Summary:Damian shows up to exert his claim as heir to the Cowl. Bruce tries to play it off. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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Helena and Selina made it in from patrols a little earlier than the others. It was a relatively quiet night, just a few basic muggings to break up without any of the horror shows they sometimes run into. Mother and daughter came home and were in the process of having a late night snack when…someone showed up.
Helena sacrificed a slice of prized Aunt May pie to keep things friendly, and Selina retreated to wrap her head around the introductions. Then, before Helena sat back down, she sent a text to Bruce: You need to come home. Now. Visitor.
Bruce was out on patrol in another part of the city, when he got the news someone is in the house. There was something /else/ he was having to deal with at the moment, but he was making his way back as soon as possible. In the meantime, there's a text to the cave.
« Penny-Two, Helena says someone's in the house. Security feed, threat assessment. » The /now/ is implied.
To both: « Be there in ten. »
Watching the feed on the mansion isn't in Julia's usual routine, and so it takes a bit for her to queue up those cameras and start to flip through to see what it is that had Bruce's attention.
Julia will start at Helena's location, since she's the origin of the contact while at the same time sending the younger woman a message as well: « Are you OK? » Getting a response at all will be a good sign. Depending on what it might be, there might be a much broader net cast to come riding to the rescue.
Damian Wayne was still in his eastern ninja garb (Tibetan?) from when he arrived at the Mansion. How the hell did he even get inside? Doesn't matter much now, but he seems to casually eat at the slice of Aunt May's pie, and he appears impressed.
"This is the best pie I have ever had." Damian says with the most serious expression on his face. Apparently nothing beats Aunt May's pie. Should make her happy. Though Damian doesn't know what seems to be happening behind the scenes, he seems to still be…waiting.
Helena flashes an OK at the camera feed, setting an elbow on the table and propping her chin up in her hand as she considers Damian. "Right?" she agrees about the pie. "It's my boyfriend's aunt who makes it. Honestly, we half have to hide it from Alfred so he doesn't get jealous. Nothing against Alfred," she adds. "It's just, his stuff tends a little more toward haute cuisine, as opposed to…Well. Apple pie."
She takes in his garb, mentally measures his age - not too different from her own, maybe older? - then starts to draw her own conclusions. "So, you're obviously not from Staten Island."
The roar of the Batmobile greets Julia as Bruce returns to the cave. Once he has the okay from her, he's not springing for the elevator in his suit, instead, he's changing. "Julia, I need you to look up everything we have on a Masque." he says to her. "It seems that she is trying to bring up old information to use in the press. While that's running, you'll be joining me in.."
There's a glance at the monitor, and when he sees .. what could be him in his youth, there's a tightening of Bruce's lips that pull into a tight line. If this is a Summers/Grey thing, he's going to probably find a way to break all the timelines. "You got an ID on him yet?"
Julia Pennyworth doesn't look the Bat's way as Bruce comes into the cave hot and fast. She shakes her head at his question. "We're coming up empty on facial recog. I'm about to dig deeper, but he's pretty young for any agency to go to that sort of work for." She should know. Before setting up an identity with SHIELD, as part of the SRR she was totally off the books as well.
The woman behind the computer glances over to Bruce as he gets closer. "His outfit looks Eastern. Tibetan, maybe? Could be he's never *been* in any system. Helena doesn't seem to be in any distress at the moment."
Julia likely wouldn't find anything on Damian. Like he's a ghost, or according to the system, never existed. Damian keeps his attention on Helena. "A good assumption. No, I am not from Staten Island. I am from Tibet. Raised in a league of assassins. I find that my upbringing has been…" he looks around at the mansion around him. "likely very different from your own."
He then starts to look around, as if maybe seeing possible vantage poitns, in the event that he is eventually attacked. "Are you from here?" he asks of his half-sister.
"You might be surprised," Helena murmurs, rueful. After all, she seems relatively unflustered by the arrival of a ninja claiming to be her brother. That's not the sort of thing that comes without some training.
At his question, she looks around as well, nodding. "Yeah. Born and raised. This is the family home," she adds, waving a hand around them. "Granted, it's been a pretty limited family by blood. Dad was an only child. I'm an only child." A pause. "Was an only child." That last comes with an arch of her brow and a wry smile. "Your mom?"
"Tibet." Already, his mind is going quickly through the list as Bruce considers every angle. Finally, he gestures to Julia after he changes. "With me." Coming up the stairs in the quiet part of the house, Bruce makes his appearance in the kitchen. "Sorry I'm late, sweetheart. You didn't tell me you were having company over." He presses a kiss to Helena's temple as his hand drops, making a subtle motion for Julia to hang back just a moment.
"I fon't think I've met your friend yet?" he asks, a curious glance towards Damian. "I'm Bruce Wayne, Helena's father."
Julia Pennyworth arches a brow as Bruce motions for her to join him but she's already moving to follow. She's got her large green jacket on, which hides the sidearm she regularly carries. She doesn't usually have much call to use it around Bruce and his folks, but it's a habit and required for her 'day job'.
The mocha-skinned woman lingers in the shadows as Bruce strides in, not trying to actually hide, but being unobtrusive. She could probably ask her dad for lessons on that, actually…
Damian looks at Helena as she implies that she's had quite an interesting life, comparable likely to Damian's own. But then he's asked about his mother. He narrows his eyes at her, before he simply closes them. If they are related, she might as well.
"My mother is-" Then Bruce Wayne himself arrives just before Damian can namedrop who his maternal figure is. Goddamn timing. But Damian stands up proper and he approaches Bruce, but doesn't bow or do handshakes. "I'm Damian."
He's about to drop the 'I'm your son' thing to the guy who already knows before he notices Julia, his hand twitching lightly, like it was going to reach for his sword, but he decided against it. "….and you are?" he asks of Julia.
Dammit, Dad. Helena tips her head to her father's kiss, taking the opportunity as Damian stands to reach over to steal his fork and a bite of the pie. Because this is what you get with siblings, Damian. She's already changed into a tank top and boxer shorts for bed - this was just midnight snack time at first, after all.
"I wasn't actually planning on company," she answers Bruce. "But hey, sometimes you get surprises." She's not going to deliver Damian's.
Best timing ever. When Damian glances to Julia, Bruce frowns. "She's security. With the recent attempts on the family, it was for the best." That's why Cassandra's around to - though apparently she's out on the prowl at the moment.
Heading over to the fridge, Bruce opens it to take out a bottle of water to crack open and drink from. He didn't get a chance to down in the cave. "It's nice to meet you, Damian. What brings you to my house?"
Julia Pennyworth leans a shoulder against the wall and lifts a hand to sketch a two-fingered salute over towards Damian. "Don't mind me, luv. Just act like I'm not even here." Her British accent is a dead giveaway that she's not from around these parts either, her tone rather dry. Also, a bit of a deviation from the black suit and sunglasses that other bodyguards might lean towards. The piercings in her ears and the punk band on her T-shirt makes her even more of a deviation.
Damian looks at Julia, apparently not quite of the mind to actually believe she's not there. "Shouldn't be hard." he replies like the brat he is, before he looks at Bruce proper as he questions Damian's presence.
"I'm your son."
Not exactly difficult to believe, considering the likeness, but there could be many reasons why Damian looks like Bruce when the man himself was that age. "I'm here to learn under you." well, at least he's straight to the point….and perhaps lacking a certain theatrical talent for suspence.
The son part, Helena already heard. The 'learn under you' part is new. And, for some reason, strikes her as extra hilarious. Luckily, she's got pie to keep her mouth busy.
There's a sip of water, and Bruce manages not to spit-take at Damian's revelation. "Helena.. if you're trying to prank me, you could have done better than this." he starts to say with a frown. For the moment, he's sticking to the playboy millionaire guise. "I'm not sure what you'd want to learn from me, young man." comes the response as he sets the bottle of water on the table. "You're too old to claim child support, and do you have any proof of this claim?" he asks with a lift of his brow.
Before Helena can take another bite of pie, Bruce takes the plate away. Not that it's of any use to scrub for DNA, thanks to Helena's contamination. "Helena is the heir to the Wayne Fortune, if that's what you're after."
Julia Pennyworth smirks Damien's way as he dismisses her. While it's what she wants, it grates a bit mostly because of her own Daddy Issues. Which only seems all the more amusing when the boy says he's Bruce's son. While her dark brows go up, Julia ain't saying one. damned. word. She keeps her attention on Damien, even though watching Bruce's reaction to this is damned tempting.
Damian keeps his full attention on Bruce, letting the presence of both Julia and Helena fade to black. "If it were a prank, she'd be laughing." Hey, her personality is pretty snarky as it is, its not a far-reaching assumption for Damian to make, is it?
But as Bruce asks for proof and speaks of Helena as the heir to the fortune and likely the company, Damian simply furrows his brow. "I don't care about your money or your company." surprising. "If you seek proof that I am your son, then you can consult Talia al Ghul, my mother. Or, should you seek a more immediate result, I would suggest you take my blood for DNA sequencing."
He's willing to go that far to prove it?
"Helena may be heir to the fortune, but I am heir to the cowl." he says confidently. "I already know that you are the Batman, the Dark Knight of New York."
"Technically, I am already laughing. On the inside," Helena says around a mouthful of pie, holding up her hands as Bruce confiscates the rest of it. She already assumed he'd be up for a sample. And that if he wasn't, they could get one, one way or another. No need to sacrifice perfectly good pie for it.
When Damian brings up the cowl, she leans back in her chair, looking somehow even more amused. She absolutely got that from her mother. "Everyone knows Batman's sidekick is Robin," she points out, helpful. "I mean. I'm pretty sure there's some sort of…apprenticeship thing going on."
This is revenge for at least ten of the times she asked to be Robin and got told no.
"Talia." The name rings all the alarm bells. There's going to be a family meeting on this later. For now, however?
"I don't think I recall meeting her." He's going to play it off. Does he know that he has a child with her? No. Helena can see that on his face - for once, Bruce was caught flat-footed. But now, all the security protocols are kicking into place. "Yes. You're going to need to provide proof."
Then comes the cowl comment. "I don't know what stories she's filled you with, but I couldn't be further from Batman." He's not going to make this easy. At all. "For now, I can get you a place to stay.." off-premises. "…until we have this sorted out."
He wonders if Dick may have enough room for Damian to stay with.
Wouldn't that be a kick in the pants.
Julia Pennyworth moves closer, venturing into the room in as unobtrusive a manner the SRR Agent can manner. The last thing she wants is to be too far away if Damien decides to try to 'test' this whole 'Bruce Wayne is Batman' theory by attacking him or something.
"I'm well aware." Damian informs Helena. After all, a few criminals that Damian encountered on his way to the mansion initially thought he was Robin, but they were…sorely surprised at what came in Robin's place. He looks at Bruce then, but even the Elder Bat knows that Damian is apparently not buying his act of ignorance. "Its true. You couldn't be further. Your standing in the same spot, after all." well then. "I'm not privy to being stashed away until you find the time during your night hours to confirm what you already know is true."
But does Damian really have a choice. "But, if thats your wish, Father, then I'll follow it. As for your proof, simply name the time and place." Such confidence, this one. Though Damian is tempted to just throw a shuriken at Bruce to see his reaction.
Helena tilts her head to watch Damian and her father, measuring the two of them from the vantage point of being outside of the conversation between the two of them. She plays the vapid teenager at least as well as he plays the playboy billionaire, but she's just as sharp as her father. And as slippery as her mother.