The Bats Bird

The Trap

Bruce was happy, rare yes, but actually happy. He was watching his son, Dick, happily bounce around the manor. Ignoring Alfreds protests that the furniture isn't for acrobatics, and laughing the whole time.

The Thanagarian invasion had been two weeks ago, and it was a relief that none of the League members ran into Dick when they were at the manor. Luck happened to be on his side that night, for Dick didn't have night terrors or stay up too late training. That's when his phone rang, he sighed and answered it.

"Wayne speaking." He said, and Dick instantly quieted, he turned to look at his adoptive father, resulting in him falling from the ceiling.

'Mr. Wayne, you were scheduled to go to Wayne Tech to check out the RnD departments latest development.' His assistant said, and Bruce groaned. He forgot about that, he'd been to happy watching his son.

"I'll be there in a bit, I'm also bringing Dick with me, so please have his favorite snack ready in my office." Bruce Said as he stood up.

'Of course Mr. Wayne, I'll make sure to include his hot chocolate with cinnamon.' Bruce smiled, definitely.

"Thank you, that would be most approached." Then he hung up, and walked over to his son that was still sprawled on the floor. He stood over him, and raised an eyebrow.

"Are you ok Dick?" He asked, and he saw his son groan.

"I'm hurt, but ok. Seriously, I think these floors are made of cement. I feel like I was just hit by Harley's hammer." He said, as he sat up. Bruce chuckled at his nine year olds remark, his son started to smile as well.

"Come on Dick, I'm taking you to the office. I've got some work to do." Bruce said, and Dick got up. He was smiling, then he somersaulted onto Bruce's back.

"I call shotgun!" He cried as he positioned himself firmly on Bruce's shoulders.

"Dick, we don't ride shotgun." Bruce said in a very amused voice, and Dick only laughed.

"I'm already in shotgun." He said, making Bruce laugh. The duo made it to the car, and Dick did a flip off Bruce and into the car through the open sun roof. The one Bruce had made so Dick could do what he just did, in his defense, it was amusing and he loves his son.

Time skip......

Bruce led his son to the RnD lab, cuz he knew Dick loved to visit this department. They were greeted by Lucius and his son Lucas, who entered to the sight of Dick leaping onto Bruce's shoulders.

"Hello Bruce, Dick." Lucius said with a smile, Bruce returned said smile. Dick, he just grinned ear to ear.

"Lucius, is my project still here?" The Boy asked, and the elderly man just chuckled and nodded.

"Yes! Lucas, come, I want to show you it." He said as he jumped off of Bruce and started to drag his older brother figure along.

"Woah, slow down little monkey. First you need to Asks Bruce if you can." The teen said, Dick looked at Bruce and Bruce laughed.

"Go on Dick, just don't blow anything up." Dick nodded, then dragged Lucas along.

"I swear that son of yours is a new unlimited energy source, with the way he bounces off walls." Lucius said as amusement radiated from him.

"I know what you mean, he literally fell from the ceiling today." Bruce said, as they walked to see the recent project.

Time skip.....

His communicator went off, and he sighed. Excusing himself, Bruce went to his office.

"Yes." He said, not bothering to hide his annoyance.

'Bats, we need help. We kinda got taken down, and need help.' Flash said, and Bruce's eye twitched.

"I'll be there as soon as I can." He replied, then he hung up.

"I swear I'm gonna kill Barry." Bruce grumbled, then he walked off to find his son. He found Dick happily inventing with his employees. That made Bruce smile, his son was a genius.

"Hey Dick, I've got some business to attend to. Would you like to stay here, or go home with Alfred?" Bruce asked, Dick merely looked up and smiled.

"Can I stay?" He asked, and Bruce chuckled.

"Sure chum, you can. Just listen to Lucius, and don't cause anything to explode." His son have him a cheeky grin, then went back to inventing whatever it was he was.

"Ok, bye Tati." Dick said, and Bruce left laughing. Then he made his way to the batcave underneath Wayne Tech, once he was suited up, he headed out.

Time skip....

After Batman saved them, no villain was left. This had alarm bells ringing in Batman's head, if go to the trouble of capturing them. It made no sense, unless.

Batman's wyes widened, how could none of them see it. This was a trap, to lure them away from their cities, or something. That's when his communicator went off, and he hoped it wasn't Alfred.

"Yes?" He said, and he froze.

"It's Master Richard, Wayne Tech was just bombed." Alfred said, and Batman wanted to bash his head on cement. He rushed to his Batplane, ignoring the others.

"Batman, is everything alright?" Asked Diana, she sounded genuinely concerned.

"No, this was a trap to get me out of Gotham. Now, I've got to go. Wayne Tech was just bombed, and there was a nine year old boy there." He said, and that got the others to want to go with him. However, he didn't argue. Dick was in trouble, he was wasting time.

With Dick, ten minutes earlier......

Ever since Bruce had left, he had a weird feeling. Like, like a sinking feeling in his gut. It was scaring him slightly in all honesty, he did not like the feeling of imminent danger.

He just finished up, when his phone rang. Dick was very shocked, the only reason why he had the flip phone was so he could get ahold of Alfred. Who the heck got his number.

"Hello?" He said, hesitantly into the phone.

'Hello, is this Mr, Wayne?' The cruel voice asked, and Dick got very nervous.

"No, this is his son. Who may I ask are you?" He said, as he walked to find Lucius.

'Oh, I'm not important. I just had to ask you a question.' Dick found Lucius and was walking towards him, he was standing by a window.

"What would that be?" Dick asked, as he arrived next to Lucius.

'Did you say goodbye to your dad?' Then the line went dead, Dick gasped and dropped his phone. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a rocket. He gasped, and tackled Lucius to the ground. Then the rocket hit, the explosion destabilized some of the prototypes, and that set off many chain reactions.

The nine year old was scared, this was more terrifying than when he was battling those thanagarian or Gotham baddies. When the explosions stopped, Dick got up and started to help people to safety.

"Dick!" Lucas screamed, Dick looked and saw the teen had a look of panic on his face. Realizing what it meant at the last second, the acrobat looked up. The last thing he saw was a piece of debris crashing down on him, and another explosion. Then nothing, nothing but darkness.