Save The B(r)ats

easy breezy

Stephanie was the last one to come to, waking up to the sounds of an argument between her siblings. She sighed, sitting up as she rubbed her throbbing head to glare at the siblings that dared to wake her from her ill gained, but much needed rest.

"-ke if you don't move I will-" Stephanie cut Damian off with a kick to his thigh. Damian turned his anger towards her. "Oh great, she's finally awake."

"Yeah, thanks for allowing me to join the fun." Steph drawled sarcastically, looking around at their surroundings. "Where the heck are we? What happened?"

"Isn't it obvious? We were kidnapped." Jason spat angrily. "Guess we can change the sign in the kitchen back to zero once we get home."

Steph took a look at where they were, really took a look and groaned. "We are at the Iceberg Lounge, aren't we?" Her siblings nodded their heads, having come to the same conclusion. "Why are we locked in the staff bathroom?"

"To keep us from prying eyes, or the conversations between our kidnappers, or the other bathrooms were too clean, or-" Cass cut Dick off with a glare, affectively shutting him up. "Right. Sorry."

"So, do you think they know who we are?" Tim asked, fidgeting with the hem of his shirt.

"Doubtful. If they did, they would've killed us when they had the chance. Now that we can put up a fight, they don't stand a chance against us." Barbara smirked for a half a second, wiping it off her face when the door began to rattle as someone unlocked it.

"Time to play scared little rich kid." Cass murmured to her siblings just as the door opened and in came none other than Catwoman.

The siblings eyes went wide with shock and betrayal until Catwoman put a finger to her lips, closing the door behind her and locking it before she began talking. "I know what it looks like-"

"You betrayed us, Selina." Dick growled.

"No, I-"

"How could you do this to father? To us?" When Damian wanted to, he could really use his young age to his advantage.

"Will you let me-"

"Explain yourself." Jason demanded.

"I'm trying to!" Selina snapped. The kids blinked at her and she sighed. "I know what it looks like and I promise you, its not. I am not working with them, I'm working with you."

"How so?"

"I heard about a plot to kidnap Bruce Wayne's children and I jumped at the opportunity. Not for some petty reason, like you might believe, but so I could protect you. Black Mask, he is plotting to kill you guys. All of you. No matter what Bruce does for him."

"And you're here to delay that?"

"I'm here to delay it until help arrives."

"Batman?"

Selina shook her head, about to say more when footsteps were heard in the hallway. "I have to go. But just know, help is on the way. I won't let them kill you. Any of you."

As Selina slunk back into the hallway, the Bat kids exchanged glances amongst themselves as they tried to think of who could possibly be coming to aid them.

- - -

"So I put my hands up, they're playing my song, and the butterflies fly away, nodding my head like, yeah, moving my hips like, yeah. I got-"

"Bart! Do you realize we are about to head into Gotham, the most crime ridden place in the world?" Conner snapped, glaring at the young speedster. "And we are about to rescue the most prominent billionaire in the world's children from certain death, in which if we fail, he will most likely hire a hit team to end us?"

"I don't think-"

M'gann was cut off by Artemis nodding her head in agreement. "He's Bruce Wayne, not Batman. He's not above killing."

M'gann sighed, unsure as they flew into Gotham City air space. "Do we even know where to begin looking for the Wayne children?" The team exchanged glances, shrugging in return. "Alright, let's start at the manor. See if the kidnappers left any clues."

"I feel like Batman." All eyes turned to Jaime as they landed the bioship on the back lawn of estate grounds. "You know, doing real detective work and such. It feels like something Batman would do."

The team went to the front entrance, ringing the doorbell and waiting for an answer. The door opened a second later to reveal Bruce Wayne's famous butler, Alfred. He nodded at the team, gesturing for them to follow him inside the manor.

"Master Bruce told me to expect you. The children were playing a game of Monopoly in here, when the kidnappers took them." Alfred showed the team to the Bat siblings last location.

"And, I hate to ask this, but where were you while your charges were being kidnapped?"

Alfred turned to show the team the giant bump on the back of his head. "I was knocked out from a blitz attack. And do not worry, I understand your concern completely. I wish for the young masters to return to the home unscathed." Alfred turned once more towards the door. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have the manor to attend to."

The team watched Alfred walk away, turning back to the task at hand. They looked over the scattered Monopoly pieces from when Barbara hit her head on the board, they walked the path the kidnappers took to exit the house, they even sat around the board game to try and get a feel for what happened.

"Is anyone else feeling like we are missing something right under our noses?" Cassie asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Noses! That's it!" Kaldur surprised the team with his outburst, standing abruptly from the board and walking over to the window. He sniffed the air, not finding anything until he got to the air vents. He got down and pried them up, looking inside. "Aha! There we go."

"What? What is it?"

"The kids were drugged with some sort of airborne agent. Bart, take this back to the Mountain for analysis. The rest of us, I think we need to question Mr. Wayne."

"Why?" The team looked at Kaldur confused until he pointed to the numerous hidden cameras around the room.

"I noticed these throughout the mansion as we did our walk through." Kaldur explained. "Mr. Wayne is hiding something and I'd like to know what it is."

"But how does that pertain to the mission?" M'gann asked, feeling a bit uneasy now that she knew they were potentially being watched.

"If we cannot trust our employer, then how can we complete the mission successfully? If Mr. Wayne isn't as innocent as he claims to be, his kids may be in more danger than we thought."