Robin's Egg

P-egg-nguin Problems

Everything seemed to calm down for a bit, and Damian was swept up in living his two lives. Over a week passes through the constant draining struggle of school and patrol. Unfortunately, the young vigilante didn't have a lot of chances to look into Danny's life more than that one instance in the library.

Good news was that Mike seemed to take Damian's words to heart.

Bad news was that Jon Kent seemed to notice the bully's odd behavior around him and had taken up trying to figure out why. The half-Kryptonian knows something happened but has yet to put it together. More than likely, he never would.

If Mike stays quiet, that is, and he will. Damian made sure of that.

But all of that was minor compared to the recon work he had to do for the past week on the Penguin. After losing the trail at that abandoned warehouse, all three boys had gotten an earful from Batman for not being more stealthy on patrol. Damian had been stuck running drills in the gym with his brothers in their downtime as punishment. All in all? Not too terrible of a sentence. Damian had fun sneaking up on Dick and Tim and scaring them.

When it came to stealth, Damian was king.

This is why he found himself in a crucial position awaiting orders from Batman to infiltrate the Penguin's newest headquarters. The villain had taken over an old ice cream factory and refurbished it. Their initial intel implied that it was just a drug ring, but upon further investigation, the drugs were a cover for a horrible new chemical being manufactured. Penguin was trying to create something more powerful than the Joker's laughing gas and stronger than Scarecrow's fear toxin. The vigilantes hadn't found a name for it yet, but they didn't want to find out if it worked.

"Is everyone in position?" Batman's gruff voice cut over the coms from his position on a nearby rooftop.

"Affirmative," Damian replied from his spot on the fire escape.

Nightwing peeked from around the corner from his spot on the factory roof. "You got it, B."

"Ready when you are." Red Robin whispered, and Damian could see him in the alley from his perch.

"Okay, shift rotation is about to begin. Robin, do you have visuals on the target from your position?" Oracle asked through the coms, and Damian slowly peered into the window above his head.

Inside, it no longer looked like an ice cream factory. Conveyor belts pushed this weird substance in vials down the line as several of Penguin's men (wearing winter gear) patrolled the vicinity. The middle of the room had been converted to a large pool, and several penguins were swimming around the freezing waters with THE Penguin sitting in a chair overlooking operations. Damian never understood the man's obsession with the animals, but he could respect it.

If he got the chance to pet one of the penguins, he would take it.

"Negative, Oracle. The Penguin is in the main room with about ten distractions." Robin whispered as he continued to look around the room. "It looks like the target is in an ancillary room behind the main chamber. The experiment is coming out on conveyor belts from there."

"Copy that, Robin. We proceed on Oracle's count." Batman said, and all of the younger vigilantes readied themselves.

The coms crackled a bit, and Damian couldn't help but narrow his eyes in suspicion. There shouldn't be any kind of static on their coms. Their lines are usually perfect. What changed?

Oracle's voice cut in over the static. "Shift change in 3...."

"...2"

"...1"