before the boss battle then. Susan got off the phone and turned to him, taking in his scowl and tense posture before putting on what Bats considered a shit eating grin although it was only a really creepy normal smile and pointed to a hallway.
“I'm sending you up to the office now, down that hallway turn left, up the elevator and into the office then”
“Justice will be served”
Batman growled as he stalked up the hallway. The ever helpful Suzan called out to him that he was going the wrong way. Batman didn't care, Batman's always right he thought. When tasked with vengeance not even his lover Superman would be able to stop him. Superman had dropped him off at the building pleading with Batman to let him help, despite Superman being terrified to let him leave to go into Owl territory.
Anyways Batman shook himself out of the flashback. He had a mission and couldn't afford to be distracted. He did however realize that he was going the wrong way but didn't want the sunshine receptionist to know that. Batman kept going till he found an elevator. Did all elevators lead to the same place? He sincerely hoped so, Batman needed a win.
Batman turned, stepping into the metal contraction scanning for any sign that the box would crush him once the doors closed, a worker also got into the elevator and with raised eyebrows watched as the celebrity inspected the normal elevator like a fool. Probably on drugs the worker thought, or worse he’s cracked and he's going to be processed for treatment. Batman suddenly realized the worker was there and immediately straightened up to his full height before reminding himself that he was in a suit and tie, not a black bat costume. He leaned against the elevator wall going for the appearance of casualness but looked ridiculous.
“Going up to the office then, or the treatment center?”
Batman could hardly believe his ears, which was fine as he had regular hearing and not that of a bat. The treatment center? He could get into the TREATMENT center. He considered it for a long moment, internally winching at the amount of time the worker stared at him like he had developed two heads.
“Can I go to the treatment center?” he heard himself ask the worker.
“Let's get you up to the office first and they'll help you determine that.”
And with those words the worker had pushed a button that would presumably take him up to the office. The elevator started moving and Batman swore, the worker eyed him with pity.
It was an awkward elevator ride. A dinning could be heard and the doors opened to reveal floor one. The worker explained as they backed out of the elevator that the offices were on floor three, and wished the billionaire good luck with whatever he was struggling with.
As Batman pushed the button that would take him to the CEO's office he muttered with the furry of someone who had just been caught doing something embarrassing.
"justice can only be served on the third floor"
It was at that moment Batman realized that he had pressed button 2, And immediately scrambled to press 3. Looking around to note any cameras that might have caught that mistake. He sighed as he did not find any, completely missing the very obvious camera in the corner.
Batman practically jumped out of the elevator and had just located the office titled CEO when—------
Ty Chmiel walked into the office with a pinched expression on his face which tightened as he saw a figure sprawled out on his desk, feet resting on the top of the stationary computer and arms dangling off the side of the desk where the infamous notebook was held and scribbled away on with what looked like his new pen.
“Sir, may I enquire about what you are doing?”
Ty moved over to the desk but gave a wide berth, just in case Four felt like doing some spontaneous target practice. Ben would probably forgive an accidental cut, but he wanted to avoid a conflict like that when he had a very important meeting coming up. Four looked up quickly as if they had just noticed Ty in the room, hands dropping the journal immediately to grip the knives nearest their person.
“I'm not doing anything, and even if I was, what's it to you?”
Four made no moves to get up or reclaim the journal that had fallen to the floor, and Ty internally sighed as he slowly sat down in the chair near the desk to do his best to tidy up around the sprawled out child.
“I am only asking because Benjamin had mentioned earlier that you have a couple of reports due today, and had asked me to remind you about them.”
Four’s eyes widened as an Oh shit movement that would have been considered comical if it wasn't being made on the fourth most powerful person in the court. Ty bent down to pick up the papers that had fallen out of the folders that he had spent hours making up. He hoped that Four wasn’t paying attention; if the kid looked down well then, Ty wasn't sure what would happen, and he was in no hurry to find out.
“Reports…. Right, I dont suppose that you’d have time to help me with those?”
Four looked over at Ty, who thankfully had just tidied up the last of the papers and had put them in a securer location. Their puppy dog eyes were on point, and Ty inwardly sighed. If you had asked him three years ago if this is where life would take him, he would have laughed and dismissed you entirely.
“Mx. Meliodas, I must remind you that I am not a member of the Court or even the broader Court of Owls. If I even attempted to ask you about the business that I am not a part of, or any other Owl related activities I could very well lose my life.”
“Awwww come on! That's not fair! Ben wouldn't KILL you, plus you are great at writing reports, I know because Ren told me.”
Four in a fluid movement kicked their feet off of the computer to sit and face Ty, who was still sitting in the desk chair. Four’s legs found one of the armrests on the desk chair. Their knives rested under their arms, ready to swing. Ty, with the practiced calmness of someone who deals with this weekly, scooted a little to the left to log into the computer Four’s feet had been resting on.
“While I can’t offer you help with this matter, I can offer you the space to get started so you can submit the reports on time. There are a couple more minutes before I need the office to conduct office Guiding Lights business.”
“Are you really meeting with BATMAN? You know some people say he's secretly in love with Superman! It's kinda sad that his parents got killed, I mean I think it is. I've never had parents, but it must be sad because he decided to beat people up at night. It's an interesting thing to decide after your family gets murdered. OH, did you know he doesn't kill either? Maybe you will make friends with him, I mean you also don't kill! OH, AND CAN YOU ASK HIM ABOUT SUPERMAN! I personally don't think they are together but it would be cool if they WERE. Honestly that relationship would kinda be like you and Be-”
Ty cut Four’s rambling off with a hum and a gesture to the computer.
“Four, if you’ll excuse me, I need to grab some documents before the meeting starts.”
Four’s pouting intensified with a huff they slinked into the char that Ty had just been occupying.
“You really are doing official business right now huh?”
With a nod, Ty left the room.