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Bruce Wayne was many things. He was the billionaire playboy Brucie Wayne, he was the Dark Knight, and he was a tired father. Each identity was different, and yet, the same. Each was a part of him. Sometimes it was hard to keep each identity separate. They would bleed into one another every now and then. He was lucky it was never anything too big, something that couldn’t be explained away easily. Unfortunately for him, that was about to change.
He had been at a gala all night. When he finally left, of course an Arkham breakout happened. Just his luck. He put on his suit and quickly went out to handle it. It was all hands on deck. Bruce landed on a rooftop, overlooking the city. Someone landed behind him. “Glad you could finally join the party, old man.” Jason’s voice said.
Bruce huffed and shook his head. He and Jason kept working to deal with the break out. They spotted one of Penguin’s thugs. They followed him to a warehouse where Penguin was. They snuck into the warehouse through a hole in the rusted and corroded metal, clinging to the rafters. They weren't the only ones however. Orphan made her presence known to the 2 of them.
“Planning. Money. Unclear reason.” She signed.
Batman nodded, turning his gaze back to the man. Hood pulled out one of his guns. It had rubber bullets, but those still hurt if you got hit by them. Batman gave a 3 fingered count down. Once he motioned, they all jumped down, making quick work using the element of surprise. Orphan disarmed Penguin and restrained him all before the shorter man could even think.
Penguin was tied to a chair, a cuff around his wrists. Red Hood was turning over his gun in his hands, Orphan standing next to him. Her eyes were focused on Penguin, reading him like an open book. Batman stood there, cape over his shoulders, making him look like a void of black, imposing and sharp. He took a breath. “Why can't we just shoot him until he talks?” Hood asked, dangling the gun in one hand loosely.
Penguin knew that even despite the masked vigilantes' calm, disinterested appearance, the gun was still deadly in his hand. “Pain. Hard to speak. Defeats purpose.” Orphan said, taking her eyes off Penguin to look at Red Hood.
The helmet wearing vigilante grumbled, putting the gun in its holster. He crossed his arms and looked at Penguin. Orphan went back to staring at him. Batman cleared his throat slightly. “You will tell us what it is you are planning to do with the money. Who’s involved.” Batman said.
Whatever voice Penguin was expecting, it wasn’t what he got. Instead of the cold and gruff voice of the Dark Knight that every rogue was used to, he instead got a honey smooth, slightly lofty almost seductive voice. Penguin froze, looking at Batman with slightly wide eyes. Red Hood and Orphan both snapped to look at Batman. Penguin was glad they reacted strangely too, that meant he wasn’t the only one who heard the strange voice come out of the man.
“What-what do you want from me?” Penguin asked, voice lifting slightly.
“I want answers. You will tell us what you are doing with that money.” Batman snapped.
His voice was still that strange suave rumble. Penguin didn’t quite know how to react to it. The voice came from the Dark Knight so he knew the situation was dangerous, but part of him wanted to hear that voice again. He was mildly flustered. “I’ll-I’ll tell you what you want. Now ask me some questions.” Penguin spoke.
Batman stood still for a moment. He tilted his head a miniscule amount. Red Hood whispered into the com. Oracle confirmed she had saved the voice clip. Batman would never live that moment down. He wondered why Penguin was being so cooperative.
A fundraiser gala was being held and the Waynes were asked to attend. Bruce was in his suit and tie, talking with other wealthy people. His voice was a bit lofty, smooth and calm. Damian was standing next to him, a mildly annoyed look on his face. Bruce ruffled the boy’s hair. Damian squawked, smacking Bruce’s hand away before flattening his hair again. Bruce chuckled. Some of the people in the group cooed at Damian’s antics. “It’s so interesting that he is so different from you, Brucie.” One older woman said.
“He takes after his mother.” Bruce said, rubbing the back of his neck.
Damian let out a tsk noise before turning and walking away. Bruce laughed. He began to walk around the gala, attempting to find his other kids. Cass snuck up behind him, gently tapping his shoulder. He turned and smiled at her. She smiled back. He kept walking. Tim was over by the buffet table, talking with some investors of Wayne Enterprise. Bruce chuckled and walked over. “Tim. It’s a party, not work. Have some fun.” Bruce said, putting his hands on Tim’s shoulders.
The investors chuckled. Tim batted Bruce’s hands away. The man smiled at him. Tim returned it. The investors walked off, leaving Tim and Bruce. “Have you seen your siblings? I saw Cass a little bit ago.” Bruce stated, looking around the room.
“I think I saw Dick over that way.” Tim pointed towards the front of the room, closer to a raised stage.
“Alright. Thank you Tim.” Bruce said, walking off.
He walked through the crowd, looking for his eldest child. He couldn’t find him. He briefly looked upwards, towards the hanging chandeliers. “Just in case” he thought to himself. He wasn’t swinging from the chandeliers, something Bruce was thankful for. He didn’t think these chandeliers were strong enough to hold a grown man’s weight. Bruce huffed slightly, unable to find his son. He decided to walk over to the bar and order a drink. Non alcoholic.
He took the glass in his hand and took a sip. He began to walk again. Something caught his attention. It was a flash of blue. He looked over. He felt anger rise in him at what he saw.
A small ring of women was around Dick. He put his hands up, trying to distance himself from them. He was speaking, asking them to leave him alone and not touch him, an uncomfortable and mildly afraid expression on his face. They pushed his hands out of the way and leaned on him, touching him. Dick tensed up, shoulders drawing upward as he froze. Bruce walked forward, anger running through him. He opened his mouth and spoke. “You get away from him.” He snapped.
The women jumped back instantly, looking at Bruce with shock on their faces. That wasn’t the normal voice that came out of Brucie Wayne. This voice was deep and gruff, cold and intimidating in a way that sent a shiver down your spine and made you feel like you were in danger. It was sharp and left no room for argument.
Bruce stepped forward, towards his eldest. Dick’s eyes focused on him, a look of mild confusion on his face. “Hey chum, you alright?” Bruce asked him.
Dick nodded. Bruce smiled, putting a protective arm around Dick’s shoulders, ignoring the way Dick’s flinch made his heart ache. The two walked away, leaving the women standing there in shock. He didn’t notice Vicky Vale having caught the interaction on tape. He didn’t really care though.
Bruce was tired. He had been dealing with more cases, working to take down both a drug ring, and suspicious behavior from a collapsed trafficking ring. He had been running himself ragged. When he heard the chaos of Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy, he couldn’t help the small groan that escaped him.
He followed the sound of chaos and found the two women. He landed on the ground behind them, cape flowing down around him. “Hey Batsy!” Harley said, swinging her bat up to rest on her shoulders.
“What did you two do?” He asked with a sigh.
The two women paused, suddenly looking rather guilty. Harley let her bat swing down, resting it on the top of her foot as she rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet slightly. Ivy fidgeted with her vines. “I-uh…we can clean it up.” Harley said, Ivy nodding next to her.
Batman looked at the two in surprise. Harley and Ivy began to clean the mess they made. He looked at them, confused. His com sparked to life, Oracles voice greeting him. “Bats, you do realize you did not sound at all like Batman right?” She asked.
“Huh?” Bruce let out a confused sound.
“You sounded like a tired dad…” Oracle snickered slightly, clearly trying to hold back her laughter.
Batman felt a mild embarrassed flush rise on his cheeks. He stamped it down and went back to looking at Harley and Ivy. The two had managed to clean up their chaos. They waved goodbye to him before running off. Bruce sighed and shook his head, not having the energy to go after them. He needed to stop using the wrong voice. But maybe it was helpful to use the wrong voice. The reactions he got were certainly interesting.