Robin's Egg

Training Egg-cises

Something was going on with his children. More specifically Damian. Bruce sipped his coffee slowly as he watched the cameras in his house from his office. The impromptu dinner that was held after Riddler's capture pretty much confirmed his suspicions. Though it had taken him a lot longer to realize that there was a possible issue in the first place.

Bruce would admit... he hadn't been there for his youngest over the past four months. Wayne Enterprises and case files took up the majority of his time. Not to mention these new players who seemed to want to make themselves known to the Justice League. Everything seemed to work against him and the result was Damian had been primarily left to his own devices.

Sure, he had been slightly disappointed when Damian had stabbed the trafficker in the shoulder but he would also admit that he wished he could do the same. However, these past few months had thrown Bruce for a loop. With Damian's violent track record, it was only a matter of time until the kid snapped and took something too far. It didn't matter if it had been in his civilian life or vigilante one. The kid was going to cave and Bruce expected it. His youngest had only been living at the manor for about a year and a half. It would take a lot longer than that to curb the ideologies that the League had ingrained in the boy since birth.

He knew this and it hurt that Bruce felt the need to be so hard on his son in the first place. It was a position that he hated to be in but also knew that it was required. Damian could be bullheaded. He was smart and strong. The child was trained by the best of the best. So most times Damian was right when it came to detective work. It was his method of execution that was the issue. He took a lot of Jason's tendencies of ending the threat for good instead of not killing. Even if the crime had been minor and if not killing then maiming in some way. Whatever violence was needed to end the threat before it could come back.

So he was rather surprised when the opposite happened.

Damian still threatened his other children or anyone who pushed his boundaries too far but he had only truly harmed someone once. Yet, even then, the attack had been controlled to just a single stab. A stab to the shoulder (which is rather concerning with how many important arteries and tendons were in that spot but, sadly, Damian knew what he was doing. Even if it was unnerving.). One that only required a few stitches and Jason was right as rain. The bruised ego from the faceplant had done more damage than the actual blade.

The change in his son seemed to happen about four months ago when he was finally let loose after his punishment. Since then, Damian began to fight differently while out on patrol. Before, the eleven-year-old would be the first to go on the offensive. Partly because he loved to fight and also so that he could quickly gain control of a chaotic situation. Damian had become very protective of his right side as of late, and now Bruce knew that was where he carried his 'egg'. It was rather cute how protective of it his youngest was.

Still, it was such an abrupt change that Bruce had looked into it that night of the dinner. Magical artifacts could appear harmless at first only to grow in power and maliciousness later. So, Bruce, had low-key questioned his children for information that they hadn't leaked during the dinner conversation. From Tim's initial findings, there wasn't anything odd about the stone. It had some odd qualities to be sure but if Duke wasn't worried about it the 'egg' was probably just that. A pretty thing that Damian had gotten attached to. It was just surprising how quickly he had gotten attached. Bruce could almost say that he loved it more than the arsenal of weapons the kid had in his room. If the fact that his youngest had safety-proofed his room was anything to go by.

Bruce set his cup down on his desk and leaned back in his chair. Maybe Damian had regained a small part of his childish whimsy? Maybe it had been buried very deep under everything else he had been through and just needed something that sparked the child's interest to ignite? It was a wishful thought. Something that Bruce truly wanted to be the case. He would pay or give up just about anything if Damian was going to act like the kid he actually was instead of the trained mature assassin that he was molded to be. He deserved to be able to be a child.