A Number of Bats

Coma

"Damian wait!" Mar'i yelled as the Boy Wonder ran out of the room, flinging his yellow cape behind him, tears streaming down his face.

"Stay away from Mar'i or I might get you killed too."

That made the alien girl halt in her steps as the teen guy finally slammed the front door of Wayne Manor closed behind him.

"Damian," she whispered before straitening her shoulders and turning back around.

The clock was still open and she easily floated down the staircase, following her mother's cries. When she herself reached the bottom though, she couldn't help but gasp and release her own tears.

He was lying so still. They said it had been the blast from the radiation core of the factory.

"Daddy, please wake up."

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Warmth

There were many forms of warmth in Gotham. Fire, blood, hugs, smoke, fur coats, birds' nests, caves, hot springs, scarfs, gloves and overly stuffed cotton coats.

On a high tower, a lone figure was peering down at the humans walking the streets. A boy holding a black mold of cloth to his chest.

"You shouldn't be up here alone."

The boy's wide blue eyes glanced to the side.

"Oh, hi Damian."

"It's freezing out here you brat."

"I know."

Damian looked at the cloth the boy held and sighed before glancing at the bright cloth draped over his own shoulders.

The younger didn't look up when he heard the movement but jolted when the bright yellow cloth was wrapped around him.

"You'll freeze out here Terry. Let's go back inside."

"…OK."

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Shadows

The Gotham City crimefighters breathed shadows, even the ones born of light. If anything, they were the shadows. How something burning so bright could hide among the dread of the city and darkness of back alleys was beyond its citizens.

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Sunset

"Catching the last rays of the sun for patrol tonight?"

Green eyes widened before a smirk fell over orange skin and Kori turned to the man waiting on the rooftop below. She had been watching the sunset, and admittedly, trying to catch the last powers of the failing light rays.

Looking upward, Dick Grayson held out his hand in invitation and the alien princess decided to skip it, grab him and go sailing over the rooftops.

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Driven

The Batfamily members were only ever driven somewhere by Alfred or, in one of the younger one's situation, if they were on a date.

But who needed to drive? When you could fly?

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Motorcycle

Colin had been overwhelmed at first by the motorcycle that Damian had given to him.

He was always said to be violent by his overseers/guardians of the past. Maybe that's why Abuse felt so natural. It was Bane's venom but he made it good by being a hero.

The lights came on and the motorcycle started just as Colin noticed the Bat-signal lighting up the sky.

Batman and Robin might need his help.

Even if the Dynamic Duo could handle it alone, he was always happy to see his new best friend, Robin.

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Airport

Something had crashed beyond the airport and destroyed three of the planes that had, thankfully, been empty. So that's where Dick and Damian found themselves minutes later after receiving the call.

"There it is!" Robin shouted, pointing to a smoking green crater.

"Easy," Batman said, placing a restraining hand on his partner's shoulder.

They approached it together, hands already in place to draw out Birdarangs and Batarangs.

The Boy Wonder had to near gasp though both at what he saw and his mentor's reaction.

First of all, it was an alien. A tall, orange skinned, red headed, full green glowing eyes ALIEN!

Second of all. Grayson knew her.

"Kori?"

The alien glanced up at the two of them and the two males discovered that she was holding something close to her. It was a tinier alien, who, they discovered, shared her mother's eyes when she opened them to look at the Caped Crusaders before them.

"Her name is-Mar'i or Mary here on earth."

"Kori I-I…"

"She's our daughter."

Dick passed out. Later, Damian laughed.

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Ancient

"Watching them makes you feel old," Tim stated as he leaned back in his lawn chair with a glass of lemonade.

"Yeah," his wife, Stephanie agreed watching their son play with Terry on the lawn of Wayne Manor, "I do feel ancient."

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Window

It had been three weeks since Bruce's death by Darkseid and Alfred began noticing something about Damian.

As usual, the elderly butler finished the morning dishes from their breakfast and moved off to the living room of the Wayne Tower Penthouse but stopped when he noticed Damian sitting on a cushioned chair next to the window, a pair of binoculars in his hands aimed at the distant street far below.

This came to repeat itself on and off again for three weeks and Alfred began to get the feeling of familiarity. Hadn't he seen another young boy waiting by a window before in the past?

For a parent that was always gone?

It's a full month before the elderly butler has had enough, picks up the phone and tells off the board of Wayne enterprises for demanding so much of Dick Grayson's time.

When the elder Wayne son is home the next day, Damian hangs up the binoculars on a nail near the window.

It is four months before the boy feels he can take them down permanently.

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Angel

"Oh! What a cute little angel!" Kara gushed as the kryptonian girl took the infant into her arms from Dick.

"Brat," Terry muttered in the background.

To the side of the room, Damian just smiled in amusement.

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Roses

They all laid roses at their father's grave and in Crime alley even though they hated them. It was too much like the blood.

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Innocence

It was a rare find in the drudges of Gotham city, but Dick could see it in this child as Damian stood between the two them.

"Grayson before you mutter a denial. I will politely encourage you to review the report I gave to you prior to our mission here. You will note that I-"

"It's OK Damian," Colin said behind his best friend, "I'm sure there's another-"

"Absolutely not," Dick said stoutly while glaring at the two children.

"Grayson-"

"Damian. I am leading and running the Justice League, helping to organize the Justice Society, the Titans, The Outsiders, the Birds of Prey, the Suicide Squad and our Bat-team here in Gotham City. I'm running Wayne Enterprises and because of my marriage I just indirectly became the Emperor of Tamaran. I'm raising you, Helena, Terry, Matthew, Mar'i, Sasha until Jason finishes his psychological treatment, Tim until he's 18, his and Stephanie's son until she's out of school and now you want me to take in a child who's been infused with Bane's venom who also has a huge history of violence and assault to his peers and guardians?"

"Yes."

Shrug, "OK. We'll take care of it tomorrow. Consider yourselves brothers."

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Imagination

He didn't understand.

"It's called pretend," a five year old Matthew Wayne said to his older brother.

"Brat," Terry muttered before moving away.

Matt sat down and sniffed before two strong arms picked him up off of the floor of the den, "What are you doing sitting on the floor little bro?"

"Damian!" Matt yelled and threw his arms around his big brother.

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Kingdom

"Your Kingdom," the Tamaranian guards said in unison as they parted the curtains for the new royal family.

"Our kingdom," Kori said before turning towards her husband.

"How does it feel being emperor my love?"

Dick stared down at the traditional outfit he had been dressed in. They wouldn't even let him put on his own clothes here!

He told the truth.

"Awkward."

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Options

"Let's see, I could drop you screaming off this bridge into those electrified rapids below or I could put you in a space pod and blast you to the burning surface of the sun. Your choice," Dick said, a scowl matching the cowl he was wearing.

"Look! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hurt the kid! Robin'll be fine!"

Dick tightened his grasp around the kidnapper's throat before gritting his teeth, which he spoke through, "You have five seconds before I choose a worse fate for you."

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Nurturing

It was a shock to see, but welcome either way.

It had been two months since Knight and Squire had had to flee London. The Dynamic Duo of Europe was wanted after being framed for a mass murder chain. The Birds of Prey had been assigned the case and the two had joined the Bat!Family in Gotham City for the time being.

They had taken on a drug busting mission and Squire, ever the attentive one, had noticed the rival gang coming to bust the drug exchange themselves. Knight hadn't, but he was armored. She was not.

After the initial shock and scare his partner had given him Knight relaxed when his girl was soundly asleep, ignoring the blood loss she had just experienced.

The others said they had never seen Knight so nurturing than when Beryl had asked for him the minute she had woken up.

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Crest

Nell traced the R that lay over her heart and puckered her lips together in curiosity.

"So, I'm some sort of 'Robin'?"

Stephanie smiled over her shoulder, "Sort of. Robin would be furious if you stole his name though. We don't allow that anymore."

"Anymore?"

"Uh, it's a long story Nell. For another time. So, how do you feel working with Abuse?"

"Colin's funny-so is Damian. As for 'Abuse' we work great together in the field."

"Good," Stephanie proclaimed, pulling her cowl over her head as the shadow in the corner started moving, "I'm about to head out with Cass-uh Black Bat."

"OK, I'll send the data we found to Batman."

"Good girl," Batgirl said, ruffling the young one's hair.

"I found a name too."

"Really, what is it?"

The dark skinned young girl reached down and traced the crest of the R, "Raze. It means to tear down, demolish or level to the ground."

Stephanie's face fell before she sighed, "You and your love of those explosives."

"Well see, this way it works with both the R and Abuse."

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Cactus

One thing the Batfamily was skilled in was survival, seemingly inhuman. So when Damian dropped off Terry in the middle of the nearest back desert, he felt no guilt. They had trained the boy well.

Terry would rendezvous with the rest of them at a camp 50 miles to the north within one week. Of course, if he slipped his little brother an emergency beacon signal he wouldn't admit to it later. Before he took off though, he gazed down proudly as his little brother studied the green plants before him intently.

He chose the right one, took out a straw and his bottle to extract water from the cactus before him. Damian doubted that they would have to wait a full week.

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Passion

The passion for fighting crime was inside every roof hopper of Gotham City. Seeing Kate Kane sweating through the Scarlet Fever though, a recently returned Betty Kane found another passion.

In just one week, Flamebird took flight over Gotham city and the Gotham City paramedic team gained a bright, blonde haired beauty as their new head nurse.

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Picturesque

The only things Damian found Picturesque were in his own mind. That's when Colin made him a sketch book for his 13th birthday. In turn, he made his best friend a birthday card when the red head's own birthday came around.

In return, he got a hug.

Ridiculous.

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Reflection

"We can't go out as Batman and Robin," Dick said, glancing out of the abandoned building.

"Why not?"

"They already exist in this universe," the elder said, pointing up to a screen across the street that was showing a witness artist's sketch of them.

"So who do we be to blend in?"

"I've still got Nightwing."

"What about me?"

"There's a costume shop a few buildings down, I'm sure you'll think of something."

When he was clothed in grey, white and black Damian felt a little better since the explosion had blasted them into a different dimension.

"So who are you now?" Dick asked, a black and blue finger-stripe suit already stretched over his thin frame.

"Rook. Call me Rook."

Later, when the two looked into a store front window. They still reflected Batman and Robin.

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Festive

He was not in a festive mood, but the others definitely were. Damian grumbled as Terry and Matthew pulled at his hands towards a stand of cotton candy.

The entire BatFamily were civilian disguised and mingling with the crowd of Haley's Circus.

Yes, Haley's Circus.

It had been Grayson's idea.

"Ow!" something had hit him in the head!

"Helena! Stop beating up your brothers!" Dick yelled in the distance.

His sister smirked, hit him with another rock and took off running.

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Pristine

The bones were of the most pristine condition and that gave Carrie Kelly the first clue to the case since she had moved to Gotham City and joined the Police Department as a detective. Once a dorky looking young girl, she was now a beautiful young woman. Unknowingly setting tongues wagging as she walked to the Commissioner's office every morning to hand in her reports on the murder case.

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Creation

Matt Wayne decided that he would rather be inside, working on his costume for when he hit the streets, but Raze had dragged him to her gardening lesson with Alfred.

Silently, he was wondering how old the elderly butler really was. In eight years, the man hadn't appeared to change at all. Right now he was talking about something or…oh.

"It takes no power to destroy, but creation is the greatest difficulty for a human."

"What do you mean?" Nell asked.

"Why Mistress Nell, can you make dirt?"

Matt took too long to think about that one.

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Tapestry

Helena Bertinelli didn't get it. What was with her namesake girl and the freaking wallpaper?

The girl kept staring at it, pursing her lips together.

"Uh, kid?"

Suddenly, Helena Wayne punched through the wall and walked off in a huff.

Yeah, the pink rubber ducks on the wall WERE a little much.

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Grandeur

She was accustomed to life on Tamaran and on earth, though in ways they weren't that different. On Tamaran, when Mar'i walked into the room, everyone stopped and stared because she was royalty.

On earth, when Mary Grayson walked into the room everybody stopped and stared too because she was royalty. Well, the closest that Gotham city had to royalty anyways.

Either way, the lives were that of grandeur.

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Lavish

Certain members of their family were quite lavish when showing and giving out gestures of affection. The more sensible ones decided that they'd just have to deal with it.

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Historical

Sometimes, Dick found himself missing his job as a museum curator.

But being Batman was more historical than any ancient artifact he could name.

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Mistletoe

Colin and Damian didn't understand the concept of Mistletoe until Mar'i and Nell had kissed them.

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Mythical

After so many years, Batman, Robin, Nightwing, Red Hood, Huntress, Red Robin, etc... were things of legend. Below, on the city streets of Gotham, there were talks of the Legends that now stood as stone statues at Central Park.

On the rooftops though, a man was continuing the legend his father had begun. Terry watched each child make their way out of the school and down the street to their homes and sighed. He missed being a kid.

One black covered hand spanned out over the red Batman symbol on his chest and Terry bit his lip under his cowl. It had been so long since he had seen the others. Everyone in their family that hadn't died throughout the years had left Gotham city.

Gotham was in relative peace now. He turned his gaze to the sky and frowned. Somewhere out there, deep in space, was Tamaran. The planet where Damian and Mar'i had decided to settle down with their two children.

Nell, once Raze and later Batgirl, was now the Police Commissioner of Gotham City. He worked with her from time to time. Sometimes, they'd sit and reminisce about the old days. She would usually keep talking about Colin long into their conversations but he didn't mind.

She liked to remember the boy she had fallen in love with and later had to kill, when Bane's Venom broke down in his bloodstream and moved to his brain. He went insane. They had found a stabilizing agent, but it had been too late.

Batgirl had retired and no one had been around to take up the mantle. Terry still kept it in the Batcave. After Damian had left and given the cowl to Terry, Matthew had disappeared, leaving his 'Red Robin' identity and costume behind him.

Batman hit the streets later that night and found that it was quite a boring run/flight across the city. Gotham was near wiped of crime these days since normal civilians had begun defending themselves, a few even donning suits and joining their family.

Everyone had made their own choice though. It was how they, unfortunately, had received most of their greatest soldiers.

Nothing was happening tonight. He would just go back to the Manor and sleep in tomorrow, completely ignore the Wayne Enterprises meeting he was supposed to attend at 8:00am tomorrow and sleep in as long as he could.

"Hey Batman!"

Terry whipped around, an electrifying Batarang flashing to life in his hand.

Something blue and black was wrapped up in the shadows of the overhang on the rooftop they were standing on.

"Who are you?"

"Come on, don't you recognize me?"

The man that stepped out of the shadows was easily recognizable.

The Batarang clattered to the rooftop as Terry ripped off his cowl and rushed forward to crush his little brother in a bear hug, "Matt!"

"So you missed me huh?"

"What are you doing here? I thought you were staying in Tokyo with Cassandra?"

"I'm here to help," Matt said, pulling out of the hug and smirking behind the mask that was hiding his eyes, "I thought there might be something exciting happening here. Tokyo's quiet as a ghost town."

Terry finally got a long look at his little brother. Though he couldn't really call him 'little' anymore. Matthew was all grown up now. Wait, his suit wasn't-

"Does Batman mind if I stick around in Gotham City?"

Terry beamed, "Not at all…Nightwing."

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Longevity

The 'Bats' all agreed, it was overrated.

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Romantic

Damian never was one, but when Mar'i started singing some annoying love song under her breath he set himself to learn everything about it.

The dime romance novels he snuck out of the library made him sick though. So one day, he just walked up and kissed her.

Turns out he didn't need to be a romantic at all.

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Visionary

Question was definitely a visionary but why she was painting the brick wall of the alley with napalm, Prowless, aka Helena Wayne, couldn't understand.

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Shamrock

When Betty handed him a Shamrock Smoothie, Damian demanded to know what she had done to Martian Manhunter.

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Wheelchair

James Gordon swept the tears from his face, pulling off his glasses and sticking them into his pocket before he threw them. The damn wheelchair was still in the blood stained alley.

Yeah, the blood was still there too.

A crude outline of chalk lay in the center, scratching a hand of nails across his heart. All that his daughter had done and what killed her was an eleven year old boy who had started down the path of crime. It was an order from a gang he was running with. He had had a knife and had gotten lucky.

That was a lie though. They had found the bottle of whiskey in her bag. All this time, how could he have missed the fact? Sure, Barbara had been going out later at night lately, but he had thought that she was finally coming out of her room, where she had hidden herself inside for years, and having a life.

After cleaning out her room and finding a computer journal he finally understood everything. He had known about the 'Bats' for years but now he had gotten a detailed look at the lives they had lead. She had begun seeing many guys ever since the marriage of Dick Grayson and Kori Anders; but it was obvious that she was never OK with it. Never got over the fact that the man she loved actually loved someone else.

He would be blaming Dick Grayson, but as James fell onto his knees and spotted a black bat shadow eclipsing his own, he couldn't bring himself to say anything. Especially when the familiar gloved hand touched his hand for a moment before an arm slid over his shoulders in support.

Not when Batman had his whole team tracking the murderer. Not when Dick Grayson was always running himself ragged at Police HQ, organizing the whole force to track him down as well. Not when the Dark Knight was calling in help from all over the world from friends and allies.

"Anything?" James gasped through a sob.

His daughter. His little girl. Oh go-

He cut off his thoughts and felt tears staining his cheeks again.

"I know you loved her once. Why?"

That's all he wanted to know.

Batman took his time in answering. He reached up and pulled back the cowl, but the now retired Commissioner of Gotham City didn't glance up at the face.

"We tried, multiple times. I proposed, three times, but it never worked out. Every time we almost made it work, there was this."

The black gauntlet glove motioned to the walls of the alley they were in.

"As Batgirl and as Oracle, this-the mission; was more important than this," Dick said slowly, the sentimental fool placing his hand over James' heart.

"She would never have given it up to be with me. It was more important to her than I was. I guess that's why I moved on. I got tired of coming back to a broken heart. She cared more about being a superhero than loving me."

James Gordon choked on his own breath.

"We've gotten a tip from the wastelands of Bludhaven from Deathstroke."

Damn. He even had his enemies looking.

"If you moved on why are you doing all this?"

"Because I know what it's like to lose someone you love. A lot of people you love. I have to go."

James looked up at the sky to see the Bat-Signal lighting up a grey cloud. He bit his lip until it bled and then held the sleeve of his jacket to his mouth to stop it. It stung, and he liked it.

He didn't hear him. Never did.

Maybe someday he would. He was alone for three minutes until he turned and near fell over a brown wrapped package as he tried to get to his feet. The Bat on it was kind of cute in a way. He ripped the paper away and stared at a bundle of black cloth in his arms. On the top, etched into the cloth was a symbol made of a stack of rectangles with rounded corners. One small red, on top of a larger white and that on top of another white.

What was this?

A note was stuck in an open fold of the cloth.

YOURS. IF YOU WANT IT TO BE.

BATMAN

A beeping made James move the top layer of dark cloth aside. He was left staring at a small device that he guessed was a GPS of some kind by the look of the digital map layout on the screen. There was a blinking arrow to a road just outside the south side of the city.

What was this? He stood up and shook out the cloth to take a good, long look.

He felt concrete walls encase his heart.

One hour later, he was following a trail into a tunnel outside of Gotham City. The entire trail was dank, dark and molding.

It was a twenty minute walk he despised, but didn't rush through.

When he finally reached a supposed dead end though, he knew that like his heart-his decision was concrete.

The wall opened for him and he threw his jacket to the ground after taking his mask from his pocket.

"Batman!"

"Settle down Robin. The Target is our key to finding this murderer."

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Celestial

Those were her perfect words for the chill of this night. Selina Kyle found herself on the rooftop of Wayne Manor. It wouldn't matter if the place never got used. The family was all in their perspective homes-or bunking in the Bat-Bunker below Wayne Tower.

Tonight was their anniversary. When Batman had first met The Cat.

So she sat atop Wayne Manor and stared at the night sky dotted with just a few stars.

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Bravado

Physically, bravado was what Colin was displaying with his blood melded with the venom. Internally though, he sometimes worried he would lose control.

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Campfire

The Justice League had gone camping…on Mars.

The children didn't ask about it, just asked to toast marshmallows in the Bat-Bunker.

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Cocktail

Dick didn't enjoy them. He wondered why Damian did though.

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Chocolate

Chocolate was not healthy, but as an attentive spoiler-Stephanie encourage her son and protégé to have it whenever they could. Nell was about to hit puberty after all these years, she would need it.

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Cloud

They covered Gotham most of the time but Colin once asked all his brothers and sisters (or were they technically uncles, aunts or cousins with their topsy turvy family tree?) why the clouds above the city were getting less frequent, thinner and lighter.

They all had the same answer, "Because we're here."

And he couldn't argue with that.

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Cinnamon

Jason loved cinnamon rolls and with a huge tray in front of him piled higher than his head; he indulged himself, ignoring Sasha asking for one.

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Groovy

One time, Tim showed the children a fashion magazine from the eighties.

They didn't talk to him for two weeks.

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Happy

Raising who knows how many children, running Wayne enterprises, being Batman, watching Gotham, leading the League, overseeing the other teams earthbound and otherwise, indirectly leveling out the production and economic levels of Tamaran from earth and being recommended as the new Commissioner of the GCPD.

There was no way it would actually happen.

Two weeks later he was sworn in.

In the kitchen of his Penthouse, Dick slammed his cup of coffee down on the breakfast bar and Alfred turned to him with an amused expression, "I swear Alfred- next thing you know I'll be running for president!"

"Why not Grayson?"

"Not now Damian."

The assassin child walked into the kitchen with a smirk, "You command the Justice League and given you have lead or trained heroes in every superhero group across the globe-you already held quite a great level of power. Being the Police Commissioner will give you complete control of the city here. Expanding the Justice League towards other planets as in your preset plans will help build connections to extraterrestrial beings. Given you have already begun that on Tamaran, which you also command, it will be simple to expand that plan to other planets and galaxies as well."

"Damian, you sound like I'm trying to be some universal God."

"Why not when you hold such power?"

"I do not."

"Then prepare a test, send out a free to respond request for a mission in some other country. You will see the results of wielding that power."

"You're being ridiculous little D."

And that was how he ended up raising the current population of Venice, Italy by at least 500 for one weekend.

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Sad

He was not sad. NOT. Terry bit at his bottom lip as he heard the door slam behind Damian.

He didn't tell himself to be sad, until a year later when Damian was back and he was able to hug his big brother again.