The Latest Gossip (Batfamily)

[Deleted]

Bruce finished saying goodbye to the blonde yoga instructor he had met at the Palisades Country Club and had Alfred arrange for her drive home. He had told her he was due at a late board meeting with the rest of the Thomas Wayne Foundation's leadership, but he had other plans.

As he stepped into his study elevator and descended Bruce seemed to change. He took off his suit jacket and his brow furrowed as he descended into another identity. Tonight, again, he would don the persona of Batman, even if he wasn't planning on taking to the streets. By the time he'd hung up his jacket next to the elevator, the cave was fully lit. The Batcomputer recognized who entered it by an RFID embedded in their skin, and set up the computer to their profile. Bruce's profile had already been pulled up onto the main screen. His open cases displayed alongside his personal 'Gotham's Most Wanted' list, constantly being updated with probable sightings and new leads, as determined by an advanced algorithm. 

Each secondary screen contained an overview of the profile for Batgirl, Robin, the Red Hood, and Nightwing. The last two were distressingly out of date, and Batman decided to take care of that as he sat down at the console. He thumbed on the quick communicator to each of the four, "Report to the Batcave. Priority two."

Priority two would let them finish their present task before they had to report in. It could be hours before he heard from them, but it was still enough that they would show up. For the time being he could get through his daily checklists and make sure he had updated all of his investigations. The Joker had been inactive for a long time, considering he was out of Arkham. There was also the murder at St. Swithins. He keyed in a few commands and watched as the computer reapplied his field analysis and displayed a list of probable suspects for each crime, as well as their probably locations.

Programming these automatic functions was one of the more tedious jobs he had taken on, a largescale rewrite of the programs developed by Wayne Enterprises to be sold to law enforcement. Thankfully the program hadn't been up to snuff before Batman got his hands on it, and so no one else had access to this proprietary software. 

Finally, he began circulating through the latest newspapers and cable news outlets, letting the computer choose what it thought was most interesting for an investigation. This could easily take up the rest of the night, and he was happy to occupy himself with news of new superhero sightings, hyped up crime sprees, and the latest drug craze. There was no telling what clues the foolish media could give up without even knowing it.

[Dick Grayson - Nightwing]

Nightwing had been scaling a building at the time he heard the communicator go off in his ear. What was that all about?

There never was an explanation from Bruce when it came to getting his work done. But if it were an emergency he would say so. At least he was getting time to finish he work.

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An hour later, Nightwing left a boat house in Bludhaven with smoke clearing from it. He made sure not to let the destroying of illegal weapons get out of hand. The police had been contacted and that was enough work for the town tonight. They might send out one fire truck for good measure.

There was no need to bring the building down, he just wanted to keep control over his city. Even if it meant smoking out a few rats. And it had worked.

Rumors would fly fast enough that Nightwing had tracked these low lives down in less than a two days, no matter how advance their techniques were compared to others in his city. They'd know who to fear at the end of the night.

Dick looked at the time on his visual screen of his eye mask. Ok, an hour has pass. Not bad considering he had tracked and stopped them from almost crossing from the east side of his town.

Nightwing had hit a button to call for the auto drive of his bike. And within moments it was there for him to mount onto and head out.

He hadn't responded to Bruce because he wasn't going to make any promises that night. The battle could have gone either way. And he had managed to shut down their main operation. It would take them weeks before they would be up and running.

It took a while longer to get to Gotham from the far end of Bludhaven. And there was only one place to head to...the Batcave.

The roar of a motorcycle echoed in the tunnels headed towards the main quarters of the cave. He wasn't going for stealth. And the roar of his bikes engine would give away who it was.

Once within range, he parked his bike near the bat mobile. He could tell it hadn't hit the roars that night.

Removing his helmet he left it on the front of the bike as he climbed off. Heading for the main computer system, the familiar sight of his mentor deeply immersed in his work.

Nightwing walked up to the computer, removing his mask as he walked up, placing it in one of the gauntlets for keeping.

"What's the emergency," he asked. "Didn't expect to hear from you tonight."

Dick knew there hadn't been any rush, for them to come. But it had been a order...he wasn't just asking them nicely to come in. He was just being nice enough to let them finish their work first.

[Deleted]

Jason lept off of the ten story building, doing a triple flip on the way down, just to show off. He landed on the shoulders of a tall, and hooded man. He turned around and landed an elbow into the other man standing there. Jason looked around, he had been hunting three men. Where was the third? These guys had kidnapped two little girls, no older than ten or eleven. If there was one thing Jason hated, it was the criminals who involved kids. Being targeted many times himself when he was young, it was a sore spot. Jason grabbed the first man by the collar and slammed him into the side of the building.

"Where are the little girls!" Jason yelled. He narrowed his eyes under his crimson red helmet as the man began to snicker.

"I ain't telling you crap!" The man sneered. Jason pulled out a knife and pressed it against the man's neck. Jason put on his best dark and gravely voice.

"I'm going to give you one last try! Where are the little girls!!!" Jason scowled. He sounded so ridiculous, like a kid trying to do Batman's voice. The whole attempt was ridiculous, like a kid trying on his dad's clothes. Jason pulled the knife across quickly. Crimson splattered across Jason's brown jacket. He walked over to the other man and pulled out a pistol. He slammed the man into a wall and pressed a gun against the man's head.

"Now you saw what happens if you don't obey me! Where are the kids! Answer me!" Jason yelled even louder. He was getting angry.

"South Gotham! He is holding them in a warehouse in South Gotham! 3 West Pleasant Street!" Jason smiled.

"Thanks." Jason said quietly, before he pulled the trigger. Jason's comlink buzzed to life, coinciding with the bang of the gun. Jason raised an eyebrow. What did Bruce need from him, of all people. Jason launched a grapnel to the top of the nearest building. He didn't know if he was going to go. A meeting between the Batfamily just seemed like drama. He had talked to Dick and Tim, and was in a romantic relationship with Barbara, but all of them in one room just seemed like trouble.

Jason lept across the rooftops to South Gotham. He arrived at his destination in about twenty minutes. Jason pulled out his binoculars and peered through the windows of the warehouse. He saw the girls... But where was the man? The hairs on Jason's neck stood up straight. He flipped around just in time to catch the dodge a hatchet that was heading right for the back of his head. Jason grabbed the man's worst and snapped it, causing him to drop the hatchet. He pulled a gun out of his belt, and pressed it into the bottom of the man's chin.

"Don't. Mess. With. Kids." Jason pulled the trigger, and a loud bang accompanied a splatter of crimson. Jason lept down and walked into the warehouses. The girls looked distressed at the sight of him.

"Don't worry! I'm one of the... I'm one of the good guys." Jason tucked his head and cut the girls loose. Jason pressed a button on his arm gauntlet, which called the police.

"The police will be here soon. Hang tight." Jason said, as he slipped into the shadows and left the building. He began walking back to his bunker. When he reached it, it had Lready been an hour since Bruce called. Jason plopped down onto the comfy, brown sleep sofa. He turned on the TV. As always, nothing good was on. With a sigh, Jason turned on Chopped. He pulled off his red helmet and set it down next to him.

As the episode ended, Jason stood up and stretched. He checked his watch. It was now two hours since Bruce called. Reluctantly, he pulled on his helmet and walked over to his motorcycle. He turned it on, and sped away into the night towards the Bat Cave. He slowed down as he entered the cave and parked next to Dick's motorcycle. He nodded to address the first Robin.

"Dick." He crossed his arms and looked at his former mentor.

"Bruce. What do you want." Jason sneered

[Deleted]

Batman turned around and examined the two men who had walked in. Jason Todd always made Bruce feel a pang of guilt. The boy reminded Bruce of his own youth. Freshly trained and confidently wading through the criminals who fall in his way. Jason was fueled by a different kind of pain then the younger Bruce Wayne had been, though, and it created a vastly different behavior.

Dick, on the other hand, seemed to still try to get along with Bruce. He was trusting, and perhaps by extension trustworthy. He was still too young to be sure though.

"Dick, Jason. You haven't kept up on your updates. I need to have updates on what your cases are uncovering." Batman turned to the computer and hit a few keys, bringing up a web of Gotham's criminal connections.

"We haven't seen movement from any of the Mafia here in months. I need to know if either of you have heard of anything. Same goes for the Joker. You both know you need to check in."

Tim and Barbara were so much more willing to keep Batman in the loop than Jason and Dick. It infuriated him, but this was one fight he had learned to avoid long ago. Instead he had arrived at the cautious truce of giving them complete freedom in their cases, access to Wayne Enterprises resources, and in exchange they fed him information that he could use to better track crime and investigate leads.

Batman knew that they would balk at his short tone, but they would find a reason to not give him any reports anyway, so he saw no point in trying to avoid the topic. He was glad they had arrived first. All of their resistance inevitably meant that Barbara and Tim wasted their time waiting around for their turn.

[Deleted]

With Batman’s call, she tried to be as quick as she could to respond but that didn’t seem to work in her favor. Though finally, she mananged to excuse herself from Lexcorp and climbed on top of her bike with her destination in sight. It wasn’t until she was moments away from entering the place she considered a second home did she notice that she was still in her business clothes rather than adorning the suit that she was expected to wear. With a roll of her ice blue eyes, she found a secluded area to make her transformation, pulling her mask over her glasses but found herself in far too much of a hurry to correct it.

Speeding once more toward the Batcave with the help of a secret tunnel so that she would not be spotted on arrival, she glanced down nervously at her watch and hastily secured her utility belt on her wide hips. When she finally made her entrance, she mananged to catch the last of Batman’s statement, though it was beginning to sound more like a lecture Maybe it was a good thing that she was running a little late. Her new internship was starting to take first priority in her life and when paired with her summer classes it took up a great deal of the ambitious redhead’s life.

“Yeah, boys. You need to check in more, be more like me.” She said almost to signal her arrival, realizing that she had left her glasses on and they stood out awkwardly under the material of her mask. Batgirl quickly removed them and tucked them into one of the many compartments that circled her waist. Finding her place in the room, she nodded as if to apologize for her tardiness. It was almost awkward to see Jason after their last lustful encounter and she averted her eyes and hoped that she wasn’t blushing as she passed him.

[Dick Grayson - Nightwing]

"Jason," Dick responded in a flat tone.

He still wasn't all in favor of Jason's practices as Red Hood. There was a lot the Bat-family could say about the way he worked.

When Bruce addressed them, he could hear by the serious tone that he meant business. When didn't Bruce have a serious tone while working in the Batcave?

Great a lecture....he came all the way from across town and his town to get his lecture for the night. He couldn't have just communicated with him through the com links?

Just before Dick was going to give he reasonings...ok ok, excuse, Barbara had shown up.

"What running late," Dick responded. Lame on his part, but she had come rushing in.

He could all but hold back a slight laugh, as he gave a slight smirk at her glasses being underneath her mask. He could tell she had been in a rush, that was a given. Though this was different. He noticed he avoiding eye contact with Jason as she crossed their paths. Maybe he had done something to tick her off. Dick wasn't focusing on that at the time though.

Not with having Bruce bearing down on him and Jason for lack of communication.

"I've been dealing with my own set of problem gangs in my town lately. More so than usual," Dick countered to Bruce's sharp tone.

[Deleted]

Jason rolled his eyes under his blood red mask, in response to Bruce's scolding. Great. Just what Jason needed after a long night. A lecture. Sure, Jason had agreed to be a loose agent of Bruce's, but that didn't mean Jason was going to run when Bruce barks.

"Sorry. 'Didn't think I had to goody-bag my information it and drop it on your doorstep." Jason hissed, replying almost immediately. He pulled off his helmet, and domino mask, and continued to rub his temples out of stress. He looked up as he heard someone else enter the room. He watched as the girl walked in, and smiled teasingly at her as she walked by, but stopped when he saw her tucking her head, avoiding his gaze. God, things were so confusing with her. Not like things were any easier with Dick or Bruce, but that was a different sort of relationship problem.

“Yeah, boys. You need to check in more, be more like me.”

"Atleast we show up with our costumes on correctly." Jason teased. He couldn't help but giggle at the sight of the glasses being crushed under the Redheads cowl. The teenage boy fixed his hair, which he had messed up while massaging his temple. Now only one person was missing. The Boy Replacement. Not that Jason was complaining. That kid was WAY to uptight for his age.

Jason didn't even know why Barbara and Tim were called in. It was obvious that this meeting was about him and Dick.

"I've been dealing with my own set of problem gangs in my town lately. More so than usual," Dick said. After Dick was finished speaking, Jason continued.

"From the parts of Gotham I watch, the underground, the Mafia doesn't seem to be moving much. No big gun or drug deals going on that I have seen so far. Atleast nothing big enough to stir something up. But I did get an anonymous tip that Penguin is planning on hijacking one of Falcone's gun deals in the next few months. I'll be there. It shouldn't be to much of a problem, bt if let untouched it may lead to a turf war. Thats why I'll be there. To stop it. As for Joker, I'm not sure. Ever since you... 'Took him off my hands', I haven't heard anything. The most I've seen is a figure resembling his breaking into Summer Gleeson's apartment. Security camera footage was cut after that moment. Gleeson's still alive, luckily. I put Langstrom back in Arkham recently, and solved the child abduction case. Happy?" Jason said, before taking a gasp of breath. That was alot to say. Hopefully the Brooding Night was happy now.