"It will forever be weird." Martha smiled at them. "But it's cute that even though your old your still cute." Alfred appeared behind her looking older as he held a suitcase.

Bruce pouted a little at being called old, but it didn't bother him too much. "Oh, Alfred let me help you with that." He offered, seeing the man holding a suitcase.

"Thank you sir." Alfred smiled taking Martha's arm letting her help him out to the car. Lori watched them go "I'm worried about Alfred losing Ace made me realize how old Alfred is." The butler was in his 90s and well they had made him slow down and relax he still acted like a butler.

Bruce nodded. "I know what you mean." He said. Alfred had always seemed ageless to him, a force of nature. "I've always taken it for granted that he would always be around. I don't know what I'll do if..." He couldn't finish that thought.

Lori squeezed his hand knowing how he felt. "I would miss him very much." she grimaced. "Would you ever go back to being Batman?" it was a sudden question but she had to know.

Bruce blinked, surprised at the sudden change of subject. "No, I wouldn't. Not unless there was no other choice, and even then it would be a one time deal. I'm retired...and enjoying it too much to go back." He told her. "Besides, there are others who are doing a great job right now, so there's really no need to worry."

"Alright...it's just a weird feeling that I have." Lori sighed then followed Martha to the car stopping when she was Clark Kent talking to the girl. "Clark." She smiled at the man one of the few people who knew Bruce was Batman though he didn't know Damien was Batman know. "Is something wrong?" You didn't get a fist from Superman unless it was bad. "It's bad news." Clark looked at Bruce. "The government has deemed all hero's dangerous and asks that they stop being hero's. If they refuse they will be arrested...or worse."

((Oh snap, you dun started that!))

Bruce kept his expression calm, something he was well practiced at. "Is that so? Do they expect the villains to quit, too?" He asked dryly. "Or have they decided that the police can handle it from now on?"

((I did.))
"They want them to either quit or allow the government to rule them." Clint shifted. "You know that I'm going to join the government the president is the one who sent me."

Bruce sighed. This came as no surprise to him. "Of course you are, Clark. You've always been the golden boy." He turned a little to look at Martha. "Listen, my family and I are going on vacation, so I'd rather not talk about this now. Tell the president I said message received."

"Alright...just be careful Bruce he's serious about this I would hate to see your family hurt." Clint meant that to be both honest and as a threat. He walked off vanishing into the air after her rounded the corner. "Lovely." Lori grimaced.

Bruce shook his head. "Let's not think about it for now." He said, determined to enjoy a short vacation with his family. "We've spent too long worrying about this kind of thing."

"Your right Bruce. The problem will be here when we get back." Lori slipped into the car Martha frowned a little but got into the car.

Bruce nodded and got into the car after them.

((Um...skip?))

((Sure))
A month later they returned home both girls tan as could be. Damien was waiting for them a very serious look on his face he smiled at Martha and Lori who slipped away letting him speak to Bruce. "Clark talked to me." he looked to his father.

Bruce's good mood evaporated quickly at Damian's words. "I'm not surprised. What did he say?" He asked.

"He said that if I didn't stop patrolling and that stuff I would be arrested." Damien scowled. "The president doesn't get it. We protect are cities...even if we do more harm and he has the one who destroys cities the most working for him!"

"I know. The whole thing is ridiculous. I'm just not sure what we can do about it right now." Bruce said. He had a lot to think about. "Just be careful and try to lay low for a while. We'll figure things out."

"He took the suit." Damien swallowed. "When I refused to bow to the government." He went to take a step and grimaced. "He wasn't even using his real strength but it hurt like hell...it was stupid to try and take him on even in the suit but I couldn't just let him take it."

Bruce paused, then turned to look at his son. "Are you hurt?" He asked. "Did he hurt you at all? If he did, I'll..." He trailed off, not wanting to finish that sentence. "Don't worry about the suit. We have backups. You should never have put that ahead of your own safety."

"I'm fine dad." Damien smiled. "Nothing I can't handle. There serious about this though for Clark to be like that...we can't let the kids go out Clark will force them to obey the government. We can't go out either it's officially a law they just finished explaining it on TV." He trailed off. "We've always kind of broke the law but this...what do we do?"

Bruce paused, not sure how to continue. "...I suppose there's nothing we can do." He said finally, as though it pained him. "For now, we'll just have to go along with it. I wonder how Gemini's kids are taking this." He could imagine April being livid, and Cal probably relieved.

"I haven't told them yet. I'll go know." Damien ruffled Martha's hair when he passed her making her pout. He drove to Jokers place with Lori knocking softly glad the woman had gone with him so he didn't punch Joker.

Gemini was the one to answer the door, as was usually the case. "Hello? Oh, Lori you're back! Hi Damian! Come on in!" She said, moving aside to invite them in.

"We aren't here to say...I need to talk to April out of earshot of the clown." Damien whispered the last part gripping his hands into fists scowling.