Bruce's first thought when he sees the articles is can't they get the word right? All of his children have at least started, if not gone through, puberty. If he were molesting them -which he is not, obviously.

His second thought is a musing on how perhaps that isn't the most important part of this disaster, despite the abrasiveness of their failure with the English language. It just irritates him.

That's how long it takes for it to sink in that there's a place in the multiverse, much less in his life, where people would believe he could purposely hurt his precious children. Sure, he was notoriously bad at emotional conversations and it had taken way too long for him to figure out how to show affection in a way his children could understand, but he loved each one of them dearly. The mere thought that he could hurt them is like a sword in his gut. The thought that anyone could think he would want to hurt them even more so.

And yet, he knew that no matter what happened, there would always be people who would believe it now. Short of an intervention from J'onn, there was no other way this could play out.

"Bruce Wayne: Guardian Or Grooming?"

"Is the Justice League Protecting An Abuser?"

There were other, even more lurid headlines, but somehow those are the ones that stuck with him. After everything he'd done and sacrificed to keep his children safe, someone wanted the world to think he was a threat to them.

Because there was no doubt in Bruce's mind that this was a deliberate attempt. Someone had deliberately set out to damage his connections to his children and his friends. It half killed him inside knowing that he couldn't immediately turn all of his resources to finding the bastard that had started this mess, but CPS thinking he was avoiding them was inexcusable. Once, when he'd first gotten custody of Dick, he'd almost missed a meeting because he'd stopped for ice cream to soothe Dick's nerves, and they had threatened to take his son away. Bruce had learned his lesson.

There was a knock on the door. Bruce remained seated, finishing his breakfast and attempting to at least outwardly appear calm. Alfred came into the room long minutes later, followed by- Superman and Wonder Woman? Really?

If the Justice League was going to be in Gotham, why hadn't they alerted him? Did they suspect Batman of impropriety now?

"Master Bruce, apparently these ridiculous rumors have drawn in the Justice League," the old man said scornfully. It didn't take long for Bruce to understand. By accusing the Justice League of complicity, the unknown accuser had made sure they would be eager to prove they swept nothing under the rug, no matter how much money someone donated.

"Thank you, Alfred." Alfred sniffed disdainfully.

"There's a second group who desire to speak with the children."

"Of course, Alfred." Alfred pointedly did not offer their guests any refreshments before he left the room. Bruce quickly finished his tea and stood. "Shall we adjourn to my study for the next act of this farce?"

Dick pulled Damian into his arms, and for once the boy didn't even make a token protest, instead turning to bury his face in Dick's neck. Cass curled against his side, studying Green Arrow and the Green Lantern -Dick thought it was Hal Jordan but he wasn't sure- who were standing awkwardly near the door.

All in all, this was not what he'd expected when Alfred had come and woken them, telling them that the Justice League wanted to speak with them. He had expected to hear that Bruce was injured, or another one of their friends. Anything but that Bruce was being accused of sexual abuse, and the kids were being removed from the house.

"Alright, you guys need to start packing up anything you want to keep with you," the Lantern started uncomfortably.

One child is missing however, and that's {{user}}