-This ended up being longer than I expected. and more intense lol. Terry shows up in the next part I promise.-

Terry - 26

Damian - 18

Tim - 16

Jason - 14

Dick -  9

Bruce sat down in front of the lit fireplace, exhausted. Work and children were insanely tiring, not to mention that he still had to go on patrol, and...

Bruce didn't remember lighting a fire.

He sprung forwards and grabbed one of the fire extinguishers, experience had taught him to have more than one on hand, and doused the flames.

Within half an hour, Tim, Jason and Dick were assembled in a line of chairs in the batcave, their father pacing in front of them. 

"So... I thought it would be easy to deduce who lit the fire by what they were burning. so I did my best to repair some of the kindling, and it looks like you all have something to hide."

The boys glanced at each other anxiously. "Bruce, I don' know anything about this, I swear," The eldest of the trio proclaimed. "I thought you lit the fire." 

"Me too!" Jason added quickly. He kicked Dick's ankle.

"Me too."

Bruce sighed a little. "Well, if you won't admit to it, lets look at our evidence." He pulled up several charred pieced of paper that had been digitally reassembled. "a withdrawal from my credit card for eighty dollars. a sheet I was supposed to sign to show I'm aware that Jason's failing math. and Dick, you didn't have to burn it, I'd love to be a parent chaperone on your fieldtrip."

The youngest brother hung his head in shame. "I didn't burn it though. I put it in the recycling."

"Same."

"Same. I thought I  tore up and recycled that bank statement!" Tim said. Admitting to having stolen money wasn't nearly as dangerous as lighting a fire in this household.

"What's the big deal anyways? It's a FIREPLACE. That's where the fire's are supposed to be." Jason grumbled. "Who cares if Tim lit a fire in there."

"Me? Jason set the fire! He dug up and burnt our stuff to frame us!"

"Tim, you think I'm smart enough to come up with that?" Jason spat back.

"Okay, boys." Bruce stopped them. "I have to go on patrol, so who was it?"

"...Dick's being pretty quiet." Jason observed.

Dick scowled. "I didn't do it! I wouldn't risk burning down the manor!"

"Really?" Jason replied. "Between burning down the manor and dying of embarrassment, which would you choose? really?"

"I told you! I was going to recycle it! Burning it is so over-the-top! something that only you or Tim would think up!" 

"I'm over the top?" Tim asked, eyeing his youngest brother, who was raised IN A CIRCUS. "Jason has a history of lighting illegal fires!"

"ILLEGAL! There's no fun in lighting one in a fireplace!"

"BOYS!" Bruce shouted over the bickering. "You're all going to your rooms and NO ONE is coming out until I know who did it."

"But-"

"No. Upstairs!" Bruce sighed, watching the boys scurry away. Honestly! They could've burnt the house down! What were they thinking? He tried to open the batcomputer to see if there was anywhere he was to check tonight.

His files were gone. Like, all of them. ALL OF THEM! He tried to see if they were cloaked. Nope. Gone.

And that was kind of the end of Bruce's patience.

The good news was, Bruce wasn't an idiot, he kept records on a hard drive. The bad news is, he'd have to look a bit to remember where he put the last one. Also, all his files were still deleted on the computer, and it sure as hell didn't happen on its own. Someone was going to pay for this.

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The brothers had just reached the hall at the top of the stairs, and were about to go there separate rooms when they heard the clock downstairs glide open again, and Bruce shouting for them again.

"Goddammit, Jay." Tim sighed. "Just admit you did it, we all saw you, and he's going to check the cameras eventually!"

"I'd rather be discovered than surrender." Jason replied as they heard their father storming upstairs.

Bruce was fuming. "Everyone, in there. NOW!" He herded them into Dick's room. Their father was using his end-of-my-fucking-rope voice, so they daren't disagree. "Who did it?"

"Is this still about the fire? Just check the cameras-"

"Jason, don't back talk. you know what im talking about!"

"No we don't!" Jason and Bruce were like two sticks of dynamite trying to set each other on fire.

"Which one of you was on the batcomputer earlier and what did you do?" The boys looked nothing but confused.

"Batcomputer?" Tim asked. "I thought you were mad about the fire Jay set."

"Which one of you touched my locked and coded files?" Their father groaned, leaning impatiently against the doorframe. 

Dick shifted behind Tim shyly, all this yelling was starting to scare him. Tim shepherded Dick further behind him, protectively. "Your files? Why would we want to touch those? They're all old cases and routes around the city and stuff."

"How do you know?"

"Because I've been breaking into them since I was, like, ten. Everyone knows that." Tim was annoyed and worried by his fathers irrationality.

"Stay in here. Use your remaining time to think over your options." Bruce snapped the door shut after him.

"Our remaining time before what?"

"In Dick's room?" Jason called through the door. Jason had no fucking clue what was happening. 

"What's happening?" Dick asked.

"I have no fucking clue." Jason said.

"Well we have to do something! Bruce is pissed beyond all measure. I don't even know what he's talking about!"

"What? But I didn't do it! I have my own computer to fuck around on and break."

"He wouldn't be this mad if you'd admitted to starting the fire right away..." Dick muttered.

"What? This isn't my fault!"

"It kinda is- but that's besides the point!" Tim said quickly. "We need help! Who's the only person who's pissed Bruce off to the max and survived?"

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Damian Wayne stepped into the large university hallway. What had he told his brothers about calling him before nine pm? He was busy!

"What?"

"Damian! Emergency!" Tim shouted into the phone.

Damian took pause, They weren't using some infernal nickname. This must be serious. "Who's dead?"

"It's worse than death." Jason said quickly. "Bruce is mad, like, REALLY MAD."

"Is this what you called me for?" Damian snapped, were his brothers calling because they got in trouble.

Back at the manor, Dick made grabby hands for the phone. "I wanna talk to Dami!"

His brothers brushed him away. "It's Bad, though! He's freaking out- we don't even know what he's accusing us of!" Tim explained.

Jason snatched the phone "Yeah! He was mad because someone lit a fire..."

"Was it you?" Damian asked.

"UNRELATED! So, he was mad that there was a fire, and then he found something else to be pissed at, something about his Batcomputer files...? Anyways, he was yelling like crazy! and told us to 'use our remaining time to think over our options'. What does that mean?"

"It's about the batcomputer files?" Damian asked. "Okay, I think I get it."

"Really?" Tim asked. "So you get how mad he is?"

Damian retrieved his bag and sprinted from the building. "Okay, He's tried shaming and group interrogation, right?"

Tim nodded, even though his brother couldn't see it. "Yep. and cornering us, and he yelled at us openly." 

Damian grimaced. "Okay, I know where this is going. Stay on the line. Next he'll try separate interviews. Individually, he'll interrogate, guilt, and threaten you. You can NOT break!" 

"How can I break? I didn't do it!"

"NO!" Damian cut him off. "Right now, you're ALL responsible. you ALL did it, and you can not break."

"I hafta talk to Dami!" Dick complained, still trying to grab the phone.

Jason shushed them. "B is coming." He hung up and tucked Tim's phone under the mattress to hide it.

The door opened a little. "Dick. Come." The youngest brother glanced nervously at his big brothers and followed his father down the stairs.