Baby Hood

Chapter 7

When little Jason and Damian woke up, they were confused to say the least.

Until Damian got his bearings and recognized his room at the League of Assassins' headquarters. Damian was instantly on alert, pulling Jason close to his chest and looking around the room for a weapon or anything he could use to defend themselves.

"No need for such dramatics, my son. We did not bring you here to harm you."

Damian and Jason whipped their heads to the doorway where Talia stood, a calculated smile on her face. Jason cocked his head to the side, looking between mother and son before bombarding them with questions. "Dami, who is she? Where are we? Where is daddy? What happened to Dickie and Timmy? Where did Ms. Wonder Woman and Superman go? Are we going to see the pretty fire lady again? What about Roy? I miss Alfred. I'm hungry. Can we eat?"

Before Damian could answer his little brother, Talia chuckled lightly, walking into the room and taking a seat on the foot of the bed. Damian resisted the urge to scoot back, not wanting to show fear. "My dear boy, I am his mother and now I am yours as well."

"Leave Jason out of this." Damian hissed, wishing he had his katana with him.

"Why would I neglect one of my children?" Talia blinked innocently at Damian, the ghost of a smirk painted on her lips. She turned away from Damian, opening her arms to Jason. "Come to mommy, Jason. I have much I want to show you."

Jason hesitated, looking between Talia and Damian for a moment before carefully making his way towards Talia. She scooped him up in her arms, grinning at Damian's glare, knowing he did not want to alarm or confuse the child. Jason glanced up at Talia as she stood up from the bed with him in her arms. "Can Dami come too?"

"Of course, this gift is for both of you, after all." Talia switched Jason to one arm, holding her free hand out to Damian, who reluctantly took it. Jason snuggled in closely to Talia as they walked through the halls of the headquarters, stopping outside the dining hall if Damian remembers correctly. The door opened with a flourish and the trio entered, Talia leading them to a table that was set up with a buffet of Jason's favorite breakfast foods. She smiled what seemed to be a sincere smile, placing Jason down in a chair and letting go of Damian's hand. "Please, eat up. You'll need your energy."

"Why? Are we playing tag? Or hide and seek? You know who is really good at those games? Dami." Jason giggle, shoveling a bite of pancake into his mouth before Damian could stop him. "This is really good, thank you, mommy."

Damian watched in horror as a Cheshire cat grin spread across his mother's face as she watched Jason devour pancake after pancake. She spoke in a sickly sweet voice, reaching across the table to pinch Jason's cheek. "Trust me, darling, the pleasure is all mine."

- - -

Back at the Wayne Manor, the group that was eating lunch finished up their meals, cleaning up their dishes before deciding to go check on the two napping boys.

"They sure do nap a lot." Tim chuckled as he scrolled through his phone's camera roll, which was stocked full of photographs of Damian and Jason napping together in increasingly weird places. So far, the weirdest spot he found them in was on top of the main hall chandelier.

"Well, from what I've heard human children need sleep in order to develop and grow." Kori offered, flying slightly ahead of the group as she was eager to spend more time with her deaged friend. "Perhaps Jason is trying, subconsciously, to age back up?"

"Doubtful, but a worthy theory to look into." Bruce grunted, hanging back at the door to say goodbye to Clark and Diana. "Thank you both for coming and hanging out with Jason, he really seems to enjoy your company."

"Yours as well, Bruce. Cherish this, for we all know it must come to an end eventually." Diana thought back to the scheming look on Damian's face in the pool and shuddered. "It must come to an end."

"Well, I'll see you at the next meeting. Or whenever Jason wants to play again." Clark chuckled before flying off, Diana following suit.

Bruce followed the path his sons took to the pool room, entering to find the group sitting at the edge of the pool with their eyes covered. He frowned, walking closer before deciding to ask what was going.

"We didn't find Damian or Jason on the chair, so we thought they might be hiding, waiting to push us into the pool when we least expect it." Dick offered up, the thinly veiled panic in his voice not going unnoticed by Bruce. "Want to join?"

"I want to find my sons, they need to eat lunch." Bruce turned away from the young adults, walking back through the manor as he called their names over and over again. "Damian, come out with Jason! This isn't funny anymore!"

After fifteen minutes of waiting by the pool, the group decided to join in searching, Dick no longer hiding his panic.

"Jay? Jason? Damian? Come out, guys, please!" He yelled, climbing the chandelier for a better vantage point.

Kori flew the outer edge of the Manor grounds, not finding a trace of the two young boys outside while Roy searched the inside of the house with Alfred and Bruce. Tim was the one who had the idea of going down to the Batcave, careful to make sure Jason wasn't around to sneak in.

If he wasn't already in there, that is.

Tim and the rest of the gang walked up to the monitors, Tim sitting down in the chair and pulling up the manor security feed. Everyone felt their hearts collectively drop when they saw what the feeds had to offer.

Nothing but static, meaning someone cut the feed, someone good.

Bruce slammed his fist down on the back of the chair, startling Tim. All eyes were on the Dark Knight as he growled lowly. "Call in reinforcements, we're knocking down every door until we find out who kidnapped my sons. And then we are making them pay."