Chapter Text
Patrol has been difficult, to say the least. And though he would never admit it, even Bruce felt winded and exhausted. It's been one of constant fighting.
Not only have all the notorious crime families of Gotham unexpectedly banded together to form a front against the rest of the Gotham villains, to 'take back the turf from some murderous wannabes' they explained, but had also planned to storm and blow up Arkham. The intent to kill all the inmates inside, of course.
The irony of having to defend the criminals they had put there in the first place, was certainly not lost on him. Needless to say, running around Gotham and protecting the underworld from the constant attacks had been exhausting work for everybody. Only coming back on a Wednesday at 6:55 AM had been proof of that.
Robin was slumped in his seat next to him, jawning and already dozing off while he swayed through the, luckily, still empty streets. Had it not been for the constant threat of attack all around Gotham, he wouldn't have allowed Robin to ever stay with him this long. It was a tuesday, after all. Knowing his son though, and frankly all of his kids, this would have eventually led to a screaming match, followed by an angry escape through a window. Therefore keeping him close had felt like the better plan in the long run.
Looking at the now sleeping form besides him, Bruce quickly searched for any visible injuries, but was relieved when he couldn't find any. A quick checkup would be enough, then, before he sent him upstairs to go to sleep. Considering the size of the attacks tonight, he estimated that Alfred would receive a call from his school in a few minutes anyway, to tell them that they would say closed for the day.
He himself wasn't as unscathed, he already felt the familiar swelling of a black eye forming around the left side of his skull. Next to that, he estimated that his ribs would become a problem if he didn't let Alfred get a look at them, and that his left thigh needed stitches from where a knife had slashed through his body armour.
He also had a headache, which a particular closeby explosive had most likely been the cause of, but luckily it didn't feel like a concussion. Having had quite a number of them, he could catergorize them based on the severity of the headache he had an hour later. Alfred wasn't very pleased about that. He didn't quite know what to think of it himself.
The drive home was fairly quiet, next to the status updates he received from Oracle about the rest of his kids through the comms. Cass and Dick were going back to Blüdhaven in the morning, where they were investigating recent Court of the Owls activity.
The Outlaws weren't in the city tonight, but most likely somewhere across he globe. He considered that Jason might not have wanted to contribute anyway. Tim and Duke had retreated to one of the apartments across the city, to keep a close eye on the activity surrounding the attacks and clean up the coming day.
Stephanie hadn't updated them yet, but had left with a quick hug to Damian before stepping on her motorcycle and driving off, somewhere around 5:45 AM.
She had been by their side the entire night, after Bruce had asked Oracle to send someone their way. He needed someone to keep an eye on Damian, to make sure he was alright. He was sure his son could hold his own, child assassin and all, but he figured it was better to play it safe.
While being the ones that needed protection tonight, they still had to deal with people that, any other day of the year, would have wanted them dead on the spot.
Someone might try something unexpected, and that was a risk he didn't want to take.
In any case, it was pleasant to watch Stephanie and Damian interact the way they did. In his absence last year, they had gotten close, which he was glad about. In retrospect, that might have been one of the only good things that came out of that year. Their teasing eachother was a good distraction from the constant fighting, anyway.
--
"Father why must you torture me, I'm not an infant, I can take care of myself. And even so, why ask Fatgirl? Any other one could have done as my sidekick tonight." Robin said dramatically exasperated. It was apparently a thing he had picked up from Dick.
"Kiddo, legally, as your babysitter tonight, I can't let you say those things about me, it's against babysitter law. Ask Alfred." She took off her motorcycle helmet and gave Bruce a quick salute. "Anyway, if someone's the sidekick tonight, it's you."
"I am not a child, Batgirl!" Damian said while walking towards Batgirls motorcycle. "Why don't you go bother someone else. Drake could certainly use the help, even Condiment King can fight better than him." Stephanie laughed, lifted up her arm and quickly ruffled his hair before he could swat away her hand. "And miss out on some good bonding time? Never." She got off her motorcycle and walked towards Bruce with Robin in tow, to where Bruce was observing a street below for an incoming car that was full of weapons that would be used by Maroni's henchmen tonight.
"Tell you what, play nice and I'll let you pick the movie we watch on Friday."
"Tsk, finally, you always pick some new action film anyway. "
"Aww come on, you love them. Don't even deny it. Don't tell me you didn't like the Ocean's movie we watched last week, I saw you staring at the screen in awe the entire time."
"That is not true, their operations are nothing but cheap tricks that could never even happen in real life."
Stephanie picked up a pair of binoculars and started to look towards the windows of the opposite buildings, where snipers guarding the cargo would be when the car arrived. "So, that wasn't you who tried to replicate a scene from it together with J'onn the other night? I mean I did film it and send it to Cass.."
"You did what!" Damian got closer to Stephanie and tried to hit her in her arm, but Stephanie quickly dodged to the side, "Why do I even keep you around if you betray me like this."
"Aww, c'mon, you love me, admit it. Who helped you pick out a birthday present for J'onn and Mia last month? Who helped you bake that cake for Dick? Who plays rooftop hide and seek with you on patrol?" Damian sighed. "Well at least for a sidekick, you're not completely intolerable." Damian ducked his head and stepped a bit closer while she ruffled his head without resistance this time, still focussed on the windows. Bruce was smiling while he listened in on their conversation. Not that he would tell anyone that.
A few minutes later, his attention was redirected to an incoming black van that was approaching the opening of the alleyway.
At the same time he heard Stephanie and Damian's conversation stop. He saw Stephanie intently watch the building across from them, observing several windows at a time. "I see four snipers in different windows on the twelfth and fourteenth floor." She relayed. "I'll deal with the snipers," Bruce said, "secure the cargo and then contact the GCPD. We meet up on the opposite rooftop in ten minutes." Bruce dove off the ledge and disappeared into the shadows. Stephanie chuckled, "Come on, Robin. Let's go kick some henchmen butt."
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The night was succesfull, until it wasn't.
To be honest, he only had himself to blame.