The Ex

5. Benched

  Bruce had taken Damian out of the line of duty to protect him in case Talia attacked again. He knew that Talia and the Joker would set up more traps, but Batman would have to stop them without Robin. He wouldn't risk Damian getting hurt, and he would not let him join Talia as her apprentice assassin leader. But just because Bruce does something for the safety of Damian, doesn't mean that Damian is happy about it.

"I can take care of myself!" Damian yelled.

  "Which is why you should have no problem staying here and taking care of yourself while I handle this." Bruce combacked.

"I understand that my mother is after me, but you have people coming after you every day! What makes this any different!?!?" Damian screamed.

  "I'm not ten years old." Bruce stated blankly.

"You say that as if I couldn't single handedly take down every cop in this city at once." Damian pouted.

  "I'm not asking you to take down cops, I'm asking you to stay put until we get this taken care of." Bruce tried to stay calm. "If you don't think you can handle that simple task then Alfred will have to-"

"Do not say babysit me. I may be ten years old, but I'm not a child!" Damian raged. He stormed out of the batcave and went upstairs to the gym.

  Bruce sighed. He didn't like fighting with Damian, but he knew how stubborn he could be. He was after all his son. But this was to protect him. Bruce wouldn't budge on his decision.
He kept looking for any clues when a mission alarm went off. Bruce quickly pulled on his cowl and was off.

"Need any help?" Tim asked through the intercom. "Saw the alert and I'm bored as heck, so..."

  "Yes. I had to pull Damian out, so we could use all the help we can get." Batman stated.

  "On it." Tim nodded.

"Hey! I'm useful." Jason joked.

  "We're on our way, Bruce." Dick replied.

"Joker is releasing his Joker toxin in downtown Gotham. This could be another trap to lure Damian into the city, which is why I had to pull him out." Batman begins. (sorry, I couldn't resist) "But they're innocent people getting caught in the crossfire between us and Talia. We have to stop the Joker, and be on guard in case the league of assassins show up."

  "Rodger that." Tim and Dick responded in unison.

"I swear, you guys had to have practiced that." Jason rolled his eyes. 

  They all arrived on the scene and things immediately got out of hand. The Joker had ten times more henchmen, and this time, the league of assassins didn't bother waiting to make their appearance. Everyone started attacking immediately. Baterangs and bullets were flying everywhere (none lethal, but still).

  What surprised all of them, was that the battle was over within minutes and the Joker and the assassins were all taken down.

"There's something off about this." Red Robin stated. "It all seems too easy."

  "Well, it's not like we can just let them roam free." Nightwing laughed. "But you do have a point."

  The police arrived on the scene and arrested the Joker, but within a split second, the league of assassins had all disappeared again.

"That's getting rather annoying." Nightwing sighed.

  "Well, you'd know annoying." Red Hood laughed.

"I'm going with them to question the Joker, everyone else can take the night off." Batman ordered before jumping in the batmobile and taking off.

  "Alright. Anyone up for a drink?" Red Hood asked.

"We're both underage." Red Robin pointed out.

  "Please, this is Gotham. I've been drinking since I could hold it down." Red Hood smirked.

"I'll pass." Red Robin said. He turned around and grappled away.

  "Ok, then I guess I'll just hit the hay." Red Hood rolled his eyes.

"What about me?" Nightwing asked.

  "Boy scout's too good for that." Red Hood teased.

"I'm offended, but you're probably right." Nightwing sighed.

  "I always am. Catch ya later." Red Hood said before following Red Robin.

"And... it's just me." Nightwing pouted. "I wonder if there's any karaoke places still open." And with that, Nightwing took off.