Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Today was Friday, and everyone was over for dinner. If you don’t know, Alfred got tired of everyone being their depressed and lonely selves, so he suggested (threatened) for everyone to come over and have dinner on fridays, so everyone can bond. It started off awkward, since tensions were high with Jason and Bruce being in the same room, but after about a year of just having those weekly family dinners, you could tell everyone was at least talking their problems out. 

Jason started to get more comfortable with Bruce (by comfortable I mean insult Bruce until he leaves the table), and even Damian stopped trying to kill people at the dinner table, which was common over the last couple of months. All and all, things started to change for the family, especially since Bruce added a new addition to the family, Duke Thomas. Duke was adopted three months ago, ever since his family was jokerized, and everyone had either been avoiding the hell out of him or talking his ears off. 

Everyone’s been cautious around him, mainly because they don’t want to trigger him, or accidentally hurt him. Duke’s obviously been feeling neglected because of this, and he was going to make sure everyone knows how hurt he feels.

———-

Alfred was working wonders in the kitchen while everyone was chatting at the dinner table. Damian was on a rant about Jason being too slow to understand his intelligence and Tim was chatting with Bruce about a few changes he wanted to do for the company. Everything was calm and peaceful, but you all know it’s never like that for long in the manor. Duke was the only one that wasn’t at the table just yet, and everyone wasn’t too worried, but their attention was quickly on Duke the moment he stomped into the kitchen while holding a flyer in his hand. 

“Look guys, there’s a scare house in Gotham. We should go.” Duke said happily as he ran into the dining room. Everyone stared at him, shocked by how excited Duke looked. Duke wasn’t usually this excited, and he was actually really quiet around the manor, but apparently he was super excited about this scare house. 

“Pssst, who would go to such an immature location to become scared?” Damian said while rolling his eyes. Duke’s bright smile dimmed a little, but he still kept smiling. Duke then turned to Bruce, who had a small, apologetic smile on his face. “I don’t think I can go, sweetheart. I have a few things I need to take care of at the company.” Bruce said softly and Duke’s smile vanished from his face. His eyes closed and he sighed heavily before he remembered three other people he could ask (Steph and Cass unfortunately weren’t here to witness greatness). 

Duke immediately smiled once he realized he could still ask Dick, Jason, and Tim to come with him. Jason must have known what the look on his face meant, because he shook his head. “Sorry Narrows, but I don’t do that kiddy shit.” Jason said and Tim just nodded his head in agreement. Duke turned towards Dick, his only hope in actually bonding with someone. Dick gave Duke a small smile. 

“Sure Duke, I would love to go with you to a scare house.” Dick said softly, and Duke smiled widely and ran towards Dick. Dick had his arms opened wide for Duke, and Duke ran straight into his arms and hugged him tight. 

“Thank you, thank you, thank you. You’re the best brother ever.” Duke said happily and the looks on everyone else’s faces were priceless. Jason looked angry, pissed as he would call it, for losing a title he never had. Tim’s mouth was open in shock, and he held onto his chest like it physically hurt him to hear Duke’s words. Damian was the angeriest out of all of them. The grip on his knife, mind you he wasn’t holding it earlier, was tight and he was glaring at Dick’s stupid smirk he had on his face. 

“You’re like the only person who likes me here, besides Alfred.” Duke eggs on and Bruce looks  startled and he grips at his pants leg underneath the table. The words from Duke stung him the most. He didn’t want Duke to feel left out, but apparently trying to give him some space was actually the wrong thing to do. Bruce stood up from the table, catching everyone but Duke’s attention, and he walked over to Duke, who was still in Dick’s hold. 

Bruce looked at Dick for a few seconds, silently communicating with him using only his eyes, and Dick nodded and turned Duke around so he was facing Bruce. Bruce kneeled down on the ground to meet Duke’s eyes, and when he saw how they glistened with tears that were ready to fall, he gently cupped Duke’s cheek and wiped them away. 

“I’m sorry, sweetheart. I didn’t mean to make you feel left out and alone. Look, how about I take you to the scare house with Dick, since you want to go so badly. I’ll just have someone else take over for a bit.” Bruce said softly, and Duke sniffled and made grabby hands at Bruce, to which Bruce gently took Duke out of Dick’s lap and hugged him tightly like he was going to disappear. 

“You know what Narrows, I’ll go to that stupid house if it makes you happy.” Jason says as he glares at Dick, who’s still smiling like the sun just kissed him. 

“Yeah, I need a break from paperwork anyway, so I’ll also go.” Tim says as he makes his way over to Duke. “Psst, still a dumb idea, but I guess I’ll go.” Damian mumbles and a knife gets thrown at Dick, who catches it while still smiling. Tim goes in for a hug, and Duke allows himself to be loved, even though he’s giggling like a maniac on the inside. 

———

Two days later, everyone stands outside the scary house, which was actually called the fright house (there was a sign outside that said fright house), but Duke just liked the sound of scary house better. Duke had a camera on him, because Steph said she would pay him to video tape the whole thing, and he was smiling as soon as they got out of the car. The house itself looked abandoned, and there were no lights on outside. 

The only reason why they even found this house was because Bruce knew the city like the back of his hand, which Duke didn’t find suspicious, because Bruce grew up in Gotham. As soon as they all got out of the car, chills ran down Tim and Damian’s spine (Damian lied and said he was cold, so Dick gave him his jacket), and Bruce had a bad feeling about the place, but seeing Duke smile was the only thing keeping him from making them leave. As they walked towards the door to the house, Duke turned the camera around and started talking. 

“Look at how cool this looks, it’s like a real abandoned house. I can’t wait to see what the scare actors look like.” Duke said happily and he turned the camera back around and showed the dead plants in the front yard along with the spider webs along the outside of the house. “Are you sure this is the right house, B?” Dick asked in confusion and he looked around with suspicion. “The address on the flyer says this is the place.” Bruce says, and when Duke tries to walk in front to beat them all to the door, Bruce pulls him back. Duke looks at Bruce in confusion. 

“Why’d you stop me? I want to go inside.” Duke whined and Bruce had to stay strong, even though Duke was giving him his puppy dog eyes. “Let me go in first, just in case it’s too scary for you.” Bruce says softly, and Duke pouts. “Are you calling me a baby?” Duke asks in an upset tone. Bruce panics as he sees Duke’s sad look, and he quickly shakes his head. “Duke, that’s not what I me-“ Bruce started to say, and Jason snickers behind him as he watches the scene unfold. Duke cuts off Bruce’s sentence. 

“No, I’ll show you how brave I am.” Duke says, and he runs towards the front door without a second thought. “Duke, wait!” Bruce calls out after Duke, and he runs after the determined teen. The others follow along while keeping a careful eye on their surroundings. It was too dark for them to see people walking, but it was bright enough to see in front and behind them. Their sides are their only blind spots at this point. 

“Am I the only one getting a bad feeling about this place?” Tim asks as he walks alongside Jason and Damian. “No Timbers, I think we’re all getting the same feeling.” Dick says, and they stop at the front door of the abandoned house, where Bruce is trying to talk Duke down from just entering without permission. “Duke, you can’t just run off like that and barge into someone’s house.” Bruce says softly, trying to talk Duke out of doing something stupid. 

“It’s a display house anyways, I’m sure the door’s already open for guests.” Duke says excitedly, and then he points the camera at himself. You could see Bruce’s worried look and the others walking up behind them as Duke begins to speak. “I’m so excited to see something scary. I’ve always dreamed of coming to one of these, but my parents always told me that it’s too scary for me. I’m happy you agreed to bring me though, Bruce.” Duke says while smiling. Deep down, he knows he’s pulling at Bruce’s heart strings. 

Bruce’s eyes soften, like they normally do when Duke talks to him, and he puts his hand on Duke’s shoulder. “I’m glad you’re excited, chum. I’m sure we’ll have fun inside, but can you at least allow me to go first, just in case something happens.” Bruce says softly, trying to negotiate with Duke. Duke was either too excited or too upset to listen to Bruce, because he knocks on the door in front, which opens on its own. Duke’s eyes sparkle in awe as he walks inside, and Bruce trails behind him like a stressed parent. 

“Survival instincts of an idiot.” Damian mumbles to himself as he follows behind Bruce, and Jason’s loving how stressed Duke is making Bruce. “I’m so glad I decided to come.” Jason says while smirking as he walks inside. Dick waits for Tim to walk in behind Jason, before he turns and looks behind him once more before walking in behind everyone else. As soon as everyone gets inside, the door closes behind them on its own. 

Duke jumps and quickly turns the camera towards the door, just as Jason and Damian both get into a fighting stance, ready to swing. Both of them only relax once they hear Duke’s giggles. “You should have seen how scared you two look. Hahaha, were you going to fight the door?” Duke laughs out, and Damian blushes in embarrassment as Jason puts his hands down. “Narrows, you jumped 10 feet in the air. I don’t want to hear anything out of you.” Jason says playfully, and Damian just huffs and walks forward. 

“Wired door, probably for show.” Tim mumbled to himself, and Dick made sure he had a grip on Tim’s hand so Tim doesn’t get lost while he’s in his thoughts. Bruce looks around the barely lit room that they were stuck in. The place had chairs scattered across the ground, and there wasn’t a person in sight. There was a slight draft of cool air going throughout the room, and the walls were painted a dark color, which made it harder to see inside. 

“They really decorated this place well. I can barely see.” Duke says as he turns back around and turns the camera around so he gets it on video. He starts walking forward, and Bruce’s eyes shoot towards his quickly moving form and follows behind him while keeping his eyes on either side of him. Damian trails behind while fiddling with his hidden dagger inside of his pocket, and Jason comes up next to him and slings his arm around his shoulder. 

“Try not to get too scared, Demon Spawn. Don’t want you to pee your pants.” Jason teased as he whispered in Damian’s ear, and Damian shoved Jason off of him before moving closer to Bruce. Jason just laughed and Dick nudged him with his shoulder as he still held onto Tim’s hand. “Don’t tease little wing too much, Jay.” Dick said softly, and Jason just rolled his eyes and kept quiet. Duke walked down towards a gap in the middle of the room, and he dodged the chairs that were scattered across the floor. 

When he reached the gap in the middle, he stopped, because there were three ways that they could go. “So, should we vote on which way we should go, or should I just choose?” Duke asks excitedly, and Bruce glares at the left gap, as he feels eyes looking back at them. “Let’s not go left.” Bruce says in a deep voice, and Duke nods. “Okay, that just leaves the right side, or the middle. Does anyone else want to say anything?” Duke asks, and Damian starts speaking. 

“Going in circles is immature and predictable.” Damian says in a ‘duh’ tone, and Duke turns to the right and starts walking. Jason couldn't hold back his loud laugh when Duke chose what Damian didn’t want. “Fuck, Narrows is suprising me more and more.” Jason laughs out, and Damian huffs in annoyance but follows along. Everyone else just follows Duke, because apparently Duke just goes with his gut, and whatever makes Damian annoyed. 

They walk down the right hallway for some time, and it eventually leads them to a door that didn’t have a handle, which was weird. Duke tries to push on the door, but it doesn’t budge. “How are we suppose to get inside?” Duke asks in confusion, and Damian moves towards the front. 

“Thomas, you’re too weak to open this. Watch and learn.” Damian says with confidence, and he tries and fails to push open the wooden door. Duke snickers at Damian’s failed attempt, and Jason starts teasing. “Some lesson, huh Demon Spawn. Maybe you need to hit the gym with Narrows.” Jason laughs out, and Damian turns around and glares at Jason. An argument breaks out between the two, and while all of this happens, 

Tim looks around the room and spots a weird looking bookshelf. He walks over to said bookshelf, with Dick still holding his hand, and he starts pulling at the books, one by one. When Dick catches on to what Tim was doing, he starts doing the same thing, and eventually, Tim pulls on this blue covered book. Everyone hears a few locks turning and the door in front of them opens up into a lit room. Damian and Jason stop arguing as they look at the now open door, and Bruce looks back at Tim and Dick, who both walk forward with smiles on their faces. 

“You know, brains before brawn always win.” Tim says with a grin on his face. “Tim found out how to open the door, he’s so smart.” Dick said proudly as he walked into the room with Tim. Duke followed behind them as he stuck his tongue out at Damian, and Damian rolled his eyes and followed behind Duke as Jason continued to tease him about how weak he was. 

Bruce just sighed and started to walk behind him, but he stopped as he heard the floor creak behind him. Bruce’s gaze hardened and he looked behind him quickly. His eyes wandered around the dark hallway, and when he couldn’t see anyone, he turned back around. He saw how everyone but Duke was looking at him with a confused look, but he just waved it off and walked inside of the lit room. The door closed behind Bruce, just as he walked inside, almost like it sensed that he was still outside of the room. 

“I need to know if the floor has sensors or not.” Tim mumbles to himself, and Duke looks around the room in awe. This room was an office of some sort, and judging by how it looked, someone probably trashed the place out of anger. There was paper scattered all over the floor, the desk was turned upside, and a broken monitor was on the floor in a million pieces. Paintings of various things had claw marks across people’s faces, and there were even some holes in the wall. 

“Woah, this looks so cool.” Duke says in awe and he does a 360 with the camera to show the whole place. Dick bends down and picks up a paper he was stepping on, and he looked down at the writing. ‘Shipment 10/4, product glaceir’ The word glaceir stuck out to Dick, and as soon as he saw the word, his eyes widened. “Guys, you may want to see this.” Dick says, and Bruce walks over to Dick and looks down at the paper in his hand. 

His eyes scan over the paper and when he sees the word glaceir, his eyes harden. Jason and Tim’s expressions changed once they read the paper, and Damian looked around the room with a cold glare, waiting for someone to pop out. Duke was still distracted by the ‘design’ of the room, so he didn’t hear when Dick called for everyone else. “Did we just walk into a drug lab?” Jason asked in a cold voice. “Seems like it, but why would they have a flyer advertising this place?” Tim asked in confusion. 

“Maybe they wanted to disguise it as a haunted house to keep people away. You know people don't go to haunted houses in Gotham.” Dick says, and Bruce nods. “So, Narrows led us right into a drug house without knowing, great detective work old man.” Jason says sarcastically. “Hey, what are you guys talking about? Did you find something?” Duke asks, and everyone breaks away from their little huddle and looks over at Duke, who looks confused. Jason pushes Bruce forward and steps back, making sure he keeps and eye on the two doors in the room. Bruce gives Jason a look, before walking forward and putting his hand on Duke’s shoulder. 

“Chum, maybe we should find a different scare house. I haven’t seen anything too scary, and your siblings are getting a bit bored.” Bruce says softly, trying to hide his growing alertness. He wanted Duke out of there, and fast, because he doesn’t know who, or what will pop out at them. Duke pouts. “How is this boring? We got to find a secret door, and everything is wired to be scary. I’m sure we just haven’t discovered anything thrilling yet.” Duke says, and he moves over towards a wall with some of the scratched up paintings, and he turns around and looks at everyone. 

“Maybe we could find something really cool, ooh maybe we can get surprised by some of the scare actors. I’m sure there’s so much we can do in here.” Duke says, and his back hits the corner of the painting as he puts his back to the wall, and the painting moves slightly, which causes the floor to open up and for Duke to fall into the now open floor. 

“Duke!” Everyone yells out as Duke disappears in front of their eyes. Even Damian uses Duke’s first name, which means it was serious. “Stay here. I’ll signal for you if I need to. Stay alert and don’t turn your back to any exits.” Bruce says in a rushed but stern tone and he knocks the same painting Duke did and falls into the hole that opens up underneath him. Everyone was left with their guards up as they waited for Bruce’s signal.

———-

When Bruce slides down the long slide that was beneath the floor, he makes up a plan in his mind. Find Duke and leave. He doesn’t know who’s going to confront him, or if Duke’s life is in danger already, but he just knows that something already happened, something which will cause him to either reveal himself to Duke, or play a victim and try to find a different way out. When Bruce finally reaches the end of the slide, he slows himself down by placing his feet on the slide walls, and as soon as his feet touch the floor, he’s up and in a fighting stance. 

The area is huge, and there are crates and machines all over the big space. He doesn’t see anyone, including Duke, and there isn’t any exit in sight, which wasn't good, but Bruce has dealt with worse things. Bruce slowly treads to left of the open space, cautious about his surrounds, but also keeping himself calm, even though his thoughts are screaming ‘danger’. Whispering Duke’s name wasn’t an option right now, because it would only reveal his location to anyone inside, and it would also jeopardize Duke’s safety if someone knew someone was inside with him. 

This makes everything harder, but Bruce wasn’t the dark knight for nothing. Bruce’s footsteps were quiet as he moved toward, blocking anyone’s view of him by keeping behind the huge crates in front of him. The sound of machines running in the background made it harder for Bruce to hear Duke, but it was better this way, just in case Duke made any noises that would give him away easily. When Bruce was finally able to touch a crate, he moved left, making sure one hand stayed on a crate at all times, just so he knew he was covered, and his back was towards the crates, since there was no way anyone could get him behind unless they climbed onto those crates. 

He moved to his left, keeping a close eye on either side of him, and the darkness that was covering what the other side held, finally to brighten the closer Bruce got. When his field of vision was bright enough, he spotted Duke with his camera out and peeking from behind the crates, like he was watching something. Bruce moved, fast but quietly and as soon as he came up behind Duke, he grabbed onto him tightly and quickly his mouth before he let out a scream. 

Duke squirmed in Bruce’s hold for a little, and Bruce was quick to turn him around and make Duke face. When Duke realized Bruce was holding, he melted into his arms and stopped squirming. Bruce looked at Duke with his eyes as soft as they could possibly go, and he slowly lowered his hand from Duke’s mouth. Duke opened his mouth, wanting to speak to Bruce, but Bruce quickly shushed him. Duke stayed silent. 

“Duke, I need you to stay quiet, and don’t wander away from me. Nod if you understand.” Bruce said a hushed whisper near Duke’s ear in a stern but soft tone and Duke nodded. Bruce locked hands with Duke and started to lead him away from the light, but one of the crates in front of them got moved with a fork lift, and they were spotted by the two men on the side of the fork lift. 

One of the men, who was blonde and had muscles that were definitely for show, pointed at them and shouted. “Hey!” Bruce didn’t wait for the man to start running as he dragged Duke behind him as he ran. Duke just made sure his camera was capturing the whole thing as Bruce dragged him along.

Chapter Text

Tim, Damian, Dick, and Jason were still stuck in the office after Duke and Bruce both fell through the floor. Jason and Tim had their eyes on the door that didn’t have a handle, and Dick and Damian had their eyes on a door that did have a handle. They didn’t get a signal yet from Bruce, which is why they weren’t moving yet, but they weren’t sitting still either, in fact, they were insulting Bruce while they waited. 

“You would think after years of being a detective, the old man would get wiser, but he’s still as dumb as a fucking orange cat.” Jason complained as he glared at the door he was watching. He wanted action, but instead he was stuck babysitting a fucking door. 

“I’m sure B has everything under control, but I do agree that going alone was stupid, especially since Duke isn’t trained in fighting.” Dick says worriedly, and Damian scoffs next to him. 

“Father’s incompetence is far greater than Todd’s and Todd doesn’t even know what the word means.” Damian says in annoyance and Jason was too set on watching the door to even try and argue with Damian, though he still commented on Damian calling him stupid.

“You act like books don’t fucking use words like that. I’d be surprised if you can even spell what you say half the time.” Jason spat back, and Damian turned around just as he reached for his pocket knife, ready to throw hands for being insulted, but Dick put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. 

“Let’s not argue right now. Focus and don’t get distracted while we’re in here.” Dick said in a soft but firm tone, and Damian rolled his eyes but turned back to watch the door he was in front of. 

“Do you think every door was designed to close behind someone, because they didn’t want anyone else following behind them? Or maybe they have a cool down timer for every time the door is opened, so if people try to open the door after it’s already been open, then they won’t be able to. But wouldn’t it be better to have a code for the door, so it would be easier to override the timer?” Tim mumbled to himself, and Jason bumped his shoulder against Tim’s to knock Tim out of his wandering thoughts. 

“Focus replacement. I don’t want to have to save your ass because of your random fascination with this bullshit.” Jason says, and Tim pouts, but he focuses back on the door. Everyone stayed silent after that, it wasn’t a comfortable silence, but it wasn’t uncomfortable either. Everyone was more alert than uncomfortable, and they were ready to take on whoever comes through either door. They stood in silence for a full minute before the sound of footsteps came from behind Jason and Tim’s door. 

Jason quickly snapped his finger once, grabbing Dick and Damian’s attention, and everyone moved either forward or back, so they could come together in the middle. “Don’t attack quickly, just in case it’s just random civilians who also saw the flyers for this haunted house. If need be, knock them out, but don’t shoot them.” Dick says, and he makes sure Jason hears him, because he grabs onto Jason’s shoulder. 

Jason rolls his eyes at Dick’s stupid comment, but he keeps his gun hidden away in his shoe. Everyone’s eyes stay trained on the door in front of them, and soon enough, the door opens. Nobody moves, or breathes for that matter, as the door opens, and they wait with baited breaths to see who walks in.

Three men, all wearing ski masks and holding some sort of weapon, walk into the room. Their gazes fall onto Jason first, since his red hoodie stands out the most, then they travel over to Tim’s green hoodie, then Dick’s blue shirt, then down to Damian, who had on Dick’s blue jacket. 

“Didn’t you say there were six of them?” One of the masked men said as he looked over at the masked man standing next to him. The masked man’s eyes look around the room before landing back on the four standing in the middle of the room. “I saw six earlier.” The masked man said, and the third masked man just sighed. “Who cares, there’s a kid anyways, so this should be easy.” The man says, and the other two men nod and step forward. The door closed behind them, and they were left in the room with the bats. 

“First come, first serve.” Jason calls out, and he quickly runs towards the first guy, who had a bat in his hand. The man, obviously startled, swings the bat the opposite direction of where Jason is, and Jason uses that opening to kick the man in the chest.

Damian darts across the room next, and he goes straight for the third guy, who called him a child. The man in question was holding a metal pole, and he had a better reaction time than his partner, because he swung the metal pole at Damian, who jumped over the pole like he was playing a game, and he went in with a knee to the guy’s face, knocking the guy back.

Dick looked at Tim, who looked back at him, and they both had a silent conversation with just their eyes before they moved towards the second man. The man in question was holding a crowbar (ironically), and Tim moved closer towards the man’s front side, where he was holding his weapon. The man swung his crowbar high in the air, and it missed Tim by a few inches, but it aimed straight for Dick’s head. Tim slid underneath the man’s swing and kicked the crowbar with his foot as his other foot came towards the man’s stomach. 

Dick ducked down and dodged the man’s crowbar, which flew out of his hand as Tim’s kick connected, and he stood up quickly and punched the man in the face, feeling the man’s nose crack against his knuckles. The man falls backwards, hitting his head on the desk that was behind him, cracking his head open and spilling blood across a few of the scattered papers on the ground. The man was unconscious after that hit, and Dick was quick to check for a pulse to make sure the man wasn’t dead. 

Jason dodged the kick that was coming for his legs and he jumped to the side of the man on the floor and kicked him in the balls. The man cried out in pain, and Jason used his moment of weakness to bend down and grab onto the man’s hair. The man struggled in Jason’s hold, pleading to be let free, but Jason just laughed in his face and soon enough the man was knocked unconscious as Jason smashed his head against the wooden floor of the office. Blood seeped out from the man’s head that had split open from the hit, and papers started turning red around him. 

Damian jumped back just as the metal pole swung at his head. He quickly grabbed the pole before it could be swung again, and he twisted it before pulling it towards him as hard as he could. The pole slipped from the man’s hands, and Damian threw the pole aside and came towards the man with his fist out. The man blocked Damian’s first punch, and tried to sweep Damian off of his feet, but Damian was quicker and kicked the man in the calf before doubling down and kicking the same spot again as he threw another punch at the man. 

The man’s leg bent at an awkward angle after Damian kicked the same spot on his calf a third time, and just before Damian could try for a fourth time, Jason came behind him and swung the metal pole into the back of the man’s head, knocking him unconscious as he cracked his head open. Damian glared at Jason, as the man’s body fell to the ground and revealed Jason holding the metal pole he just swung. 

Jason had a smirk on his face, and they both ignored Dick moving towards the man on the ground as they stared at each other. Dick checked the man’s pulse and once he felt the soft thumping against his fingers, he sighed in relief. “Okay, they’re all, thankfully, just unconscious.” Dick says as he stands up. Damian continues to glare at Jason. 

“I had everything under control Todd.” Damian growled out in annoyance. “Yeah, but you were taking too long.” Jason said while smirking, and he tossed the bloody metal pole aside. Damian growled and lunged for Jason, but Dick grabbed onto Damian to stop him from attacking. “Calm down Dami, Jay was just trying to help.” Dick said softly as he tried to de-escalate the situation. “More like insult my fighting skills.” Damian growled out as he struggled to get free from Dick’s tight hold. 

Jason stuck his tongue out at Damian, which angered Damian more, much to Jason’s delight, and Damian was so close to biting Dick’s hand so he could be let free, but four in sync and similar noises echoed throughout the room at the same time. Everyone looked down at their own watches, or in Jason’s case, his ring, and then they all looked at each other. “Shit, if the old man is calling, then something’s really wrong.” Jason cursed, and Tim moved towards the painting where the trap door was located. 

“We don’t have time to grab our suits, so just cover your face with what you got.” Tim says as he quickly nudges the painting with his shoulder. The trap door opens underneath him and he falls through the floor. Dick pulls out a domino mask that he always keeps on him and hands it to Damian, who scoffs but takes it, and Jason is quick to pull out a handkerchief and wrap it around his nose and mouth. 

Dick is the only one with nothing covering his face, and Jason is quick to toss him his jacket, even though Damian could have given his original jacket back. Dick looks touched, but he doesn’t dwell on that feeling for long as he puts on Jason’s jacket, which fits him perfectly since Jason likes things oversized on him, and pulls the strings on it to scrunch up the hoodie around his face. Damian moves quickly and hits the paining before falling through the trapped door, and Dick follows behind him. 

Jason doesn’t go just yet, and instead he drags all three men towards the desk that was on the ground, and he lines them up quickly before picking up the desk and setting it onto of them. He knows it won’t hold them for long, since there are three men underneath it, but it will give them more time to escape from this place. Jason doesn’t look back as he knocks the painting on the wall and falls through the trapped door. 

———

SEVEN MINUTES EARILER

Bruce runs, dragging Duke along with him as he keeps an eye on Duke, who was behind him and videoing the whole thing. Duke is smiling the whole time, loving how real these scare actors look, and he’s trying to get all the best angles for Steph, that he trips on his own to feet and slides on the concrete ground, since Bruce was dragging him along. 

Bruce stops running immediately and tries to quickly pick Duke up so they could continue running but it was too late. The two men, who were now four, caught up with them. Bruce was quick to pull Duke behind him, making sure his back was facing the crates and not his left side, and he glared at the men, who were quick to surround them. 

“Woah, I didn’t think these actors were going to be this good. This is awesome.” Duke said happily as he showed the angry men who surrounded them. A few more men came running towards them, two of them holding metal chairs, and two of them holding rope that didn’t look familiar to Bruce. One of the men who were already surrounding them, looked at Duke and then at Duke’s camera. “The kid was taping the whole thing.” The man pointed out, and Duke gave him a confused look. 

“Was I not suppose to video tape this?” Duke asked in confusion, and Bruce forced Duke to scoot back, so his back was pressed against the crates behind them. “Duke, stay silent, sweetheart.” Bruce whispered softly, but firmly, and Duke quieted down, even though he was confused. “Hand over the camera, kid.” A man said, and he was wearing a white suit that looked like a hazmat suit, and he looked intimidating, especially with that scar across his eye. Duke clutched onto his camera tightly and shook his head, because Bruce did tell him not to talk. 

The man growled in anger and moved towards Duke, who tried to make himself look small, and his head reached out towards Duke and his camera. Bruce’s hands were fast, faster than the naked eye, some would say, and he grabbed onto the man’s hand and twisted it behind his back. The man yowled in pain, and he was quick to get on his knees, since standing up with your arm twisted hurts more than you sitting down with it twisted. 

“Don’t touch him.” Bruce said in a deep and scary tone, one that Duke’s never heard before. Two of the other men surrounding them were quick to try and get Bruce to let their coworker go, but Bruce was quick with his feet and he tripped one of the men while kicking the other one in the chest. More men moved towards Bruce, and they quickly restrained him while Duke cried out in fear. 

“Don’t hurt him. You can have my camera, just please don’t hurt him. I’m sorry.” Duke cried out and held out his camera to anyone, begging for them to let Bruce go. Bruce struggled against the men who were pinning him to the ground, and he watched in anger as two men moved towards Duke. 

“Touch him, and I’ll kill you.” Bruce growled out and his started knocking men back, trying to get to Duke before anyone else could. Duke whimpered as one of the men roughly grabbed his arm and yanked him to his feet. His camera fell for his hands, and he was shoved into a chair and tied down with rope that rubbed against his skin, hard. The men weren’t gentle in the slightest, and they didn’t care that Duke’s fingers got caught between the knots they made, or the fact that it was cutting off some of the circulation in Duke’s arms. 

Once Duke was tied down, a man held a knife towards his throat, and glared Dow at Bruce, who stopped struggling once he saw how close that knife was to Duke’s vein in his neck. “Listen up, if you don’t want me to slice this kid’s neck open. You’re going to cooperate with us, and if you don’t…” The man started to say, and then he sliced a thin line across Duke’s throat. 

“No!” Bruce angrily yelled, and Duke screamed in pain as he felt blood trickle down his neck. “Do what you must, but don’t hurt him.” Bruce grit out, as he calmed himself. ‘Irrational thinking and overwhelming emotions will get you nowhere, Bruce. Calm down to keep Duke from getting hurt.’ Bruce told himself, and he took a deep breath before looking into the man with the knife’s eyes. The man smirked, pleased by Bruce’s words. 

“Good choice.” The man said as he moved the knife away from Duke’s throat. “Tie him up and move them both towards the bay.” The man says, and the five men holding Bruce down roughly picked him up and slammed him against a metal chair, similar to the one Duke was sitting in, and they tied him down, making sure to use extra rope on him. 

Duke’s metal chair was tipped backwards, and a man started dragging him towards the opening he was peeking from earlier. The metal scraped against the concrete loudly, and Duke didn’t make a sound as he was dragged away. Bruce’s eyes watched the way Duke’s head lulled to the side, almost like he was asleep, but Bruce knew better. ‘Time that, Bruce. Passed out doesn’t mean he’s not in the danger zone. Keep count but don’t let your guard down.’ Bruce thought to himself and he was dragged right behind Duke as they made their way towards the bay.

The bay wasn’t what you think it was, it’s actually the place where they package their drugs before shipping it out. When Bruce was dragged to the middle of the bay area, he watched as the man dragging Duke placed his chair down roughly, which caused the chair to fall backwards. Duke’s head hit the concrete, and Bruce bit his lip to stop himself from speaking. 

‘Neck injury. Head injury. Still unconscious but breathing.’ Bruce noted as his chair was placed next to Duke’s, who was getting picked up after it was roughly dropped. The man with the knife walked over, and he took one look at Duke before rolling his eyes. “Weak kid, passed out before we could even do anything.” The man said in disappointment, and Bruce’s tied up hands bawled up into fists. 

The man walked away from the two of them, apparently going to discuss what they were going to do next. During this sliver of time, Bruce tested the knots on his hands. ‘Pretty solid, new material that’s nothing like rope, but still pretty fragile.’ Bruce thought, and even though he could probably break out of them, he didn’t because Duke was with him. Instead of breaking out, Bruce knocked his watch against the rope, trying his hardest to make his alarm go off. 

He knocked his watch against the rope a few times before he heard a little ding, which warned him of his alert being sent. Bruce relaxed (not actually but he stopped moving) and he turned his attention back towards Duke. He kept his eyes on Duke as he strained to hear what the men were talking about across the room. Bruce counted the rise and fall of Duke’s chest and listened in to the men’s conversation as he waited for his children to come rescue them. 

———-

PRESENT

Jason finally made it to the bottom of that damn slide, and he won’t admit it, but it fucking hurt his ass. Damian, Tim, and Dick were all waiting for him at the bottom, and as soon as he got off of the slide, Dick gave him a look. “What?” Jason asked, even though he knew exactly what Dick wanted to know. 

“What took you so long?” Dick asked, wondering why Jason just didn’t come down immediately after him. “I had to make sure we wouldn’t be followed.” Jason said and Dick eyes him up and down. “You don’t have blood splattered on your clothes, what did you do?” Dick asked and Jason rolled his eyes. “I did what I did. I didn’t kill them if that’s what you actually want to know.” Jason said in annoyance, and Dick just sighed, but he nodded.

“Can we stop wasting time now? Duke and B are still in here.” Tim says as he looks at Jason and Dick. Dick nods and Jason rolls his eyes again. “It’s not like the old man can’t fight. Besides, if anything happens to him, I’m sure we’ll all get a good portion of his money.” Jason says, and Dick hits him on his shoulder. “Not the time, and not funny.” Dick hissed out and Jason stuck his tongue out at Dick. 

“I was just joking, Dickface. It’s not like the old man to die so easily.” Jason said in a mocking tone, and Tim just sighed and walked away, “Imbeciles, why did Father even adopt you two?” Damian said in annoyance as he followed behind Tim, and Dick and Jason both said ‘Hey’ in an offended tone before following after the two.

Tim lead the way across the open area, and he decided to go left, since there were crates blocking their figures from everyone on the other side, and they kept a sharp eye on any place they could be ambushed from. The machines in the background whistled and groaned as they worked on whatever they were programmed to do, and it was quiet enough for them to hear the sound of chatter coming from behind the crates. The darkness that they were stuck in was starting to disappear as they moved towards the light, soon enough, Tim saw the end of the crate wall, which was a big wide gap between the wall they were behind and another wall that starts across from them. 

Tim makes a fist and raises it in the air as soon as he gets near the gap, and the others stop behind him. Tim peeks from behind the crates and his eyes scan the area as he searches for Bruce and Duke. At first, he doesn’t see anything else but machines and men working, but when his eyes move towards the left side, he spots them. It was a bit hard to see, because men were surrounding them on all sides, but Tim could see the black jacket Bruce had on and he could see a little sliver of Duke’s Batman shirt that he brought over when he moved. 

Bruce was always ashamed by the way the shirt made him look, but he didn’t have the heart to tell Duke to throw away (burn) that shirt. Tim moved back a bit and allowed for the others to see what he just saw. Once everyone confirmed that Bruce and Duke were right there, Tim got them all to huddle together, even though that was a risky move. 

“Damian, take the left side of them, preferably the back side, since they won’t see you clearly. Jason, take the right side, closest to the area where all the boxes are. Don’t shoot unless you’re confident that you won’t kill anyone, and that you won’t shoot Bruce or Duke. Dick, I’ll go to the left side near the doors, and you can take the front near the conveyor belt. There’s about fifteen men in that area, so we'll each take about 3, Jason and Damian can take 4, because I know they’ll probably do so with or without me telling them anyway. Our goal is not to bust anyone, we just need to get Duke and Bruce out of there. Don’t cause anything to explode,” Tim starts to say, and he looks at Damian when he says explode. 

“and don’t start a fire because you feel the need to burn the place down.” Tim says as he looks at Jason, who rolled his eyes for being called out. After Tim explained his plan to them, everyone took off to their respective places and waited for Tim’s signal.

———-

“Maybe we could sell them. I’m sure the kid would be worth some money on the black market.” One of the men said. Over the last three minutes of being tied up, Bruce learned a few things. One, these people were idiots, and they were just planning right in front of him without a care in the world. Two, Duke’s been unconscious for more than 6 minutes already, and with each minute that went by, Bruce’s anger started building up. Three, apparently they were going to try and sell them to make some money, which has happened before, but it’s like they can’t even tell who Bruce was, which was a good thing in this case. Either way, Bruce just hopes his kids come soon, before they try to separate him and Duke.

“Why don’t we kill them and sell their organs instead? I’m sure we’ll make more money that way.” Another man suggested, and there were a few murmurs of agreement, and even the main guy, which Bruce assumes is the boss of everyone, agrees. 

“Right, how about we sell the boy off alive and kill the fighter and sell his organs. Adult organs sell more anyway.” The man finally says, and everyone nods in agreement. 

“Okay, Spark, Guild, take the kid to a different room.” The main man says, Bruce’s eyes harden instantly and he tries to take the attention off of Duke. 

“Hahahaa.” Bruce laughs out loud, which startled the men around them, and they all look at him like he’s crazy. 

“What’s so funny?” The main man asks in annoyance, and Bruce continues to laugh. The man was getting pissed off, and he moved towards Bruce with an angry glare. 

“I asked you a question, you dumb bitch. What’s so funny?!” The man yells out and he slaps Bruce across the face. The slap was weak, and it barely stung after it collided with Bruce’s cheek, and he turned his head back towards the man while smiling. 

“Wouldn’t you like to know, dumbass.” Bruce spat out and the man growled in anger and slapped Bruce again. Bruce spit at the man’s shoes as he laughed louder, at this point, the man was shaking in anger and he grabbed onto Bruce’s face roughly. 

“What the hell are you laughing at, motherfucker?! I’ll kill your pathetic ass!” The man yelled out, and Bruce’s laughter died down as he spotted Dick out of the corner of his eye. He looked back at the man and smirked. 

“I don’t know, maybe it’s because you’re so full of yourself, or maybe because I’m about to watch  you get your ass kicked.” Bruce said happily, and the man rolled his eyes and laughed. “You expect me to believe you can get out of those ropes and fight all of us.” The man said in a snarky tone, and Bruce smiled, and it didn’t reach his eyes. His eyes darkened with anger, and he couldn’t help but try to lean in close to the man as he whispered to him. 

“Who said I was going to kick your ass? All I have to do is watch.” Bruce said in a sickly sweet tone, and the main man couldn't even ask Bruce to elaborate as four of his men were taken down with ease. The main man let go of Bruce’s face as he turned around and he watched as one of his right hand men got kicked in the head by a person wearing blue. 

The man turned back around, ready to ask Bruce who those people were, but Bruce was already behind him, out of his restraints and looking far too happy to be there. The man stood no chance as a fist connected with his face happily. He was on the floor in seconds, but that doesn’t mean Bruce stopped there. No, Bruce was far from finished with him.

————

“Duke…Duke can you hear me?” Dick called out in a worried tone as he tried to shake Duke awake. He handled the men in front of him, and the others were just finishing up, so he decided to check on Duke, who was still unconscious. “Duke, can you hear me bud….Duke?” Dick called out again, and he rubbed the middle of Duke’s chest with his knuckles, even though he didn’t want to. 

Duke groaned and whined at the harsh feeling of Dick’s knuckles against his sternum, and Dick sighed in relief and started to cut Duke loose with the pocket knife he borrowed (stole) from Damian. Duke was out of it, as soon as Dick cut him loose, Duke fell forward into Dick’s arms. Duke was dead weight, and Dick could easily carry him but first, Dick needed to try and slow down the bleeding from Duke’s head. 

“Dami, if you look in the pocket of my jacket, I have a g-“ Dick started to say, and before he could even finish his sentence, a pack of gauze was launched at his head, just as Damian did a round house kick and kicked one of the men in the armpit, sending him flipping in almost a cartwheel style to the ground. Dick caught the pack with ease, and he quickly took out two pieces and placed them on Duke’s wound. 

As Dick applied pressure to Duke’s wound, Duke squirmed and whined in pain, which snapped Bruce out of his violent headspace. Bruce took one look at the halfway dead (basically near death) man on the floor and kicked him in the head once more before quickly turning around and going to Duke’s side. 

Bruce kneeled in front of Duke once he reached him, and he gently shushed Duke as he grabbed onto his hand. “You’re okay sweetheart. I’m right here. You’re going to be okay.” Bruce says softly, and Dick smiles softly as he watches the scene from the side of Duke. Jason and Tim both finish with their respective fights, and Jason moves over towards the man Bruce beat to the ground. 

“Damn, why couldn’t the old man do that to the joker.” Jason said in annoyance, and Tim walked up behind him while smiling. “Maybe you should question why the joker hasn’t been seen since his last breakout from Arkham. I’m sure there’s camera footage of the whole fight somewhere in my camera roll.” Tim says with a smile, and Jason looks back at him with a surprised expression. 

“Wait, you don’t mean…” Jason started to say in surprise. “You’ll have to find out later. I’ll show you the footage once we get back to the manor. Spoilers, it was a great fight, one of the best in my opinion.” Tim says and Jason turns and looks at Bruce, who now had Duke in his hold, holding him tight and close to tears. 

That scene was familiar to most, but it didn’t hurt as much as Jason expected it to, especially since he just heard what Tim said. ‘He actually broke his rule, for me of all people.’ Jason thought, and he actually got lost in thought for a bit. Tim had to nudge him back to the present, because they were all leaving this place, and Jason just followed behind wordless.

———

Back at the manor, Alfred was patching Duke up, who had woken up but quickly fell asleep once he received a high dosage of pain meds. The bats went back to take care of the rest of the drug lab, and they might have burned the building down, but who knows. Once they got back, Bruce never left Duke’s side, like literally. Bruce refused to let Duke go to school for two weeks, and Alfred could only convince him by promising to bring Duke home early. 

Tim brought back the camera that was Duke’s, and downloaded the footage to the bat computer before deleting it off of Duke’s camera, and Steph paid a confused Duke a hundred dollars for the footage he doesn’t remember recording. When he tried to find the footage that same day, his camera had nothing on it, which was weird, but he brushed it off as a glitch. 

Jason came by the manor three times a week now, instead of once a week like before, and he and Bruce have been getting closer and closer since he’s discovered what Bruce did to the joker. Duke tried to ask what happened to him from all of his new family members, but he got the same story. “We went skating and you bumped into a pole and hit your head” Tim came up with that excuse. That didn’t explain the long scar along his neck, but Duke assumed he scratched himself by accident. Eventually, the family started including Duke into more things, and they still kept their identities a secret from him, but they didn’t leave him out from conversations and jokes. 

Today was Friday, and everyone was finally eating together in the manor. Steph and Cass thankfully could come today, and Alfred was so pleased by everyone being there, that he baked lots of desserts for them after they finished dinner, which was a great surprise to them all. 

Tim and Damian were chatting about Damian’s school mate, Jon, and Dick and Steph were talking with Cass about some sale at the mall. Jason was glued to Bruce’s side and was insulting him like normal, but it was more like playful banter, and Bruce was just happily listening to Jason talking while holding him close. Everyone was so distracted that they almost missed Duke coming into the dining room happily. 

Duke skipped into the room with a flyer in his hold, and everyone’s attention turned towards him. “Guys, I found out there’s a scare house in town. Let’s go!” Duke said happily, and everyone got flashbacks to the last time they trusted a flyer. Bruce quickly stood up and gently placed Jason on his chair before walking over to Duke. 

“Duke, sweetheart, how about we make the manor into a haunted house instead. We can even invite your classmates and I’ll let you pick out the decorations. Doesn’t that sound fun?” Bruce asks softly, hoping Duke will agree to that idea. Duke thought about it for a moment before his eyes lit up and he jumped up and down happily. 

“Yeah, and I can scare so many people. Ooh, we should buy a fifteen foot skeleton and put it in the front of the manor, and we can cover the whole manor in spider webs. Oooh, and we can build a trap door leading to the garage with a big slide, like a surprise." Duke said happily. 

“NO TRAP DOORS!” 

Everyone yelled out quickly, and Duke gave them a confused look. “How about a tunnel instead?” Tim offered, and Duke’s eyes sparkled again in excitement and he bounced around happily while telling his siblings and Bruce about how he plans on decorating the manor. Bruce quietly sighs and turns around to stop Duke from getting on the table and announcing his plans to the whole manor. After all, Duke doesn’t need a second head injury, one was already too much.