Don't Fear the Reaper

41) The Core Four... and also Damian

A/N: IMPORTANT in this book, no one on the YJ knows the batfam's identities. IDK why I really chose this, but I thought it would be fun lol

Tim was in a shit mood and everyone around him knew it. Granted, it wasn't like he was trying to hide it. He had been short tempered and closed off, his entire family was.

They'd had the ringlets for over a week and Bruce had yet to approve a single plan. All of them were tired of waiting, but they knew he had a point. They had learned more about demigods, the group spending every minute of every day pouring over the information they had gained from different sources, but they still had no idea what to do. Their best option probably was to wait, but waiting felt a hell of a lot like doing nothing.

"Team, report to the mission briefing," Batman's voice said over the intercom of the Mountain.

Tim begrudgingly left his room in the YJ base, where he had been studying every case he could find from the past month that had an unidentified killer. There had been 5 more victims that were found with the black veins that told them that Reaper was once again active, but Tim knew there were more. Nico had told him that not every one of his victims had the mark, only now Tim knew why. Mortals who were killed with his sword got the black veins, but demigods or descendants didn't. From what they could tell, there were more people with godly blood in their veins than anyone expected.

"You good RR?" Kon said, coming up beside him as they walked towards the briefing room, the half-kryptonian having probably also been in his own room when the announcement was made.

"I'm fine," Time said, not even bothering to make it sound believable.

Tim saw Kon glancing at him in concern, but he apparently opted to not push it since they were nearly to the room.

As they entered, Tim's eyes immediately caught on the fact that Damian stood next to Bruce, looking like he wanted to be literally anywhere else.

"What's he  doing here," Tim said, making the others on the team glance at him in surprise. It wasn't often that someone outwardly questioned the Bat. Even if Tim was a member of the Batfam, it didn't change the mix of fear and reverence that everyone held for the Dark Knight.

Bruce just grunted, glaring at him slightly— something that would make most people shit themselves, but all of Bruce's kids were way too used to it. "He will be joining you on todays mission."

Canary entered the room. "Is that the best idea? He's never trained with the team as a whole, and, though his fighting skill is well above par, that doesn't mean he should be sent out with them."

Canary was the acceptation to the unspoken 'no one questions Batman' rule. In Justice League business, she usually yielded to him, but the Team's wellbeing was her her literal job. She was the only one who usually got a pass.

"This mission requires stealth, something that this team has historically failed at," Bruce said bluntly. Tim wanted to fight him on it, but he wasn't wrong. "Super Boy, Wonder Girl, Impulse, Red Robin, and Robin, you will be Alpha Squad. If everything runs smoothly, you will be the only ones on the ground. Everyone else is Beta and will only be deployed in a worst case scenario. Red Robin will be running point."

Tim's eyebrows furrowed slightly as he looked at Bruce. It wasn't like he had never run a mission, but stealth missions usually at least included Dick and M'gann since they were not only founding members, but also had the most experience on covert missions with the team. "What's the mission?"

Bruce typed on the hollow pad for a moment before pulling up a picture and Tim had to restrain himself from audibly groaning in annoyance.

"Bruce Wayne, along with 3 of his children, Richard 'Dick' Grayson, Jason Todd, and Cassandra 'Cass' Cain, will be attending a gala in Gotham City tonight. The event is a fundraiser put on by the Thomas Wayne Foundation, to raise money for the 8 new free clinics that are being opened this year in Gotham, and the Martha Wayne Foundation, to help fund the many orphanages around the city that are operated by the organization." Bruce types again, pulling up the building that the event would be hosted in. "Usually I would not feel the need to send in a team for their protection, however, around 2 months ago, there was an assassination attempt on the eldest son, Dick Grayson, at a Wayne Enterprises press conference. The attack was heavily investigated and, while the assassin was never found, I have been assured that the threat is gone."