The Wayne Manor was reduced to utter chaos due to the prank wars raging among the family. Everyone of them, minus Bruce and Alfred, had joined in on pranking each other and it was no less than a tempest of doom for the eldest two.

For the first time ever, Jay cooked horrible food which no one ate but had a food fight with instead, after which Alfred banned them all from even stepping foot into the kitchen. There was whipped cream everywhere and all of them spent the remaining night cleaning up the mess they had made.

Scrubbing off the mess from the kitchen and dining room had further resulted in chaos when Steph decided to have a soap slide with a sponge and Richard couldn't resist joining in. Even after crashing headfirst into the piano, the two were laughing hard and the rest of them were pelting them with soapy sponges.

Alfred's patient facade was still intact and that was a wonder, or else any other person in his position would have lost his calm then and there.

But the prank wars hadn't ended just yet and a lot more was to come.

Mona and Dora had been staying away from the Manor intentionally because they had seen for themselves how dangerous a ruckus the Wayne family could cook up. And it would be safer not to be in the vicinity whenever they were pranking each other.

It was off time and Mona was waiting for Tim to come and pick her up from school. Fel and Terry were with her, waiting for her to go home first because the two of them lived on the same street and would walk back to their street afterwards.

"Your Dad seems a little late today," Terry remarked since almost everyone had left and Tim was still not there.

"Tell me about it," she mumbled, sitting down on the steps beside Felicity, "I'm sure Baba has gotten stuck in the middle of a prank again."

"A prank?" Fel turned to look at her, surprise crossing her features.

"Oh yeah. It's prank war season," she explained, "and though it was quite enjoyable at first, now me and Mumma stay away from the Manor because they are all up to some disaster."

"Sounds like fun."

"It isn't. Uncle Jay is the worst when it comes to pranks," she shuddered, recalling the time Jason had fixed a bucket of ice cubes atop the main door so that it fell on whoever walked through, "his ice bucket prank was horrible because it was literally freezing outside and anyone who wanted to come inside had to be soaked in ice cubes first."

"How did he get it to refill?" Terry asked, a small frown creasing his features.

Mona paused, "oh... I never thought about that."

"Maybe he kept a much bigger bucket and didn't tilt it all at one person," Felicity suggested, "that's something I would do if I wouldn't want to go for refills that soon."

"Fel, you should stay away from the Manor too because I have a feeling you're going to give them even more prank ideas."

"Oh come on," she chuckled, "I don't do pranks. But I sure can come up with a lot of ideas."

They were waiting and though Mona was talking normally with her friends, she had the feeling that they were being watched. An average person wouldn't have noticed it but she had been trained by the League of Assassins and Talia Al Ghul herself. She could easily pick up on the feeling of being under someone's close observation.

At long last, a bike came to halt in the parking lot in front of them though it was Alex and not Tim who had come to pick Mona up from school.

"Uncle Alex!" She cheered as she saw him, getting off her perch to run down towards him.

Alex smiled, ruffling her head affectionately, "sorry I'm late, kiddo. Your Baba got held up at home so I had to fill in on short notice."

"That's alright. I had Fel and Terry to keep me company until then."

Alex turned to see two of Mona's closest friends. He had met Fel once before but it was the first time for him to see Terry. "That's nice but it's been long since school hours ended. You two need a ride home?"

"No thanks," Fel smiled politely, "we live on the same street and we walk back home together."

They bid their farewell to Mona and left the school premises shortly after. Alex gave Mona a helmet and told her to hold on tight as he started the motorbike.

"Are you sure Baba's okay?" Mona asked because she knew there was no way Tim would not come to pick her up if he was alright.

"Of course he's okay," Alex replied, "it's just that he thought it would be fun to prank Damian but got ambushed right after he put it in action. Nothing to worry about, trust me."

"What did he do?" She asked though she was acutely aware that the sense of being watched had somewhat lessened.

"I didn't ask the details. Just got a call from Tim telling me that he was going to roasted alive by his brothers so I should go pick you up instead."

"Roasted alive by his brothers? But that's preposterous! They can't just roast him alive for a stupid little prank..."

He chuckled, seeing the utterly alarmed look on her face, "you do know your Baba exaggerates a lot and that he isn't actually going to be roasted?"

"Oh..."

Alex had parked in his regular spot at Dora's Coffee Haunt and helped her get off the bike, slinging her bag over his shoulder. And right then, Mona felt that she was again being watched and a small frown tugged up on her features.

"What happened? You still anxious about Timmy?"

Al's voice startled her out of her thoughts and she shook her head, taking his hand in her own, "nope. Let's go inside."

Though once inside the shop, her blue eyes flickered back towards the glass pane on the door, unable to shake off the thought that she had just caught sight of an unfamiliar pair of eyes that were keenly following her still.

She did not know what it meant nor could she decide whether to warn Alex or not. But deep down she felt as if whoever was keeping watch over them was there for a much sinister reason.

***