Chapter Text
The five of them were at the airport ready to check-in, He booked the first possible flight after talking with Lucius and asking him to organize a meeting with the Hong-Kong department of the Wayne Enterprise and he also booked a hotel suite in a pet friendly hotel because of Titus.
His youngest, Damian asked Jon to take care of the other family pets, including Ace, Bruce himself called Clark and confirmed with him if they could take care of them; but Titus was now his service dog, even if at home, and sometime at the Wayne’s tower he still brought Ace with him.
Now, they arrived a couple of hours early to check if they had everything and to make sure that their equipment would be sent off separately with a security already checked so no one would see their suits, they should already be at the gate if it wasn’t for the lady at the check-in desk still insisting that their great dane dog was too big to stay on the passenger side of the airplane.
First of all Bruce booked 1 extra ticket exactly for Titus, to be sure that no other passenger wouldn’t be disturbed, and he also booked all their six tickets in business plus, he didn’t take first class because he didn’t like the walls between the seats, those would have been uncomfortable considering his children and their likely need to talk between each other in the various seats, plus Titus needed to stay between Damian and him, Damian because it was still his dog first of all, and second because he was Bruce’s service dog after Ace retired.
“He’s a SERVICE DOG, he needs to stay in the cabin with us” Dick was repeating to the lady for the hundred of time in the last half an hour “And as I already told you, he’s too big to stay under the seat” the lady repeated even though she was already, numerous times, told differently “FOR the last time he’s got a ticket!” Stephanie said, showing off the printed paper.
“And we got a copy of his service dog’s certificate from Metropolis course school” Damian showed off the papers while on his toe tips because he still didn’t get his growth sprout, the original certificate was at home framed next to Ace’s one, Bruce thought to himself.
Bruce was getting tired of this whole thing, and even thought he appreciated the effort of his children, he was still Bruce Wayne, and this was Gotham’s airport, so it was his turn now to end this whole discussion
“Ehmehm” the bickering stopped and the four of them looked at him while he got closer to the desk “I’m sorry to interrupt this lively discussion, miss-” he looked at her nametag “Mercy Jackins, but we have a flight to take, plus” indicating behind him “there are other people waiting, so, at this point, why don’t you call your manager?”.
Miss Marcy had apparently the answer ready
“Mr. Wayne, I’m sorry but your dog is too big, he can’t stay in the cabin, even if he’s a service dog, it’s company policy” but unfortunately for her Bruce also had his answer ready “Well, unfortunately for you, the Law is Above your company policy, so, please, call your manager, I’m sure they will easily find a solution for this”
“Unfortunately I can’t, my manager is in a meeting right now” Marcy answered after looking at her phone
“Well, then I’m sure Steven Flightwing should be free at this moment, we can ask him directly,-” he started to get his phone out “-don’t you find it funny, “Flightwing” for a surname when he owns an airport? I met him once at a gala, it was when he announced the construction of the new gate section for the airport in collaboration with Wayne Enterprise’s Research and Development department to make it as green energy as possible”
“Mr Wayne, there is no need to-” Mercy was now starting to panic “Oh, and did you know he’s got at least three dogs? Maybe one of them was pregnant, but I don’t know if he kept the puppies, my secretary should have his number” he said while looking at his phone “I’ll call my manager! I’m sure he’s done with his meeting by now!”
And checkmate Bruce thought “Oh really? that would be wonderful, thank you very much”
Ten minutes later, the time for Miss Jakins to call her manager and for him to arrive, they were done with their check-ins and now they walked towards the security check, and after that everything went smoothly without much trouble. and after a while they were in their gate ready to board.
And as previously said sometimes 2 planes arrive and depart from completely different and opposite gates even though they have to go or they arrive from-to the same place, in this case Honkong.
When they finally boarded the plane on the opposite side of the airport Cass plane finally landed, but that’s another story.
—
Bruce usually preferred to travel in his own private jet or in first class, but unfortunately because this trip was so last minute and he didn’t have the time to ask Lucius to complete all the forms needed to get the ok to flight with a smaller plane for the whole trip, especially after all the bad weather that happened in Asia he was forced to flight public, and unfortunately all the flights that were available on this short notice didn’t have first class,plus he was traveling with his kids and Titus, and those walls would be annoying to have during the whole flight, his kids would probably start to exchange seats between each other like they would usually do on his private jet, and that’s also why he got all the six tickets next to each other, to make sure they won’t disturb any of the other passengers with all their moving; but luckily he was able to get business plus tickets; so they would still have the leg space.
Another reason why he preferred to fly with his own plane or in first class with the separating walls when he wasn’t fighting with someone else was because he didn’t really like small and crowded spaces, especially loud ones.
Usually public spaces like malls, or even during galas he was ok, there was enough space to move around and he could separate himself from the crowd.
He also went to discos or clubs when he was younger, but he stayed there for like max one or two hours, and usually found excuses to leave early, like finding someone to pass the night with.
But unfortunately for him this was not the case, on this plane Business Plus was near the front of the plane, and because of their seats they boarded early, from the front, and that meant that all the remaining people, both in business, economy plus and economy were now passing through in that small space and their voices, that usually in an open space would result in a normal volume in that small enclosure, with so little space were really loud, and he didn’t really like that, and he still needed to figure out a plan to find Cass, his daughter, and all this noise was starting to-
In that moment he felt a boop and his hand wet, right, Titus, he was sit next to him, and on the other side there was Damian sat near the window
“Father, are you ok? Titus-” Damian was looking at him “Yes, I think it’s better if I sit near the window, at least for now” Damian nodded at that, and when there was some space from the group of people that just passed through the two switched seats, and Titus remained in the middle, between the two.
And after that Bruce decided to wear his earbuds and to listen to some music at least until the boarding was completed, and in the meantime Damian gave Titus some treats and pets.
—
After around 15 long hours the plane finally landed at Hong-Kong international airport, located on Chek Lap Kok island, and to get to their hotel they took the express train from the airport to the city center. And from there they took a taxi to finally arrive to the hotel that Wayne Enterprise booked
Luckily their special luggage was already in their suite waiting for them when they finally arrived at the hotel, and they already had dinner at the airport before taking the train. It was almost 9pm when they finally arrived at their hotel and did the check-in.
Now they needed a plan, for now this was a “secret” mission, they couldn’t alert Cass captors, they still didn’t know if Cass was taken when she was in her Black Bat gear or while in her civilian clothes, so they had to act with caution.
“Batman and Robin can’t be seen here in Hong-Kong, not until we know who’s our enemy at least, this mission needs to be secretive, so we’ll both go out as our civilian selves during the day and take turns for the nights” Bruce finally said after everyone settled in their chosen rooms of the suite and started opening their luggage
“Me and Steph will go out tonight, our costumes are less recognizable" Dick proposed after a while
“But I want to go too! I know the city better than you” Tim protested and Bruce refused
“No, we will go out in groups of two, and we’ll alternate between each other in the various nights, and you’ll also have to wake up early tomorrow”
Tim looked at him strangely before asking “Why?”
Bruce gave him a little smile “You’re coming with me at the meeting tomorrow, it’s not only an inspection, but it’s also about the project you proposed last month”
Tim had a realization in his eyes “The pavement one?” Bruce nodded at that, “Ok, but I’ll still be on comms, like that I can guide you with Babs through the city” and at that both Dick and Steph gave a thumbs up.
It was 10:30pm now, Damian was already sleeping with Titus in his room, and Tim was still up on comms, they really needed to wake up early, and Tim, even if he slept during the flight, still needed more sleep, he was up for almost two days now, so he went and got his son “Tim” the young man turned around to look at him “Go to sleep”
“But they-”
“There is Barbara with them, it’s, probably, midday in Gotham, Barbara can continue to guide them, you need sleep, come on” and with that Bruce took Tim to his room and made sure he went to bed. After that he checked if Dick and Steph were ok before going to bed himself.
—
They’ve been out for almost 3 hours now, and nothing, nada de nada, they didn’t find a single clue on where Black Bat could possibly be, they couldn’t go around the places Cass usually visited because at this time they were closed.
They stopped a couple of robberies and other petty crimes, but Steph was still getting angsty, she missed Cass and was worried for her.
“We should probably return, we’ll find nothing at this point, it’s better if we try tomorrow” Dick proposed probably noticing her being nervous “Yeah, let’s return and let’s ask Oracle to continue search for us”
When they arrived in their suite they called Babs to confirm with her “Yes, I’ll continue to check here from the Clock tower, I’ll try looking at the street cameras that are in the city and let you know if I find anything suspicious" the redhead said and in chorus “Thanks Babs” the two vigilante answered before closing the comms and getting ready for bed.
—
It was the morning after, before going their separate ways the group had breakfast at the hotel restaurant, and Damian sneaked Titus some boiled eggs for the dog to eat other than the dog food the hotel provided.
Tim went with Bruce to the Wayne Enterprises’s Hong-Kong office for the meeting, and Dick, Steph and Damian took Titus for a walk, and with that excuse they started going around the places Cass usually visited in her civilian persona.
At the time the four of them didn’t notice it, and didn’t really paid attention to them, they were Waynes, it was normal for fans to take a photo or two while they were going around gotham or generally somewhere in the USA, but something they didn’t think about was getting recognized outside of the USA, for example in Hong-Kong
After going around the city and its parks, stopping by the places Cass usually went to, in search of any information, they went to her apartment.
It was a penthouse in a luxury apartment complex, with good security too. Cass usually isn’t the most tidy person, but generally it was just a couple of clothes on the sofa or the chair, and just a little bit of trash left around, the typical “living alone now” situation; Dick apartment it’s usually worse than what hers usually looks like.
It was usually like this, nothing too scandalous, or anything. Usually it was like this, today wasn’t usually.
What they saw when they opened that door was pure and simple chaos.