Night deepened.
The Bat Brats, who had just finished discussing how to get up to no good, tried to sneak back into the Batcave while Batman was out on patrol.
The four teenagers crept through the entrance, hoping to slip back to their rooms in the shadows of the stairs. But the moment they entered, they sensed something was wrong.
The Batcave was silent. Bruce Wayne had not left to pursue his "dark side gig." Instead, he stood with his back to the entrance before a whole bank of monitors, which displayed scrolling security footage and energy detection reports from Arkham Asylum.
He had yet to take off his Batsuit, which almost blended into the surrounding darkness. On closer inspection, a little of Gotham's night dew clung to the hem of his cape, and the oppressive chill surrounding him could almost have frozen into shards of ice.
"Good evening, children." Bruce's perfectly ordinary greeting froze all four little thieves in place. "Tim, Damian, Jason... and Miaomiao. Where did you all go tonight?"
There was no particular fluctuation in Bruce's voice, but to the guilty Bat Brats, it boomed like thunder.
Tim reacted first. He pulled out his portable computer and pretended to work on the Drake Family's reports, saying calmly, "I was checking the company's recent developments. Um, they came up with an idea to team up with Wayne Enterprises and collaborate with Stark Industries in New York on clean energy... I think their proposal is well worth considering-you know, Bruce, Gotham's pollution is so severe that Miaomiao won't even swim an extra lap or two near Gotham Bay..."
"I practiced swordsmanship at the training grounds in the courtyard, then spent some time with the animals in the backyard," Damian added, his tone almost deliberately steady. "Alfred even brought me