Shyly the kid looked up at me before then looking towards his mother, but the look I gave her over his head forced her not to do anything.
"Today, I learned the acupoints on the human body," Damian answered shyly.
Nodding my head along with him, I decided a little advice was in order. "Speak up kid, projecting your voice calmly for all to hear also projects confidence even if you don't feel it."
His head went back down and I could see the red blush on his cheeks. Shaking my head, I used my telekinesis to gently bring his head back up.
"Don't look down, that shows weakness to your enemies and allies."
Damian looked up to meet my gaze but before he could say anything, Harley arrived. There was a bang as the door leading to our little section of the garden allowed Harley inside. She put on a great display of her flexibility and skills with a pair of skates as she did a little twist and set up a routine with a bowl of ice cream in her hand.
I noticed that Damian's gaze had zoomed onto the ice cream instantly, and I had to keep myself from laughing at the kid. It wasn't too hard to know why he was looking at the icy treat with such a hawkish gaze. We all watched as Harley did her routine around the garden path before coming to a stop at our table.
Harley then came over and picked up Damian by the scruff of his neck before depositing him on her lap. Talia squinted an eyebrow at Harley's theatrics, but I could only snort at it all. Simply because Harley can only be Harley, and that's alright with me.
"Alrighty, then you little munchkin, I got a quadruple scoop sundae surprise, for two." Harley chirped as she pulled two spoons out of nowhere.
Talia had a frown on her face and was not too happy. "I don't believe that he should partake in such a thing."
Harley stuck her tongue out at Talia then blew her a raspberry. "Ohh lay off the kiddie mama ninja. He needs some fun in his life."
"No, my son needs structure and strict training to bring out his bloodline's full potential." Talia scowled back at Harley. While they were both going at it Damian was drooling at the ice cream before him.
Tuning to my right, I watched as Ivy was carried over by the vines from one of her plants. The mirth in her eyes was plain to see as she watched Harley cause a ruckus. Kissing the palm that trailed along my shoulders, I made space as Ivy sat onto my lap.
Ivy pecked me on the lips before shifting her head in the direction of the two bickering mother hens. Rolling the thought around in my head, I did a quick chin move so Ivy could handle the situation herself.
It was clear that she was measuring her words before she spoke because Ivy had that contemplative look on her features.
"Neither of you are wrong, yet, neither of you are correct," Ivy said, naturally bringing them both to a stop. "I would say that you are both correct in that young Damian needs structure while also needing a chance to play. Any young sprout needs both nature and nurture, a balance of both will grow the mightiest of oaks."
They both looked contemplative for a moment before sharing a look. Once the look was shared I could tell they were about to object, but I wasn't going to have that right now.
"I believe I will side with Ivy on this one," I said, forestalling any of their objections. "Now, let the boy have some ice cream, I believe there is an anime due to start soon that he might enjoy."
Harley's eyes lit up, but Damian was still far too confused, but that's okay. He was going to learn. Instead of showing any ill will towards her, Harley gave Talia the extra spoon while proceeding to feed Damian from her own.
There would need to be more time to defrost Talia, but that was alright. I had nothing but time on my hand.
Sitting in the bleachers, I rolled my eyes as Harley jumped around with a set of pom-poms. Beside me sat Ivy with a hologram covering over her green skin tone. Down on the field stood Talia as she watched over the soccer game; talk about hovering mom syndrome.
Rolling my eyes at her, I did a small tug on the back of her belt with my TK to let her know to come back. One of the mothers sitting on the side eyed Harley as she did a cheer and cartwheel as our team scored. I wasn't going to say anything because I wanted to see what Harley was going to do to the bitch.
[ Impressive pass by number thirteen. ]
The ping at my waist drew my attention to my phone. Checking it, I found a message from Zelda on a few operations being completed. It would seem that Harvey Dent, my lawyer, had taken over one of the law firms owned by the league of assassins under the order of Ivy and Talia.
Ignoring that fact, I looked over the derby arena's plans only to find out that we needed more teams. Not only more teams, but we also needed to get an okay from the international community. That I actually gave no fucks about, Ra's owned more than enough islands within international waters.
Those islands were the legal loopholes I was looking to use since the island owner set the laws. Hmm, Santa Prisca was causing an issue and there were a few contracts out on Bane's head. Maybe I should go out and collect it, I have been feeling pent up for some action.
[ Stolen by Damian Doom wearing the number four of the away team. ]
I looked up in time to watch the kiddo do a stunning flip kick towards the goal. Damn, the kids got a talent for the sport and it was really showing. I couldn't help but chuckle at the look on his face when his teammates came up to him super excitedly. Shaking my head at his reaction to the other kids, I looked around the soccer field.
On the far end, I noticed some guards walking around trying to blend into the surroundings. On the South and west end had the same thing, sighing to myself. I made some notes to make sure that they wore civilian attire instead of the suits. Gonna have to get that done if we were going to have any more family outings. The suits could wait until we were doing any business meetings and such.
[ GOOOOAAAALLLL! ]
Putting my phone away, I smiled as I watched the kids run around the field in celebration. Ivy pushed up into my side before snaking her hand into my own. We easily got up out of our seats in time to catch the mom that was eyeing Harley step right up into her face.
"Ohh, shit," I whisper with a sigh and fond exasperation as we watch Harley punch the woman in the face. Talia had flying knives already out, and I had to swat those away with some fine application of TK.
Ivy pinched the bridge of her nose as people started to scream, gasp, and do all manner of things. "Urgh, I thought we civilized them enough for public outings."
Shaking my head at the situation, I made sure that the weapons weren't in anyone's line of sight as I led Ivy down the bleachers. We got to the bottom just in time to keep Harley from latching onto the lady in an attempt to bite her ear off.
"You savage, I will press charges for this, you hear me." The mother screamed at the top of her lungs. "Do you know who my husband is? I'll have your head for this."
Harley snorted before turning around and duffing her ass in the lady's direction. "Ahh, pucker up you old prune."
Instead of saying anything, I kept my silence and allowed Ivy to grab Harley by the ear and lead her away from the crowd. So much for staying under the radar. Still keeping my silence, I waited for one of the guards to walk up to me as the crowd listened to the lady scream her head off. Slowly I walked forward as the guard opened the case showing nothing, but stacks of cash.
Everyone watched with bated breath as they looked at the suitcase of cash. I did a quick nod in the lady's direction and waited for the guard to drop to stacks at her feet. Instead of saying anything, I held my hand out and waited for Damian to hand me his soccer bag.
Looking down at him, I pointed in the direction of his teammates. "Great game, go ask if they want to join us for ice cream."
The look on his face sparkled with pure joy as he ran off to speak with the coach and other kids he played with on the team. Turning back around, I walked through the path made by the guards before standing on the outside of the crowd of people. Standing calmly I had my arms folded behind me as if I was Morpheus from the Matrix.
Before I knew it I was surrounded by a gaggle of kids and I tried really hard not to roll my eyes at the situation I found myself inside of. Instead of saying anything, I turned to Talia and had her solve this mess as I ran away. Yeah, I know that I am a grown man, but no fucks given. Plus, this was a great learning opportunity for Talia, she needed the people skills anyway.
Getting to the vans, I had to shake my head as I looked into the back seat and found Harley with her tongue halfway down Ivy's throat. I waited until Ivy started to move her hand up under Harley's shorts. I would have loved to watch, but there were far too many people around for us to have this kind of fun at the moment.
Leaning on the window sill to the van, I gave them a roguish smile as I looked them over. "I believe that ice cream has been promised and I believe that the kitty cat was not on the menu."
Harley gave me a massive grin as she pulled her shirt back over her head. "I don't know about junior, but I got some cake you can get a bite out of."
Shaking my head, I pulled back from the side of the car only to turn around and see that bitch of a mother standing there. Now I was fed up with this shit, I glared at the guard at the side and had her swiftly removed before I put a smile on my face as Damian came running up to the van. Tossing his soccer bag into the back, I let him ride with his friends as Talia took the seat beside my own.
It didn't take us long to get to Phils Cold Ones on fifth street on the west side of town. The site of ten black vans rolling up must have been a sight to see because when I got out. People along the block stopped to watch as we all evacuated the vans. My moment of solace and introspection was interrupted as the gaggle of kids ran by. Ignoring the kids, I turned and fired a glare at the second van hanging behind my own.
Harley was already trying to climb out of the window in hopes of getting to the ice cream. Instead of letting her fall on her ass, I walked over and gave her a hand. This time instead of letting her out of sight, I put an arm around her waist and pulled her into my side.
"Aww come on, no fair." Harley pouted as I held her to my side allowing the kids to run into the ice cream parlor.
Ivy gave her a saucy wink before stepping out of the van oozing pure sexuality. "All's fair in love and war sweetheart."
Chuckling, I let Ivy handle Harley as I turned around and took the tablet that Talia was holding out for me. Instead of looking down at the device, I turned it sideways before slipping it into my inner jacket pocket. Ignoring the device, for now, I followed behind my ladies so I could enjoy this little family event.
Walking in through the door, I found kids all over the place taking up all of the available tables. Ignoring them, I made my way to the counter with a guard walking behind me. The case came up and I dropped a fat stack on the counter for the employee.
"Keep the change."
Turning around, I got the chance to watch as Talia and Harley growl at each other over Damian, poor kid. One wanted him to eat veggies, which I had no idea where she even got those from. While the other had one of those massive bowls of ice cream with at least ten scoops within. Ignoring them, I decided to join Ivy with the other parents.
After some introductions and some handshakes, I settled in for a small cup of chocolate mint while Ivy had something organic. That was a topic that I wasn't going to touch with a ten-foot pole. I always found it strange that she was down to eat plant-based products even though her whole thing was to protect them.
Sitting down, I had a nice chat with Davis about his work in the stock market and future prospects with the advent of heroes. It was easy to tell that investing in insurance companies was the way to go with how damaging the battles heroes and villains were. Thinking about that, maybe I should open Damage Control, food for thought for another time.
It would be interesting to see how the world reacts to Marvel's version of the clean-up crew. Then again all the money and alien tech I could get my hands on wouldn't be so bad. Star Labs already had such a monopoly on all this out of this world stuff. Turning towards Sarah, the mother of the brunette kid. Trying hard not to roll my eyes at the woman, I pretended not to feel that arm she was running up my inner thigh underneath the table.
Chuckling from a joke being shared by Richards, one of the kids' fathers, I ignored how Ivy's hand snaked across my lap pinching Sarah on the arm before she deposited herself between my thighs. Ignoring the whistles and catcalls from the other couples, I leaned in to smell the fragrance emitting from Ivy.
We settled in for a little before a disturbance came from the side. Looking over, I found Waylon standing at the door staring down at the lady from the soccer field. Everyone groaned at the sight of her until some cars started to pull up. Now, that was interesting, but it would seem that the other parents didn't think so.
*****
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