~ two weeks later ~

□Mara□

Me and Damian have kept up our little game, and it's actually kind of fun. Bruce is still trying to talk to me, to get somewhere with me, which does make me have pity for him. But I do my best to ignore it and him, because I will not give in that easily. I will not forgive him that easily.

My brothers on the other hand were easier to forgive so quickly because they were groomed into it, and they saw that as their only chance to get past what demons they failed to hide.

With Bruce it's different because he chose to go down that path. He chose to bring his children, his children, into it.

"Mara, are you alright?" Bruce's voice echoes through my skull, and I blink.

I look over at him as he leans forward in his office chair. Me, Damian, and Dick are in his office, at Wayne Enterprises for some big campaign, of which he needs his families support. Alfred and Tim are coming too, they are just running late.

I hear Bruce clear his throat, and I just go back to staring out the window.

I'm not talking to him. He's not talking to me. And why the hell did he ask if I'm alright?! I'm literally staring out the goddamned window! What is that illegal now?!

"Ok, well, just checking." He finishes. Then, not even ten seconds later, Dick speaks up.

"Can we just get along?"

What the -?

Damian turns to look at Dick, and I follow suit. I hear Bruce's pen stop making noise, meaning he stopped writing. I'm guessing were all staring at Dick now, with the most confused and somewhat irritated looks on our faces.

"What?" I ask, trying to sound a bit less sour than my mood. He frowns at me. Damian is sitting in between us, and he doesn't have to look my way for me to see his eye roll.

"Oh cut the crap Mara, you know exactly what your doing here, and I'm sick and tired of it!" He exclaims, and I feel myself become mildly irritated.

Why the hell is he pushing this now?

"Wh-w-why I - what? Wh- you know what nevermind." I stutter, sighing. I'm too tired to argue with him about this, let alone in front of Bruce. Plus Damian is with me on this, and he doesn't like others to meddle in his plans.

Dick gives me a cold stare, colder than his frown. Damian takes a breath in and looks back out the window. I can tell he's now trying to ignore Dick rather than Bruce.

"Okay, guys, can we just leave it alone for now? We can have this argument later, can't we?" Bruce says.

"Oh and there it is!" Dick shouts, throwing his hands in Bruce's direction. I flip my head to look at him. He's leaning forward with his hands folded.

"Dick," Bruce warns, and I swallow. I've never actually heard Bruce get angry at anyone before, like actually angry. I wonder if he's like mother, but shake that thought off. He can't be, couldn't be. I don't know what I would do if he is.

"Wh- no! I will not just sit here and watch Mara ignore you like-"

"Hey!" I turn to Dick quickly, my irritation rising. Damian stirs now, sitting straight up in his chair. "I am not ignoring Bruce, I'm just-!"

"Just what?!"

"That's enough! The both of you!!" Bruce voice booms through the room, and I tense. My mind runs through possible scenarios of what could happen, but I only picture mother instead of Bruce. But mother isn't here, only Bruce. And there's only one mother, only one mother to react the ways she did.

I keep my glare against Dick for a second more, until I sigh, exasperated. Then, I turn back to the window and cross my arms, not enjoying the silence that follows.

"Jesus, you two, just stop it. Dick, leave Mara alone. Mara, leave Dick alone. Just worry about yourselves and your own problems for the next hour, okay?"

I nod, feeling slightly bad for upsetting Bruce, when all he's trying to do is work. I know I should stop feeling bad and make up some clueless reason to hate and ignore him, but I can't. I'm honestly just that tired. I know Damian isn't gonna be happy about this, but I think I might want to lower my game a little.

"Sorry," I say to no one in particular, looking at the table. It's completely silent. I guess they're not used to me saying sorry. I'm not either, since usually I'm not the confrontational kind of girl.

Well, unless my biological father comes and shows up randomly after years and tells me he's the Batman. And if my brothers knew about it. And if one of them died for it.

Leave it alone. Don't think about him...

He's in a better place now.

"Hey guys," a voice snaps me out of my thoughts. I jump in my seat and look to Tim and Alfred, who are dressed for the occasion. Black amd white suits and ties.

I'm in a green and black halter dress, which comes to around my waist, surrounding my upper half with elastic, stretchy fabric, as well as the lower half of the dress which flows down to my knees. I matched it with black Doc Martin's, so nothing too fancy. I've got a small black sweater around the back of the chair I'm on, as an extra layer if needed.

"Uh...did we interrupt something?" Tim asks cautiously.

"No," Damian begins, now joining the conversation. Really, now he joins the conversation?

"Well good, because everyone is expected downstairs," Tim finishes, and we all start to move. I pull my sweater on and stay close to Tim.

I don't know why, I just feel better when Tim's around. It might be because he and I are the same age so we understand each other better, but I don't really know.

"Do we just sit and listen?" I ask Tim in a low voice, trying to keep the conversation between us.

"Yeah basically. Kinda boring but at least there's food," he responds, and I crack a smile.

"Oh thank God, my savior!" I whisper sarcastically, chuckling at myself.

Tim smiles back and playfully shoves me. I stumble slightly, knowing that I'm going to shove him back. When I do, he takes one step to rebalance himself and keep walking next to me. I roll my eyes when he raises his eyebrows, cockiness showing plainly. I swallow and smirk back, stepping towards him. But I don't shove him back, I just keep walking next to him. I'm not going to trip him, not yet at least.

We make our way down to the lower level of the building, me and Tim trailing the group. Bruce and Dick are in front, but only because they have to speak.

The rest of us - Alfred, Damian, me, and Tim- don't have to, so we just find a couple seats around an empty table. Reserved for us is more like it, more like it for everyone else here. Rich bastards. Take what you have, take what others can't afford, and take what you want at everyone elses expense.

The chatter around the room is a warm tone, with people buzzing about the newest jewelry to the success of their buisiness. Our table is relatively quiet, but Alfred keeps a nice conversation with Tim. Everyone quiets down when the talking comes, and the subtle laughs and nods of agreement last longer than I thought.

It seems like days, but really it was only a couple of hours. Which is still really long. I keep fiddling with thinks around me, like the napkin, the fork, my jewelry, my dress, my hair, all of it.

Anything that'll help defuse my boredom. I can tell Damian's getting antsy, but he doesn't show it. I can just tell by the way he's sitting and how he's breathing. Whenever he gets antsy, his breathing becomes slightly more erratic. I know it sounds weird, but it's just who I am. I observe things, I'm mostly quiet, and I don't like confrontations with others outside of my family. Which is why these top notch parties and meetings of sorts aren't up my alley. I would rather be at home.

"Mara?" Tim asks from beside me, and I jump, almost out of my seat. Tim sighs at my flinch, and I become slightly embarrassed.

"What?" I ask, trying to be nonchalant about it.

"Come on, we've got a break to stretch."

I don't even take a second thought before getting up and out of my chair. He just chuckles as we head out of the big room. Some people follow us, but most stay. I don't really know where we're headed, so I just follow my brother.

"I'm gonna go to the bathroom, I'll be back."

"Ok, me too," I say, heading into the ladies room. It's not really full from what I can tell, so I just go into a random stall.

Once I'm washing my hands, I realize I hear something. I hear a noise, and it's not one from a bathroom. It's a beeping noise. I walk around the wall of sinks to the stalls, and look under each one. I've only been in here for a couple of minutes and no ones come in; they've only gone out.

Then what the hell is that noise?

I check under the stalls, looking for a pair of shoes, but there are none. I ask out to see if someone is here, but no one answers. The beeping noise answers though, and it's starting to tick me off.

I'm about to walk out, but then the beeping per second increases. That's when I decide to turn around and check inside the stalls, exasperated.

As I go through each, looking for something that could give a reasonable explanation, I check the time. The break was about twenty minutes and I've wasted about seven in here. I open the third to last stall, and freeze.

My whole body becomes rigid, and I don't dare move. I know exactly what it is, and I feel if I move its going to explode. Literally, because I can't wrap my mind around what's in front of me.

My fear isn't allowing me to even breath, because I know I'm going to die, somehow, someway, and in mere minutes. Because whats in front of me isn't some phone glitching, or some technological error in the building.

It's a bomb.