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detectivemarvelingcomics · 6 months

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Not Your Classic Vigilante [Ch. 14]

Alternate Dimension AU TW: Language, Graphic Depictions of Violence, Mild Body Horror, Gore, Graphic Depictions of Monstrous Attacks, Gun Use, Weapon Use, Past Major Character Death CW: OC Use, See the OC Guide [Here] Genre: Drama, Action, Angst, Light Comedy Pairing: Batfamily & Batsis!Reader, OC x Reader YN Pronouns: Female (She/Her) Word Count: 13.7K

(14/?) [First] | [Previous] | [Next] [DC Masterlist] | [Not Your Classic Vigilante Masterlist]

Notes: I know I KNOWWW SHE'S THICKKKKKKKK it's for my dick grayson lovers what can i say?

Disclaimer: This series is originally by@fandom-meanderer who is a close friend of mine, but she has since fallen out of her Tumblr days and asked me to finish a few series for her, hence why I am now in ownership of the Not Your Classic Vigilante series, I hope I can still live up to her writing as I rewrite this series! (I promise not to change too much, hehe)

2006

“Dad!” You were quick to run down the stairs when you’d heard the door open. Bruce took notice to you as soon as you bounded up to him and the smile on his face was one that always made you happy to see. Alfred walked up next to you, greeting Bruce silently.

“Hello, (Y/N), what were you up to while I was gone?” He asks.

“Well, I finally cleaned my room,” you rocked on your heels.

“Very good.”

“Alfred taught me how to play Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star on the piano.”

“I have to hear that.”

“And I played a little, but that’s it,” you gave him an exaggerated nod and he smiles.

“That’s good, (Y/N),” he smiles. “Now, I have a surprise for you,” he says. Your eyes widened with a childish excitement. Then, from behind him, an older boy steps out.

“Hiya,” he waves. You step back, head ducking down in shyness while you looked up at your dad. “I’m Dick, you must be (Y/N), right?” He steps forward, bending down to meet your eyes. You nodded carefully before running to your dad. You hid behind his leg and he rubs your head gently.

“He’ll be staying with us from now on,” your father explains. “You’re always saying how lonely it is here, right? He’s a bit older than you, but you’ll be spending a lot more time together,” your father urges you to step out and introduce yourself. Dick, still at your level, smiles softly.

“I heard a lot about you, (Y/N),” he says, “and if you’re okay with it, I hope we can become friends,” he reaches out to shake your hand, but you shy further behind your father.

“She’s usually not this shy,” your dad says above you.

“I think we just need to get to know each other more,” Dick responds. He leans over so he can meet your gaze and waves again. You hid your face.

“Alfred will help you get settled in, Dick, let me know if you need help with anything,” your dad says and Dick nods at him before following Alfred upstairs. After a while, Bruce stepped away from you slowly. “(Y/N),” his voice had a stern, but gentle tone.

“Dad…” you matched his tone.

“What’s wrong? You told me you wanted someone to talk to,” he crouches down to your level and you hid your hands behind your back.

“I know…” your voice was quiet.

“So, what’s wrong then?” He asks. It’s true. You’d long been asking for a friend, and while both of your parents would spend time with you, it simply wasn’t enough. Your dad was always busy doing business stuff, some adult things you didn’t understand no matter how many times uncle Lucius tried to explain it to you. And your mom was… well, something. She had to make a living by “borrowing” things, but strangely enough she never gave them back. You really just wanted someone to talk to, someone who you could play with, or someone you could spend time with. Someone your age, someone who didn’t keep secrets.

Your parents acted like you didn’t know, but you knew something was up. There were nights where your dad would leave saying he needed to get groceries and then come home with no groceries. Your mom would leave saying she’s meeting a friend and would come back with a bag full of her latest ‘shopping spree.’ But you knew they were hiding something, and as much as they told you that secrets were bad, they had so many, you had a feeling. So you wanted a friend, someone who was just like you.

And now you had one. But, something about it felt… wrong.

“Nothing,” you shook your head. The boy he brought home, he seemed friendly enough, and you were curious about him. But you couldn’t ignore this strange feeling in your chest. “Where did he come from?”

“Remember that circus you wanted to go to?”

“Mmhmm.”

“He’s from there.”

“Then… where are his parents?” Bruce hesitated.

“They’re off for a while, and they asked me to watch their son for now,” he says.

“They didn’t want to take him with them?”

“No, where they’re going is not meant for kids like you and him,” he explains. “So, for a while, he’ll be staying with us. Why don’t you get to know him, (Y/N)?”

“What if I don’t like him? Will you return him and get a new one?”

“That’s not exactly how this works, (Y/N),” your father laughs. “If you don’t like him at first, you’re going to have to learn how to get along with him somehow,” he says.

“Okay…” you mumbled.

“Why wouldn’t you like him, (Y/N)?”

“I dunno,” you shrugged.

“Exactly, go talk to him, be friendly,” Bruce encourages you.

“Okay,” you nodded your head and Bruce smiles before shaking your shoulder softly.

“Good, I’m going to get cleaned up, why don’t you say ‘Hello’ to Dick on your way up? He’s in the room across from you.”

“I will,” you nodded again and ran up the stairs.

You stopped in front of Dick’s room, the door was open and he was speaking to Alfred, quickly you hid behind the wall, not wanting to get caught by the old man. But it was their conversation that kept you hidden.

“Now, Master Grayson,” Alfred’s voice was stern, you’d only heard him speak like that to your father on occasion and you when you stole sweets. “Miss (Y/N) doesn’t know.”

“Really?”

“This must be kept a secret between you, me, and Master Bruce.” Secret? Well, that’s not fair. You wanted to know too. So much for a friend who didn’t keep secrets. There were so many around you, you were starting to think that you should keep secrets just to be like everyone else.

“And she never suspected?”

“She is only seven, Master Grayson, and not usually here on weekends,” Alfred sighs. “Master Bruce asks that you be careful.”

“Yeah, okay,” Dick’s voice was quiet. “Does he plan on telling her?”

“When she’s older, yes. When she can understand it.” Does it count as a secret still if they’ll tell you when you’re older? You’ll just have to hurry up and grow up then!

“Sure, I got it.”

But, still, that’s not fair. You wanted to know now. But when you heard Alfred approaching the door, you knew better than to let yourself get scolded for eavesdropping, so you ran to your room and closed the door only slightly, just enough to watch Alfred leave, and once he was gone, you crept across the hallway. Dick was busy placing his items across the room, you peeked in slowly, waiting to see if he’d notice you, and soon enough he did. He raised his hand to wave, but you ducked behind the door frame instead.

“Hi, (Y/N),” he waits for you to approach him.

“Hello,” you said quietly.

“It’s nice to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you too.”

“Did you… want to come in?” He asks. You shook your head and he nods with a tight lipped smile. But, soon, you nodded your head and Dick let out a short laugh. “Come on in, then,” he invites you. You walked inside and sat on the desk chair while he continued unpacking.

“I have a secret,” you blurted. Dick turned to you, eyebrow raised.

“What’s that?”

“I… I have a secret stash of candy in my room,” you answered. It was secret enough, you’d been building a bit of a stockpile now. Dick cracks a smile, looking somewhat relieved.

“That’s some secret there, who else knows?”

“Just you,” you nodded. “You can’t tell anyone.”

“Okay.”

“Promise?”

“Friendly secret,” he makes a zipper motion over his mouth.

“Hmm… okay, I trust you,” you hummed. Dick smiled again, this time a bit tighter.

“I’m leaving now,” you hopped off.

“That’s fine! Thanks for dropping by,” he says. You nodded your head and ran across the hall to your room.

Dick, meanwhile, took a deep breath.

This was not what he signed up for when he agreed to help Bruce.

2022

The beast roared and, above you, a storm started to roll in.

“Well, talk about about a warm welcome,” you glanced at Jason and he shook his head.

“(Y/N)?! We ran up as soon as we saw you leave!” Tim and Damian regroup with you and you usher them behind you. Tim looks at the monster.

“When you said monsters, for some reason I didn’t think you meant legitamate monsters,” he says.

“Cap!” Aldryn rushes out of the barracks, your rifle and rapier in hand.

“Aldryn, I need you to run back down, bring Tim and Jason with you. You two, grab what you think you all can use,” you instructed. “I’ll handle things up here until you return, we’re going to need all hands on deck.”

“Yes, ma’am!” Aldryn salutes and waits for them to join him before rushing off again.

“Damian, I need you on crowd control,” you looked at him.

“What?! I can help!”

“Too bad, this is an order from your superior,” your voice was stern, and it took him aback, “crowd control. Make sure everyone is a safe distance away, am I clear?” You waited for his response.

“Yeah,” he nodded his head curtly before running off. You readied your rapier.

“Alright… let’s see what we’re working with,” you sprinted forward and the beast reached for you.

It’s going to be long day.

“Where are we going?” Tim asks.

“Weapons barracks,” Aldryn responds, running in after Jason and Tim. Jason grabs his usual while Tim looks around. “What are you looking for? If you can think of it, we have it.”

“Do you have a bo-staff then?” He asks. Aldryn hums.

“Yes, but you’ll have to come with me. Marion was using it earlier,” he mumbles. He leads him and Jason to the elevator and they descend.

“What was that thing?” Jason asks.

“We call them Daemons,” Aldryn speaks quietly. “We’ve dealt with monsters before, but none like them. They’re on a whole other level of power and now, beause of them, we’re short staffed,” Aldryn’s voice was grim. “Not exactly the best first operation for you two but, Cap’s orders.” The conversation ends when the elevator doors slide open.

“Aldryn!” Marion was surprised to see him, but more surprised to see the two behind him. “Do they have clearance?”

“They’re about to fight one up there, so I’d say so, yes,” Aldryn nods.

“Holy shit, that’s one of them,” Jason eyes the beast in it’s cage. It snorts loudly but it becomes a low snarl.

“Don’t worry about this one, since it’s in here it won’t be hurting anyone,” Marion says.

“No time for introductions, but this one here will be joining your research team once things settle down,” Aldryn points at Tim.

“Right, well, I’m assuming the Captain sent you down here for a reason, right?” Marion’s and Aldryn’s conversation were the least of Jason and Tim’s worries though. Jason looked over at Tim, who was looking at the beast.

“What are you thinking of, Tim?”

“Look at it, it’s just there,” Tim says. “The one outside is raising hell. Why is this one complacent?”

“Maybe it’s got something to do with all that stuff stuck to its cage.”

“Or maybe there’s more to it then they know,” Tim glances at Aldryn and Marion before approaching the cage.

“Whoa, Tim! Do you got a death wish?” Jason grabs Tim’s shoulder.

“It’s fine, they said it can’t hurt us,” Tim shakes him off and Jason follows close behind. “Also… this one’s different.”

“Can you really say that? You’ve only ever seen one other one.”

“Jason, it’s looking at me.”

“Okay. Wolves look at rabbits, what’s your point?”

“I can’t really explain it,” Tim mumbles. He stares at the monster. And it stares back. Then, slowly, it moves its head down and closer to the edge of the cage to match Tim’s eye level.

“You! Get back right now!” Marion’s voice was shrill and Tim broke eye contact. “How did you get it to respond to you?!” She pulls him away.

“I… I just looked-”

“Just like the Captain,” she mutters. She looks at Aldryn before shoving the bo-staff into Tim’s hands. “We’ll talk about this later, the Captain needs you first.

“Right, yeah,” Tim nods shortly and Aldryn motions for them to leave. But Jason looks at the beast a bit longer. Come to think of it, Tim had a point. This one was different. And, before he left, Jason’s eyes moved down to the floor, looking at the disturbed section of it where Tim was standing seconds before. “Jason!”

“I’m coming, I’m coming,” Jason catches up with them.

And they returned just in time too.

“Ma’am!” Aldryn returns with your brothers as soon as you’d been pushed back from the blows. You moved the hair out of your face and caught your breath.

“Good. Aldryn, stay close to the Royal family, tell them I have it under control. If you run into any of the new recruits, tell them they’re on civilian duty,” you instructed. The Daemon roars again and a gust of wind blows behind it. Aldryn runs off.

“So, what do we do? Where are its weak points?” Tim asks.

“Their stomachs, maybe,” you answered.

“Maybe?!” Tim steps back when the Daemon finally takes notice of the group.

“Better a maybe than none,” you looked around.

“Captain! What’s the situation?” Eve appears next to you with the rest of the Brigade stepping out of the portal after. You pointed at the Daemon.

“Only one for now,” you mumbled.

“Holy shit it’s huge,” Nixon swallows harshly. You heard someone scream and your eyes scanned the courtyard. Then, you spotted Lowen cornered by yet another Daemon, noticeably smaller than the other one and with a visible streak of red fur running down from the top of it’s head to the tip of its tail. You hope that didn’t mean anything, nothing bad at least.

“Make it two, you all focus on this one, I’ve got the second!” You slung your rifle over your shoulder and readied your rapier while you ran over to him. “Lowen! Lower your head!” Lowen did so and you used the planter to boost your leverage before burying the rapier into the Daemon’s shoulder. The monster roared and tried to blindly grab at you, but you held your ground, holding your rifle with your other hand while clutching onto the handle of your sword and you pressed it to it’s other shoulder and pulled the trigger. The beast roared again before it grabbed your arm and threw you back where you came. You slid against the ground before slamming into the next planter and you groaned.

“Shake it off, Cap,” Carter pulls you up.

“Oh my god! Your arm!” Tim shouts, tearing his eyes away from the first Daemon for a second. You stand up and pick up your ripped-off arm.

“At least it threw both pieces,” Nixon winces when lightning struck a few paces away from him. You held it in place while the muscles reattached and, while it did, you felt every nerve reconnect and every muscle bind itself back together. The worst of it was to come, the bones were always the last to rebuild. You grit your teeth through the pain and once enough has reconnected you readied your rifle again, confidently holding it in one hand, and you fired it while aiming for the second Daemon’s foot, staggering it long enough for Lowen to scramble back.

“Oh, that is sick and twisted,” Jason looks away, holding his hand over his mouth and you readjusted the previous death grip on your rapier.

“No time for that, focus on the big one,” you ran back toward the second monster and Tim followed you. He dashed past you, stepping in front of Lowen just in time to counter the blow from the Daemon. “Tim! Hold your ground!”

“I’m trying!” Tim tightens his hold on the staff, his knuckles turning white from the pressure alone while Lowen stays frozen beneath him. You slide under the monster, your rapier piercing the Daemons stomach just enough for it to stagger back.

“Eve!”

“Got it!” Eve waves her hand toward your Daemon and in seconds it is held by down by an invisible force, but it fought back, it struggled against its restraints until it broke free and Eve lost her footing. It stood on its feet and locked its aim on you, it foamed at the mouth while it took heavy steps toward you and made grabbing motions toward you. Tim stood at your side all the way, staff now in front of you, when two shots rang out and Jason was next to step in front of you.

“Jay, you can’t take this in a fist fight,” you told him.

“I know,” he says. The beast snorts, looking Jason in the eye. It growls lowly. “Take the kid and go, I got this,” he says. You shook Lowen out of his fear and pulled him to safety. “Alright…” Jason continues his staredown of this monster, and never once did it stop. But there was this strange feeling he got from it, like it was familiar in a sense. Maybe this was what Tim felt earlier. Then, once a few magic circles surrounded it, the monster was debilitated and held in a prison of light.

“Go help the others with the big one,” Eve strains and Jason stares a her.

“You sure you’ve got it?.”

“I’ll manage,” she says while a bead of sweat rolls down the side of her face. She keeps her focus as best as she can, “but that one isn’t going down as quickly as this one did.” She takes deep breaths in attempt to hold it steady between portals, while behind her Nixon’s attacks seemed to deflect off of the bigger monster. Jason spots you running back, this time with your rifle, and you aimed it carefully before taking the shot. The bullet lodged itself into the monster’s shoulder right before it could swing at Nixon, and it stunned it long enough for him to make her escape.

“They’re getting stronger,” you commented. This one was stronger than five of those beasts you’d fought before put together. If it was taking most of the Brigade to subdue it, then that much was true.

2010

“Okay, I’ll help you once, alright?” Jason sighed and you grinned.

“Yes!”

“Here, put this on,” he shoves a bag toward you and you nodded excitedly before running out of the room. When you came back, your excitement shone through your mask.

“You can call me the Girl Wonder!” You threw your cape behind you and Jason snickered.

“Whoa, I’m shaking in my boots,” Jason teased and you pouted. “Wait, wait, it’s too big.”

“Of course, it’s too big, this was Dick’s costume right?” You rocked on your heels, and it became more apparent that the shoes were too big too. Jason tosses you your usual sneakers

“Put those on, let me see what I can do,” he walks around you before disappearing for a second and coming back with safety pins, “don’t move, or else I’m gonna poke you,” he adjusts the costume on the shoulders, he didn’t want to make any permanent alterations with something basically historic.

“You think there’s gonna be a day you and I are fighting bad guys together?” You asked while he pinched up the fabric at your shoulders.

“Who knows, maybe,” Jason shrugged, his words muffled by the safety pins held between his lips.

“That would be cool, Jason and (Y/N), maybe Dick too, right? And dad?”

“Sure,” he feeds into your fantasy. “Only if I’m with you, though. You might trip over your cape.”

“Not true!” Still, Jason finds a way to shorten the cape.

“Yes, true! Look at your floor There’s trash all over it!”

“I’ll pick it up later! Geez!” You argued, but you calmed down just as quickly. “That would be so cool though… I want to be just like you.”

“Nah, you’d be better,” Jason chuckles. “There you go, kiddo,” he tests the stability of it and, once he’s happy with it, he pulls the cape over your shoulders to hide the pins.

“Now what?”

“We go to Titan tower,” Jason gestures for you to follow him.

“Oh, dad says I’m not allowed on that,” you eyed the Robin Motorcycle and Jason rolls his eyes.

“Pssh, it’s fine, you’re with me,” he lifts you and secures you to the seat before climbing on behind you and shoving the helmet onto your head.

“Is this legal?” Your voice was muffled by the helmet.

“Don’t worry about the details!” He starts up the motorcycle.

“Are you wearing a helmet?!” Actually you were wearing his.

“Yeah,” he lied and off you went.

You’d been in the batmobile plenty of times, seen the city in it just as much, but seeing it this way was different. Everything seemed closer, like you could reach out and join whatever scene was there. With the wind blowing around you and your hands firmly grasped onto the bike, this felt amazing! You felt like you were flying, moving faster than even some of the other cars, and every now and then an excited laugh would escape you.

Maybe being a Robin wouldn’t be so bad?

“Alright, kiddo, we’re here,” Jason parks the bike and helps you off.

“You lied! You’re not wearing a helmet!” You pulled it off of your head and eyed the ‘R’ decal on the side.

“Yup, I did. Anyway, let’s set some ground rules,” Jason kneels so he can look at you in the eye, “you tell no one who you are, yeah? If anyone asks, you’re Robin, okay?”

“Why can’t I say my name?”

“It’s dangerous,” Jason explains, “and when you’re looking for Dick, you ask for Nightwing.”

“Is it also dangerous if they know his name?”

“Yes, very.”

“Okay,” you nodded and followed Jason to the side of the tower. He pulls the vent cover off and crawls in. So… maybe Jason wasn’t exactly allowed in Titan tower after a few misfortunate events that included him losing his cool and his temper. But, what can he do?

Dick really pissed him off.

But, that was beside the point. You wanted to see him, and this was the only way he could help you do that, so fuck it. Plus, with the majority of everyone's identities still being secret, he couldn't have you just waltzing in here anyway without him.

“Follow me.”

“This feels illegal.”

“Shh!”

“Okay, okay!” You followed him carefully and, after some twists and turns, Jason kicked out one of the vents and crawled out, helping you down too. You landed in some kind of lounge area, a large sofa in the middle.

“Wait here, Nightwing should be coming soon, I’ll wait for you outside,” Jason says before leaving the way he came. You sat on the couch, kicking your legs for a bit. Then you started playing with the end of your cape. The material was pretty comfy, actually, you could see yourself falling asleep in it easily. You wondered if Dick ever did. You always liked this costume, actually, it was so different from your dad’s that in some ways you preferred it.

Your brothers were heroes. How cool was that? And your dad was probably the most heroic one of them all, and that was much cooler. If only you could show it off, you were sure everyone would be jealous of you. How often can anyone say that their family are superheroes? Dick always looked so cool in this uniform, and sure he still looks amazing with his new one, but this one? It was different.

Finally after waiting enough you decided to just find him yourself. How hard could it be anyway?

Very hard, apparently.

So you did what any preteen would do and wandered around the tower, he had to be somewhere, right?

Until you landed in the middle of what you assumed to be a training room. It was a spacious room with a kiosk off to the side, and you sat down in the middle, crossing your legs and holding them to your chest. This sucked. And you didn’t even know the way back out to meet Jason to go home. Then, off to the corner of your eye, you saw movement, and you turned your head toward it but… nothing. But you felt the stares, you felt the eyes, and it scared you. You couldn’t call for help, you didn’t know where Dick was and Jason was too far to hear, so you shut your eyes tight and covered your ears. But that never stopped you before.

“Help!” Your voice was loud and immediately you heard a vent clatter to the ground while Jason tumbled out of it, he stood in front of you with one hand up and the other on his belt, ready to pull out a batarang if needed.

“Stop! We’re not intruders!” He shouts.

“Relax, everyone,” Dick’s voice was firm while he held a fist up to stop all movements, and, slowly the Titans back off. Dick eyed Jason and gestured for him to move over before he approached you slowly, crouching down as soon as he was close enough. And he felt his heart tighten. He knew it was you as soon as he’d seen you, but to see you in that? His old uniform? That old thing that had been ripped apart after many battles and had been stained with blood many a time… To see you wearing it was almost wrong. The little girl who cried whenever her brothers had scratches, the one who called for help for the smallest of things, to think that you could be a Robin almost ripped him apart, he didn’t want you to go through any of what he did, any of what Jason did. Hell, you just called for help right now and this is probably one of the safest places you could be.

Jason, only he could’ve put you up to this, and he made his intent clear from the quick glare he shot him, but Jason replied by whistling and rolling his eyes. Dick only sighed and reached out to rub your head. You removed your hands just enough to peer over them, and once you’d seen him, your frown deepened and you wrapped your arms around him, holding him tight, and he held you back. You missed him, a lot.

“False alarm, everyone, she’s my sister,” he rubs your back gently before rising up and, once you’d looked around, you saw the other members of the Titans that Dick was always talking about. “And you,” he looks at Jason, “we’ll talk later, wait outside for her and I’ll bring her out,” he says. Jason doesn’t fight it, he just nods and leaves the room, looking back to see you watching him go.

“He’s not in trouble is he?” You tugged at Dick’s arm to get his attention. “It was my idea to come here…” you muttered. Before Dick could respond, you were surrounded by excited voices. And you recognized all of them, you’d seen them plenty of times on your dad’s big computer alongside the other heroes.

“Whoa, Nightwing! You have a younger sister?” Garfield was the first to approach you, looking at you closely as if trying to find any similarities between the two of you.

“Yeah, adoptive,” he explains, ushering you forward.

“What a cute little girl!” Starfire pinches your cheeks and you let her, feeling the warmth from her hands radiate into your face as she did so and you didn’t hate it, “have you come to visit your brother?”

“Yeah,” your voice was slightly stifled.

“Good, take him home with you, he needs a break,” Starfire grins.

“Come on, Star, there’s too much work to do here,” he shakes his head.

“Now, what’s your name? You got a cool one too?” Garfield asks and Dick clears his throat before you could answer.

“Obviously, we can’t tell you her name, but you can just call her Robin while she’s here.”

“That’s a little confusing with the other Robin,” Raven mutters.

“But the other Robin isn’t here right now,” Wally answers.

“Alright, how about Little Wing, then?” Dick tosses out the nickname he had for you and your eyes lit up.

“Cool!” Wally zips over to you. “You really a Robin?” You shook your head. “Whoa, I was about to say…”

“Alright, alright, let’s not crowd her, okay?” Dick pushes you slightly behind him now, “you guys filter out, I’ll talk with her for a bit, I think I know why she’s here,” Dick wears a knowing smile, and the others groan but leave anyway, leaving you and Dick in the training room.

“So, Little Wing, what brings you all the way here from Gotham?” He sits down and crosses his legs, and you sit next to him.

“I just wanted to visit, is all…” you muttered.

“Oh, yeah?”

“You’re never home anymore…” you mumbled. Dick sighs.

“Yeah… yeah,” he nods, “the team needs me here.”

“But I need you there,” you replied. A small frown settles on Dick’s face.

“I know, I can’t come home right now, (Y/N),” he says while listening for unwanted ears, “but, hey, you still have Robin.”

“He’s still rude!” You shout. “He’s not like you, whenever I ask to do stuff with him all he does is complain, he can be so mean sometimes!” You grumbled.

“Mean? He took you all the way here, didn’t he?” Dick leans back on his palms and you huffed.

“I guess… but that’s probably because I keep complaining about how you’re not around anymore,” you pout.

“And he still does all those things with you even though he complains, right?”

“Yeah,” you looked to the side.

“Heck, even when you called for help that kid came tumbling down, I’m sure you hurt his feelings every time you call him mean.”

“Do I really?” Your voice was small. You hadn’t really considered it before. You and Jason had a tendency to argue, and maybe say a few mean things to each other every now and then, but you never once thought that you hurt his feelings during. “I guess he’s not so bad…”

“Looks like I got a worthy replacement then,” he claps your shoulder and you frowned again while shifting slightly away from him.

“Why aren’t you ever home anymore?” Dick doesn’t answer. “Is it dad? Did you two get in a fight?”

“Something like that,” Dick sighs. “But, you’re right, just because he and I are fighting doesn’t mean I should ignore you,” he rubs your hair playfully and you smiled. “I’ll carve out some time for you too, I can’t have Robin stealing all my thunder, right?” He smiles and you nodded your head.

“Promise?”

“Sibling's promise," he smiles.

2022

“Move!” You pushed Nixon out of the way just in time for the Daemon’s arm to hammer down on top of you. You barely dodged in time, the beast’s arm just grazing you before it slammed against the ground and cracked the concrete beneath it. You pierced your blade into the beast’s stomach and it roared above you. “Shit, not enough,” you pulled back, but the beast grabbed onto you. “Shit!” You repeated and the beast opened its maw wide before it came biting down over your shoulder, its teeth digging into your neck, back, and chest. Your scream was near primal, feeling every single piece of you rip and sew itself back together.

“Captain!” Eve’s shriek could be heard from anywhere.

“(Y/N)!” And only Jason’s could have rivaled it. You heard successive rounds fired out and you knew they hit their target, but it couldn’t have been enough to fell this beast. Shurikens embedded themselves into the daemon’s body before you saw the staff flung toward it. But the beast only caught it in its hands and tossed it to the ground. You thrashed against the monster, you were too close to use your rifle and too busy to make your rapier be of any use aside from a handle. You grabbed onto the monster’s face, trying to pry it off of you, but it just bit down harder, pulling out yet another pained scream from you. Tim found a way to get on top of the beast and, holding Carter’s sword, he plunged the sword into the beast’s neck, but all it did was anger it further, and it shook you side to side like a dog would a toy, and your screams became garbled from the harsh movements. Tim was thrown to the ground in time for Jason to step forward and aim for the more vital parts of the beast.

But it wasn’t enough.

And you began to resort to more grotesque techniques to survive. So, with mangled limbs, you grabbed onto the beast’s ears and pushed back with all your might until you started to feel the flesh rip. Then another roar is heard. You turned your head to its source, right in front of the Barracks, and you felt an intense wave of dread.

It escaped.

The previously captured Daemon breathed heavily, chain collar around it’s neck and broken shackles on each limb. It was looking at you.

Sure, you could reattach. But, hypothetically, if you were ripped apart just enough, to the point that there was no base body to even reattach to, then this might be the end for you.

But that wasn’t fair. You couldn’t die yet, not in front of them. You were just barely able to catch a glimpse of Jason, the only one turned toward you, and it killed you, the way he looked. You couldn’t even imagine Tim. Thank god you sent Damian away.

“Oh, fuck,” Nixon charged toward it, but the daemon bent down on it’s hind legs before leaping across the air and toward you. It landed with a loud thud, shaking the ground temporarily before charging toward you and the daemon that was still trying to gnaw you in half.

You winced when the daemon locked its jaw on you, and you prepared yourself for impact, but instead, the chained Daemon bit onto the larger one’s neck and ripped it off of you. You fell to the ground, panting heavily and with no strength to get it up, but you were able to turn your head just enough to see the fight. It was gruesome.

“(Y/N), holy shit,” Jason helps you sit up, his hands red with the blood from your back. You brought your one good hand to your head and tried to stop the ringing in your ears through sheer will. Jason waved a hand in front of you. “How many fingers?”

“Three,” your eyes were slowly focusing again. You looked down at your chest.

It wasn’t reattaching. Not fast, at least.

“Are they fighting?” Carter runs up next to you, eyeing the bite wound before looking at the two beasts.

“Yeah, where’s Alex?” You were still catching your breath.

“Calling for help, again,” Carter looks around. “Eve’s getting medical supplies and Nixon’s watching the other one.”

“Okay,” you coughed up blood and you kept your head turned low. You couldn’t look at Jason. You didn’t want to know what kind of expression he had on his face right now. And you couldn’t let Tim see you this way either.

“(Y/N)! Let me see it,” Tim falls in front of you, looking at the damage, but his hands were shaking. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” he says. “It was me, I saw it and got curious, I must have weakened the defense somehow,” Tim mumbles.

“Don’t,” you shook your head and looked past him, toward the fight. “They’re fighting each other… but why?” Your breathing was labored.

“Save your energy, kid.” You just realized that Jason has been supporting you this whole time. You watched the chained daemon grab onto the electric one, holding both of its arms before ripping one off entirely.

“Holy fuck,” it was like you were watching a massacre. And when the chained daemon bit down on the other for the last time, it closed its jaw completely over the other’s neck. Slowly, it rose again, opening its jaw to let the blood of its felled opponent spill out, and then it turned to you. Instinctively, you tried to push back, but Jason held you in place. His gaze was as locked upon it as it was to you.

The daemon approached the group slowly, its eyes menacing and its jaw hung open, but its steps were slow and maybe casual. Its ears folded down and as it closed the distance its eyes seemed to soften. Before it finally stood above you, everyone held still by your weakened fist in the air, ready to signal an attack at any moment. But nothing happened, it just stood there.

And then it looked at Tim.

You were already confused about why it seemed responsive to you, but to Tim too?

“Tim,” your voice was weak.

“Yeah?” He didn’t break eye contact with the beast.

“Around its neck are a pair of dog tags, read it for me.”

“Okay…” Tim reached his hand out slowly. And the beast, as if understanding, turned its head up to allow the tags to be seen better. “CK-78.”

“Does it mean anything to you?” You asked. Blood was still pooling out of the bite marks across your torso.

Tim’s eyes narrowed on the dogtags, and then he looked up at the daemon’s eye. Strange, it was as if it was begging Tim to get it. To figure out the mystery behind it.

While Tim did so, Eve returned, holding the first aid kit and kneeling next to you.

“I got it,” Jason took the bandages. He knew a thing or two about field patching, he’d say. He wrapped it around your body a couple of times after packing the larger wounds, it’ll do for now, but you’d have to get the seen by a professional later.

Look at this.

His worst nightmare.

During his time as a Robin, there was a reoccurring nightmare he’d always have.

It would start out as normal, it was one of those dreams that felt so real that he wouldn’t think twice. He’d pick you up from academy, you’d do whatever you felt like doing, and on your way home you’d be interrupted by one of the bastards who had Batman and Robin on their hit list. They would fight. And Jason would be so busy beating the shit out of them that he wouldn’t realize the mortal wounds you had. And when he would clean you up, when he would stop the bleeding any way he knew how, you would look away from him, and you wouldn’t say anything.

He would always wake up in a cold sweat after that, comforted by the fact that it was a nightmare.

Except now wasn’t that, it was real. It was so real that you were bleeding through your bandages, and you were holding your head from the blood loss, no doubt seeing the world spin, and you weren't looking at him.

“What happened?!” Damian came back too late, seeing you on the ground. It was his turn to sit in front of you. “Sister? Sister!” Damian held your face in his hands. But your eyes had glazed over. Your breaths were shallow, and your head heavy.

You were so tired.

Your eyelids slipped shut and the last thing you felt was Damian shaking you.

2014

You watched silently while Dick went through his normal workout routine. You were more disinterested, if anything, sure it was cool at first but now it was just a wasted three hours of your day. But, you needed to ask him something, in fact that was why you’d been staying with him for the past week, one part of it was that it was this odd request of yours and the other part of it was that you just didn’t want to be home. It was so suffocating in the mansion, so quiet, and so…

Lonely.

“What’s up, little wing?” Dick pulled you out of your thoughts. He wiped the sweat off his neck with a towel and started shoving the weights back into their original places. “You’ve been staring at me for a while now.”

“Have I? Sorry, it wasn’t creepy was it?”

“It was a little creepy,” he chuckled. “But… I know I look good,” he nudges you playfully.

“Shut up, you’re gross,” you made a fake gagging sound and leaned back against the wall, being sure to avert your gaze this time.

“Is… everything alright?” He asks as if testing the waters. You didn’t blame him, to be fair. Since you’d arrived, you hadn’t mentioned his name once.

“Everything’s fine,” you shrugged. Dick sits next to you now, picking up his water bottle along the way and taking a deep breath.

“I know it’s hard but… he’s my brother too.” That got you. You leaned forward with your elbows on your knees and you buried your face in your hands. “It’s okay to grieve,” he says. It’s already been a year.

“But what if I don’t want to?” Your voice was muffled. “Me grieving is like me accepting that he’s dead, but he can’t be, right? Dad wouldn’t have let him die, right?” Your questions would go unanswered, instead, you felt Dick place a reassuring hand on your shoulder.

“Everyone… everyone has to go eventually,” Dick says carefully.

“Why did it have to be him, though?” Your tears spilled out of your hands now. You never really thought of how deadly your family’s jobs were. They were just always so prepared, so ready for any possible thing that could go wrong, until they weren’t. “I… I’ve been watching Tim train to be Robin, and it got me thinking about what he asked me before…” your voice trailed after being interrupted by hiccups, and Dick just rubbed your upper back the whole time, waiting patiently for you to finish. You took a deep breath. “Tim asked me… to become the next Robin, originally. But I said no, and now he’s training instead. But… you know he’s so bright, he can do anything he wants and instead, because I chickened out, he’s training to be a vigilante.” Dick didn’t say anything. “But you know me and how I feel about what you all do.”

“I do.”

“I just… it’s not…” you paused. “Could I even do it?” You turned to him now. Dick, though, turned away from you with his focus on his hands. They were grasping onto each other tight with the knuckles turning white. “Dick?”

“What do you think, (Y/N)?” He asks. “If you came here to ask me to make that decision for you, I won’t. You know as well as I do what being a Robin means.”

“But he’s just so… young, Dick. I never realized how young you both were when you started, but now when I watch Tim I can’t help but worry.”

“Hell, you should’ve seen us then,” Dick laughs quietly. There’s no way you could know his thoughts right now. He who might have been the reason why you were so averted to vigilante business to begin with, he did everything he possibly could to keep you separate from it and now here you were, asking him if you should become a Robin. It was one of his worst nightmares, actually. There have been many a time he thought if becoming a vigilante was the right way to cope, he thought he was becoming a hero, but really he at first became a soldier. He couldn’t see you become like that. You who was probably the only thing keeping both him and Bruce grounded, imagine if they lost that, imagine if you lost that.

“But doesn’t it make sense though, Dick? If I became a Robin?”

“Well… yeah,” he nods his head absently, “but is that what you want to do?” You thought for a moment. The toll vigilante work took on your dad, the childhood it took from Dick, the life it took from Jason, and the time it was taking from Tim, could you shoulder that?

“I came here for two reasons,” you said instead, “one was to get out of that house. No one’s ever home anymore,” you muttered.

“And the second?”

“I was going to ask you to train me,” you admitted bashfully. “But I don’t think I was ever cut out for vigilante work, I don’t have the same resolve you and… he did,” you took a deep breath. “What exactly did you two fight about for Jason to have been banned from the Titan tower, Dick?”

“…” he didn’t answer for a while. But you knew that look on his face, he was thinking, and very hard at that too. “He wanted to train you,” he says, “he wanted to have the both of us train you. Have you learn the basics of being a Robin just in case… just in case neither of us could’ve gotten to you in time.” Your face grew more serious. “And I said ‘no.’”

“Why?”

“At that time, when you were twelve, did you want to be a Robin?” He asks. You thought about it for a while.

“Yes, I thought I could be a Robin,” you nodded.

“And now?” He waits for your answer.

“I… I don’t know. But, was the fight really all that bad for him to get banned?”

“You don’t understand, (Y/N),” Dick shook his head. “No one knows the price of being a Robin more than we did. You know, no matter how old you get, you’re still our little sister, I don't know what I'd do if even half the shit that happened to me happened to you,” he nudges you. “We didn’t see eye-to-eye on that and, well, I already disagreed with how he treated the mantle too, so I won’t lie and I tell you we started off on a good page,” he says. “And when it came to you, what to do with you and how to take care of you, we either agreed with each other entirely or were at odds, there was no in-between,” Dick rolled his eyes, thinking back to the arguments between the two.

“Really?”

“Yeah, we just never did it in front of you, obviously,” Dick says. “You know us well, (Y/N). Take you being in danger. If it was up to me you’d never be in a dangerous situation to begin with, so I hope you never held it against me when I told you to stay behind.”

“I did.”

“I know,” Dick nods. “You do this thing where you’d take a deep breath and close your eyes and that’s how we’d know you’re upset,” he laughs and you broke a smile. “But Jason? Phew. To him, as long as you were within an arm’s distance, you were never in danger, and that was pretty much true from how I’d see him with you,” Dick shakes his head.

“Well… yeah, it’s the same with you, right?” You asked.

“Of course! But, also, not necessarily,” he shakes his head again. “It’s happened enough times before, I would just pull you out of a situation before things got too heated. Jason, though, would throw himself in front of you if it meant keeping you safe, he was always reckless like that,” he says. And look where it got him. “Like that time you first visited me at the Tower, oh my god, I almost popped a vein when I heard how you got there,” Dick exaggerates his words with his hands. “The Robin Cycle?! Seriously?! God, so much could have gone wrong, and, oh my god, you were in the vents!” Dick started rambling and you started laughing. “He’s actually crazy to think that would’ve been okay,” Dick runs a hand through his hair and you settled down.

“I had so much fun that day,” your smile fell into a softer one, “I remember thinking that I was just like you guys…” Dick nods solemnly.

"That's... If there was one thing Jason and I always agreed on, it was that we wanted you to be better than we could ever be. For me, that was making your own choices free from a legacy, and for Jason that was being more prepared than he ever was," Dick says before taking a deep breath. “Sometimes I forget we were that same age when we started,” Dick says.

“Exactly,” you sighed.

“The only difference was that Jason and I were insanely traumatized, and you weren’t,” he chuckles and you shifted uncomfortably.

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” your arms rested over your knees. “You and Jason were these self-made heroes, and I was the spoiled rich kid brat who thought it would’ve been easy.”

“Spoiled? Yeah. Brat? Nah,” Dick laughs.

“Hey!”

“Hey you! Whatever you wanted we got you!”

“Okay, well that was your choice,” you defended yourself.

“True,” Dick concedes. But then his smile falls. “We used to talk about it. (Y/N),” the tone shifts again, “it’s not that we think you couldn’t handle being a vigilante, anyone can take on the mantle, it’s whether or not you’d be best utilized for that mantle. You have so many other strengths that Jason and I don’t have, you know you kept us grounded so many times when all we wanted to do was fly,” Dick says. “There are days where we almost went too far, I think, and every time there you were to help us back down,” he continues, but then he stops. “If you want to be a Robin, then I’ll help you, but you need to find someone who can be your grounder too. That hopeful humanity you have is what makes you such a vital part to our team, and I’m just afraid that becoming Robin will change that,” he finishes. You held on to every word.

Robin, what did it really stand for? It wasn’t just Batman’s sidekick, it was a symbol as much as Batman was. A symbol of hope for some, the hope that came after vengeance.

And here you were, wanting to become a Robin just to hunt down the Joker.

You couldn’t tell that to Dick.

But it made you so upset. The Joker killed your brother and your father hasn’t done anything about him, hell, you were just reading an article about how Joker and Batman had a showdown and still your father let him go. Wasn’t your father angry at all? Didn’t he feel some kind of guilt or sympathy for Jason?

“(Y/N), I know what you’re thinking, I can see it in your eyes,” Dick says. “But Bruce… Bruce has his own way of grieving too. We don’t have to understand it, it’s not like he’d tell us anyway, but just like how you came to me, Bruce went to someone else,” Dick explains.

“He’s my own dad, and I feel like you know him better than I ever will.”

“I am older than you,” he nudges you softly.

“I just wish he came to us,” you mumbled. “He thinks he’s so alone sometimes, and I feel it,” you held onto your chest and rubbed it softly with the ball of your hand. “I feel like I don’t know him anymore, Dick, I don’t know how to talk to my own dad.”

“Just start small, he’s grieving too.”

“I don’t recognize him anymore, Dick,” your hands went to your arms now. “Don’t tell him this, okay?” You looked at him, your eyes wide with a hint of… something, something Dick didn’t want to admit.

“I won’t.”

“Promise?”

“Sibling secret,” he makes a zipper motion with his mouth. You moved so that you were facing him a little more.

“When he came home the other night, Tim was already in bed and I was about to go too, but you know I’ve been having trouble sleeping lately, and my therapist recommended tea. I figured dad would want some too, he usually does after late-night patrols, so I made some for him and brought it down to the cave. I was originally just going to leave it there, but he was already sitting down in front of the batcomputer… I didn’t even hear him come in,” you started. “And when I placed the mug down, he turned to look at me so fast that I almost fell back, and…” you hesitated, but Dick was listening very carefully, “he threw one of those batarangs of his. He threw it towards me and he missed, but,” your hand ghosted over your cheek, where the shallow cut was long before, “I know he didn’t mean to, he’d been on edge ever since what happened but… he scared me, Dick. The way he looked at me, it scared me so much I couldn’t move,” your hands were trembling, they were trembling so much you clasped your hands together to stop them, but they didn’t, “I’ve never been afraid of dad before but that night was different. I couldn’t say anything to him, I just dropped the mug off and ran back upstairs.”

“Did he do that?” Dick was in disbelief. You nodded your head, the image still clear in your mind.

“The next morning he apologized but… I didn’t think I’d ever be in that situation to begin with. I know, I know ever since what happened with Jason he’s been so guarded, so I’m not holding it against him but…” you trailed off. You were so scared that night. “I know it won’t happen again.”

“It won’t, you’re right,” he says. “Maybe…” he hesitates. “Maybe I’ll drop by a bit more, I know Tim’s been training, but maybe it’ll help more if a former Robin helped him out,” Dick says. Your expression seemed to perk up at this.

“You’re coming home?”

“Just visiting,” he says. “Might do Tim some good to have someone other than Alfred and Bruce, right?” He rolls his shoulders out. “Plus, I can tell you miss me,” he nudges your shoulder and you rolled your eyes again.

“I always miss you guys,” you waved it off.

“Aww, oh my god! My sister misses me?” Dick exaggerates and you groan.

“Don’t you dare make me regret coming here!”

“Oh, I am so touched, I could cry,” Dick hides his eyes with his hand before separating his fingers just enough to see your deadpan expression. You shook your head and stood up.

“Thanks, Dick, for hearing me out,” you wiped your palms on your thighs.

“Of course, anything for you, (Y/N),” he smiles.

“I don’t want to bother you anymore-”

“Whoa! You’re leaving already? Let me treat you out first, you came all the way here to Blüdhaven, I can’t let you go home on an empty stomach,” Dick jumps up and walks ahead of you.

“No, it’s okay!”

“(Y/N), Alfred would kill me,” Dick looks back with an inflated look of despair and you laughed.

“You’re right, you’re right, fine! But I get to choose!”

“Keeping up the spoiled persona, I get you.”

"Dick! You're such a..." you stopped yourself and Dick waited with expectant eyes for the punchline. "I'm not gonna say it."

"It was worth a shot," Dick waits for you to catch up and you both left together.

2022

You’re in the manor, but you knew, not really. The details were fuzzy, faceless paintings repeated themselves, and hallways seemed longer than usual. Every time you turned a wrong corner the hallway would loop until you realized that you had to turn around.

This was a dream.

Ever since you’d come to this new Earth, you had this uncanny ability of lucid dreaming. Or, at the very least, you were very conscious in your dreams. You always remembered them after too. But naught without cost. You either had a dreamless night, or you had relentless nightmares. You were already mentally preparing yourself for what you were about to see. If you were in the manor then, you already know, this one would be tough. And it seemed that your dream was guiding you into the foyer, and it landed you in front of the infamous bookcase. You pulled the bust’s head back and pressed the button, watching the bookcase slide forward and to the side. The staircase down was dark, near infinite. You took a deep breath and took a step closer to it.

“(Y/N)? You’re not allowed down there,” you heard a voice behind you say. You turned around and saw a much younger Dick Grayson.

“Why not?”

“It’s dangerous.” He says.

“Why don’t you come with me then?” You caught your reflection on the glass case next to you. You were so little. Your cheeks round with baby fat and your hair tied into twin tails. This was going to be rough.

“I… I wouldn’t be enough, just stay up here, okay? Let’s play a game,” he pulls out a Monopoly set and you shook your head.

“Sorry, Dick, I just want to be done with this.” You shook your head and walked into the darkness, feeling the chill of fear run through you with every step. And finally you reached the bottom, and the cave illuminated. You could hear someone typing on the keyboard. “Dad?” You called out to him and the clacking stopped. You walked further into the cave, until you could see the batcomputer and the looming figure of the Batman sitting in front of it. “I didn’t hear you come home,” you waited for his response. And there was none. “Dad?” You chanced it again. And the Batman turned quickly on the chair.

You were afraid.

You felt your heart pumping and the blood rushing through your veins. That wasn’t your father, no, it was a daemon in the Batsuit, how fucking fitting. And you screamed, you called for help, and you wanted to fall to the ground and cover your ears with how the daemon roared. And when it fell to the ground and started clawing its way toward you it just felt so real, it felt so real that you could feel the tears streaming down your face and your burning throat.

“(Y/N)! Get away!” Your dad. You felt someone pull you back with such force that you nearly flew at that size. And you watched the two Batmen fighting. One, your father, and the other a daemon.

“You!” Another voice now. You were knocked to the ground and you saw… you. She pinned you down with a crazed look in her eyes. “You took everything from me,” her voice dripped with venom and you looked away. She wrapped her hands around your throat and pressed her thumbs against your windpipe. “I’ll kill you.” You gasped for air now and she throttled you. “Give it back. Give it back to me!” You shook your head, and you shut your eyes, trying every trick in the book to wake up. You bit your tongue, you gnawed on your hands, and you even tried doing simple math until finally you shot up from bed.

Taking deep breaths, you clutched onto your heart. Your wounds had been cleaned and bandaged. You looked around the med bay and you wiped the cold sweat from your head. You looked to the side, spotting the scattered tools, and you grabbed the scalpel. You took more deep breaths, the world at your peripherals still fuzzy, and you plunged it into your hand just to be sure you’d woken up and soon you heard a shout next to you.

“Are you crazy?! Give me that!” Jason tugged the scalpel out of your hand and chucked it toward the other side of the room. It looks like he had just woken up too. He slumped back on the chair next to your bed and took deep breaths.

“Jason, what happened?” You watched your hand reattach. Back to normal.

“What happened? You almost got ripped apart, that’s what happened,” he points at your bandages.

“I mean after, Jay.”

“Oh, well,” he shakes the shock off, “after you passed out, Alex came back and helped that other girl wheel you over here to get you patched up. Tim went with Mary, I think her name was, and they started doing stuff with the monster to see why it reacted that way.”

“And Damian?” Jason points at the other side of your bed and you turned your head toward it. Damian had fallen asleep next to you, head resting on his arms that were crossed over the edge of the bed. Wordlessly, you rubbed his hair gently and you turned to Jason. “Talk about a warm welcome,” you repeated. Jason didn’t answer, he was looking down at your hand. “You’re right. It is sick and twisted.” Your hand looked like nothing had happened to it. “Looks like I never stabbed it all, huh?” Your voice was quiet, so as not to wake Damian.

“But those are still there,” he looked at the healed over that encircled your whole wrist.

Your hands were the first to go that night.

You rubbed it softly.

“I don’t like thinking about it.”

“I don’t blame you.”

“I still have nightmares about it,” you tugged the hospital gown up, as if it would hide the scar that encircled your neck. It didn’t.

“Was that the one you had just now?”

“No, that one was… fairly new,” you thought back to it. It wasn’t the first time you’d been attacked by yourself. You figured it was some crazy dream symbolism thing that said you were at odds with yourself, but you weren’t so sure. Jason didn’t need to know about it. “It’s fine,” you shook your head.

“Oh, Captain, you’re up,” the nurse walks in with a clipboard in hand. “That was a nasty bite you had there, but I suspect it’s all been reattached by now, right?” You touched your chest. All good. You nodded your head and the nurse beamed. “Excellent, then, you’d been resting for a while so you should be able to get back to work soon?”

“How long have I been out?”

“It’s been a couple of days, Captain. Sir Grant will drop by and hand you the paperwork you’ve missed.”

“It can’t be that much, can it?” You asked. The nurse just smiles.

“Dr. Bronte ordered you to remain on bed rest for the week, he was very adamant about it,” she says. “So, unfortunately, nothing but paperwork.”

“What?! He knows I reattach, right?!” You shot up from bed and she ushers you back down.

“Yes, of course, but it’s still his orders,” she says. You groaned.

“I see, thank you,” you dismissed her and she saluted before leaving the room.

“So… Captain, huh?” Jason makes conversation. “You have to tell me about that,” he crosses his ankle over his knee and you shook your head with a slight smile.

“It’s boring.”

“Well, not like you’re going anywhere.”

“Rude!”

“I’m serious! I wanna know what you’ve been up to! I thought you hated being a leader.”

“I do.”

“So… why Captain?”

“God, everyone else is incomptent,” you rolled your eyes and Jason laughed.

“That’s more like you, tell me from the beginning.”

“Ugh… well…” You looked up at the ceiling, thinking of where to start. “When I woke up here I was so lost. I was lucky enough to have been brought in by good people, and they showed me how this world worked, but I knew I had to repay them somehow. Luckily for me, one of them was the previous Captain, so he let me train under him and now I’m here. That’s the shortened version,” you explained.

“What? Boring, give me the good one.”

“You’re so annoying!”

“Sure, yeah, now tell me about people you beefed with.”

“Fine.”

2015

You were worried sick, and you stayed up late to wait for your father and Tim to come home, they told you they’d be back in the morning, and now it was nearing midnight, their comms were turned off and their locations unknown, Babs was going near crazy trying to locate them and here you were, waiting in the Batcave like it would do something.

“Dick, what do you think?” You chewed on the tip of your thumb. Your older brother stood by the computer, trying to do anything to locate anything.

“I might send the Titans in after them if they’re not back,” he says. You stood up and looked at the screen. Tim had only recently been inducted in as a Robin, after months and months of training, he finally made it, and this was his first big break mission with your father after he’d saved the others from Two-Face, the first time he was entrusted with an actual mission aside from the Gotham patrols. But… you were worried.

Then, finally, you heard the telltale sign of the plane landing, and you and Dick were quick to run over. Your father emerged first and soon after…

“Tim?” You stepped forward to see him better and… You could hear your heartbeat in your ears, it was the only thing louder than the ringing. There was blood, a lot of it, it caked around his face and on his uniform, and it left footprints where he walked. He spotted you, forcing a smile and a wave.

But the world around you dulled. All conversation was muted to you. Your vision tunneled on Tim, and for some reason all you could see was Jason, head split open by a crowbar and blood pooled around him like you’d seen in all your nightmares, and when you’d blink he’d go back to Tim, bloodied. Then you’d blink again, Jason, you’d blink, Tim. What was this ringing? This fear you felt in your heart? Couldn’t your father have helped clean him up a little on his way here? Couldn’t he have dressed those wounds better? Was the blood even his?

“(Y/N)?” Tim was closer now, you noticed him nursing his side, the wound messily dressed and barely doing the job. You looked at your father.

“Oh, Tim,” your hands rest on his shoulders gently, while you tried to assess the damage. “What happened?” You asked carefully.

“It was rough,” your father shook his head. “Too many variables we didn’t account for, we won’t make that mistake again.”

“Too many variables? Enough to leave Tim like this?” You looked at him. “Let me see it,” you looked at his side.

“It’s okay,” Tim shakes his head.

“Show me,” you insisted. Tim only nodded, removing his hand just enough so you could see the scar through the cut-open uniform. Go figure, the Robin uniform wasn’t fit for a jungle. You looked at your father again, who was looking at Tim. “What happened?”

“Mutated animals, we’re still investigating it, we’ll return in the morning,” he responds.

“In the morning? Look at him! He’s barely holding himself together!” You argued. “Take Dick with you! Tim needs to rest.”

“(Y/N),” Dick spoke up, or had he been speaking?

“He’s fine, (Y/N), we all cleared him for Robin work, this is just collateral,” your father answers.

“Just collateral? He’s not a business, he’s Tim fucking Drake!” You stepped in front of Tim now. “Do you want to go back there?” You looked at him, and he shrank in his shoes. Tim only shook his head, clearly still shaken from the events.

“He’s a Robin, he wanted to be a Robin, trained for it, and now he is it,” Batman argues.

“Christ, dad, he’s thirteen!” You shout.

“Dick was eleven!”

“And look where that got him! He resents you!” You looked to Dick, who sighed and shook his head. He couldn’t answer, because what you said had some truth to it. Everyone knew it.

“Jason was—”

“Jason is dead!” You cut him off, your hands balled at your sides and your throat strained, there was a tense silence in the cave now. “You killed my brother! You killed him and you didn’t even grieve like a normal person, I had to hear from Tim that you were ripping people apart in the ports! That’s horrifying, dad! Why… why are you repeating what happened with Jason?!”

“Take that back!” Batman’s voice rose in a way no one ever heard before.

“And what will you do if Tim is gone? Are you going to go on a killing spree?” You felt like pulling your hair out. “Jason’s gone and you haven’t done shit about it!”

“I’ve done everything to avenge him!”

“Everything to avenge but none to honor!” You stood up taller now, and you looked the Batman in his eye. “The Joker still runs wild, and all you’ve done is train his replacement.”

“You know nothing about what I do for this city!”

“And I don’t want to be part of it,” you could feel your throat burning. “Look at Tim! He could be dead right now and you wouldn’t do anything about it, you said it yourself, it’s just collateral,” you turned his words on him and Batman stepped forward. You stepped back.

“Death… death is part of the job,” Batman responds and your shoulders slumped.

“God… are you even my father when you put that mask on?” You tried to step back, hoping you’d see at least some of your dad in him, but nothing. “If death is so okay with you then I don’t want to be next in line. I will never be a vigilante.”

“What did you say?” Batman spoke up.

“You…” You’re a monster. You couldn’t find it in yourself to say it. “I will never be a vigilante, I want nothing to do with this Batman circus act, especially if you’re so okay with your kids being near killed,” you were running your mouth now, saying everything that came to mind. You just couldn’t think straight, how the hell did your older brothers do it? You would scrape a knee and they’d raise hell, now Tim comes home bleeding head to toe and you want to throttle whoever did this to him. “I don’t know who you even are, anymore, but the Batman I idolized would have never put his sons in these kinds of situations!”

“You don’t know me!”

“I don’t anymore!”

“Don’t pretend you understand this line of business!”

“I’m not! I don’t understand being a vigilante at all!”

“You’ve lived with us your whole life and you still don’t understand?! Gotham needs us!”

“You’re right, Gotham needs you! Not some remote island with mutated animals! Jesus, you could’ve at least given Tim some actual gear!”

“We didn’t account for monsters thrice our size!”

“And you didn’t think to regroup and plan that shit out?!”

“Watch your language!”

“Fuck my language, Tim’s barely together!”

“You’re acting like you know him so well.”

“And you do?! You really think any normal thirteen-year-old would be okay with getting their shit beat out of them!”

“He chose this.”

“He doesn’t have to get ripped apart because of it!”

“You are making a big deal out of—”

“I just don’t want to lose another brother!” Your voice echoed in the cave. You looked back to Tim, whose hands were over his ears now and his eyes shut closed. His bloodied hands dripped down his face and you shook your head, pulling out a handkerchief and wiping most of it from his face. Tim’s eyes opened slowly and his hands moved away so you could clean up at least that much, at least enough to stop seeing the worst possible outcome. And though you felt a rage like none other, you kept your hands steady, you kept them gentle, just enough to try to calm Tim down without saying anything that would make him more scared.

“Why do you even bother, (Y/N)?” You heard Batman speak behind you, and before you could turn back to him, Dick took your shoulders and pushed you away.

“Let’s go, you need to cool off,” he says quietly.

“I need to help Tim!”

“Alfred will help him.”

“In that case someone has to pull Batman back to reality!” You tried to shrug Dick off, but his grip was firm. “Let go, Dick! Don’t pretend you don’t agree with me!”

“Let’s take a walk, (Y/N),” he insists, urging you out of the cave.

“Am I so wrong, Dick?!”

“Let’s go,” he keeps ushering you, “I’ll deal with Bruce.”

“You’ll deal with him?” You pushed away from him, you were just steps away from the outside. “Oh! Right! You’ll deal with him… the prodigal son,” you huffed. “Go figure, the kid he listens to is the one he chose and not the one he had,” you snarked and Dick’s expression steeled.

“Don’t say it like that.”

“But it’s exactly that and you know it,” you shot back. “When dad found out I was a weak kid he picked you up instead to train as his protege.”

“That’s not how it happened and you know it!”

“Try all you want to escape him, you never will.” Dick clenches his jaw, holding back something that probably, no, definitely would’ve destroyed your relationship, and he took a deep breath.

“Let’s go,” his voice was softer as he ushers you out again and you both take a step into the cold. “Take a deep breath, (Y/N).” You did so. Both of you were quiet, looking over the cliffside.

“I’m sorry, Dick,” you said quietly, your voice just barely over the sound of waves hitting the rock around you.

“It’s fine, you’re mad, I get it,” Dick nods. “You never get mad, this is just all that pent-up anger.”

“Yeah…” you took a deep breath again. “How the hell did you two do it?” You asked him. Dick shoved his hands in his pockets.

“Do what?”

“All of it.”

“You know, we came home much worse before.”

“But I never saw it.”

“We didn’t let you.”

“I was so young at the time, I get it.”

“You’re still young now.”

“And he’s younger.” Dick didn’t respond.

“Being a vigilante… it’s not easy work, (Y/N),” he says. “We get battered, bruised, and beaten, but we do it for a good cause. If we don’t do it, then who will?” He asks.

“I know, I understand it when you say it, but I can’t understand him,” you looked at him.

“And I respect that, I do,” Dick nods.

“Who even is he, anymore?” You looked away from him. Again, Dick didn’t respond.

“You were pretty harsh in there, (Y/N),” he says.

“Was I?”

“Jason would be proud,” Dick laughs. You didn’t. “You know Bruce is… he’s on his own train, and we’re just a couple cars behind him,” Dick says. “He has his own way of doing things, he cares in his own way, too. You know he wouldn’t let Tim die, he’s not going to put him in a situation he knew he wouldn’t be able to save him in.”

“I… I think I know that,” you shuddered.

“What happened with Jason was because of a myriad of factors that were out of all our control. It’s no one’s fault,” he looks at you, but you were looking to the city. "(Y/N)? What are you thinking right now?"

"I just..." your voice trailed off and your eyes were still distant. You hadn't realized it, you hadn't really thought of it until now. “I miss my dad.”

2022

“What do you think, Zee? Can you find them?” Dick’s brows furrowed together while Zatanna ran back the camera footage from the cave earlier. They played the footage in slow motion so she could run through every detail.

“What I can definitely say is that it’s 100% magic,” she says. Constantine leans over, eyes squinted.

“Yup, I agree.”

“Can you back off? You smell like alcohol,” Zatanna grimaces.

“Hey, I’m here to help too!”

“I didn’t ask for your help, you were just in the room when Dick asked me to come over and you followed,” Zatanna groaned.

“Contrary to popular belief, I was (Y/N)’s favorite,” Constantine grinned.

“Okay, that’s definitely not true,” Dick frowns.

“It is! I’d do a lil party trick for her every time I saw her when she was a lass,” Constantine defends. Zatanna and Dick share a look of disbelief before they go back to the tapes.

“Well?” Bruce approaches from behind them. “What are we thinking?”

“Aside from the obvious magic?” Constantine lights his cigarette.

“What do you think?” Bruce asks.

“Roll it back a few seconds, Zee, right before the bright light,” Constantine leans against the console, and when Bruce glares at him he straightens again. “Zoom in on the watch.”

“Here, we have a reconstruction of it here,” Dick taps the screen to the side and brings up the holographic image of the watch. Constantine swipes it around while observing the emblem etched onto it.

“The hint is here,” he says while pointing to it. “Trace back this emblem and you’ll find your boys.”

“How do you know for sure?”

“There are very few kinds of magic that you can use on an object like this,” he says. He opens the watch and the watch face deconstructs into layers in the hologram. “And when you look at the make of the watch, it explains much more.”

“Look at the hands, there’s eight of them, and with each hand is a corresponding circle with a different engraving around the circumference,” Zatanna says, “it’s a device used for transport, to put it bluntly. And if the watch hands aren’t set to a certain one, it can be inferred that a device used for transport would have its default settings set to where it’s originally from, so if we trace back the source we’ll be able to find Tim and Jason,” she says.

“What she—” Constantine is cut off by his phone ringing. “Hold on, gotta get this,” he picks it up and walks to a quiet part of the cave.

“Think you can give it a shot?” Dick asks. Zatanna hums.

“Sure,” she shrugs. “Gnirb kcab Mit dna Nosaj!” Though there were sparks, nothing happened. “I didn’t think that would work. Let me try something else. Gnirb em eht hctaw!” In seconds, a bright light forms between her hands and then the sounds of clinks and clatters of watch pieces falling to the ground are heard.

“Oh, great, they broke it,” Dick wasn’t surprised when he picked it up.

“But if there’s residual energy on it then I can trace it,” Dick places the pieces on the console right as Constantine returns.

“Alright, let’s work a deal,” he looks at Bruce. “I help you find your four missing kids if you help me with mine.”

“Tell me more,” Bruce invites him to continue.

“An old protege of mine has been having some trouble with monsters, if you and your detective brains can help him and I figure out what’s going on, Zee and I will help you look for your kids.”

“Hey! Who said I agreed to this?!”

“I thought you had a soft spot for Liverpool,” Constantine shrugs.

“Oh! If it’s him who needs help then by all means,” Zatanna smiles, remembering the younger boy fondly.

“Well, there you have it, should be quick, might end up just being an extermination job, but he won’t stop bitching about it, so what’s the plan?” Bruce and Dick look at each other. They’d been trying for weeks now trying to find a lead of some sort, with Constantine and Zatanna’s help they’d be able to figure it out much faster.

“Fine,” Bruce shakes Constantine’s hand and, at the snap of a finger, a portal opens up next to Constantine.

“Then let’s start our search,” he invites the two to enter first. “You coming, Zee?”

“I’ll follow, I want to study this watch first.”

“Smart move,” Dick says.

“I’ll see you all soon,” she watches the portal close.

The three men land in what looks like a small village. People milled about and kept to themselves while they moved about the streets.

“So where is this protege of yours?” Bruce asks.

“Beats me,” Constantine shrugs.

“What do you mean?!” Dick shouts.

“Might’ve landed in the wrong town,” Constantine looks around. “‘Scuse me, love, which way to the Capital?” He pulls aside a maiden. He cheeks tinge pink before pointing down the road.

“You’ll get there in three days if you walk, hail a cab, they’ll be able to take you there faster,” she says.

“Will do, thanks,” Constantine holds his hand up. “You guys have cash right?”

“Who do you think I am?” Bruce asks. Constantine busies himself looking for a cab while Bruce and Dick stuck together, looking around the village with a hawk’s eye.

“Whoops! Sorry, mister!” A kid accidentally collides into Bruce and runs off. Bruce checks his pockets quickly, feeling everything still inside, and soon the duo notice the grouping of children.

“Wonder what the fuss is about,” Dick stretches slightly to try to see what everyone’s looking at. “Hey, what’s everyone so excited about?” Dick asks one of the newspaper boys.

“You don’t know?” The kid asks.

“Nope,” Dick answers with a shrug.

“Dang, mister, are you living under a rock?!” He hands him a newspaper and Dick skims through it. “The Dark Knight is coming!” Bruce turned his attention to the newspaper kid. “We’ll be saved from the daemons!”

“The Dark Knight?” Dick asks, catching on to Bruce’s attention.

“Duh! Captain Wayne!”

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detectivemarvelingcomics · 8 months

Text

Not Your Classic Vigilante [Ch. 12]

Alternate Dimension AU TW: Language, Light Alcohol, Attempted Kidnapping, CW: OC Use, See the OC Guide [Here] Genre: Drama, Action, Angst, Light Comedy Pairing: Batfamily & Batsis!Reader, OC x Reader YN Pronouns: Female (She/Her) Word Count: 9.9K

(12/?) [First] | [Previous] | [Next] [DC Masterlist] | [Not Your Classic Vigilante Masterlist]

Notes: Not my inner Jason Todd fan coming out in this one lmfao

Disclaimer: This series is originally by @fandom-meanderer who is a close friend of mine, but she has since fallen out of her Tumblr days and asked me to finish a few series for her, hence why I am now in ownership of the Not Your Classic Vigilante series, I hope I can still live up to her writing as I rewrite this series! (I promise not to change too much, hehe)

2009

“(Y/N), this is Jason, he’ll be staying with us for a while.” Your father told you this one day. A boy stood behind him, and you could see the trouble behind his eyes. Or maybe it was more of the way he looked down on you, sure he was a head or two taller but that doesn’t mean he could act that way, or at least that’s what your mom always told you, don’t let people look down on you for being you. So, you matched his ego, as best as a child could at least.

“Isn’t this the boy who tried to steal your tires?” You asked him.

“Hey,” the boy snarked.

“Be nice,” your father said sternly. Your’s and Jason’s mouths zipped shut. Bruce looked between you both. “Jason, Alfred will show you to your room, (Y/N), behave.” His voice, although stern, had a warm familiarity to it, one that threw Jason for a loop. Then, Bruce marched off to his office to do whatever Wayne work he needed, leaving you and Jason behind.

“And who are you supposed to be?” You huffed with your arms crossed. Jason only stuck his tongue out toward you and walked over to follow Alfred up the stairs. You, now fuming, followed after him. “Hey! I asked you a question!” You demanded an answer.

“He’s the new Robin, Miss (Y/N),” Alfred explains.

“New one? What happened to Dick?”

“He’s spending more time with the Titans,” Alfred explains. “Now, your father expects you to get along with Master Todd, or to at least be civil with him,” Alfred implores.

“Father?!” Jason gasps.

“Get along?!” You two clearly had different priorities.

“Yes, now, go, Miss (Y/N), make sure Master Todd is comfortable,” Alfred says before walking off. “And, before you say anything, I will know if you ignore him,” he says and you pouted in response.

“Fine,” you grumbled while dragging the dufflebags in.

“I can do it myself,” Jason took them from your grasp and hauled them in.

“Alfred told me to help!”

“I don’t need help!”

“I don’t care! You haven’t seen Alfred when you don’t listen!” You grabbed the other bag. “Geez, what’s in here? Rocks?”

“None of your business!” Jason pulls that one in too and pushes you out of his room, shutting the door once you are out, but it was timed wrong, and the door hit the back of your head harshly. Your eyes blacked out for a second, and your vision didn’t come back until you were on the floor.

“Ow!” You winced loudly and glared behind you, but the door remained closed. You looked down at the floor, tears pooling in your eyes. “You’re such a meanie, I’m gonna tell dad,” you sniffled before running off.

Though, if you had decided to look back just a bit longer, you would’ve seen that Jason opened the door as soon as he heard you shout, and was already a foot out the door to check if you were okay before you ran off.

“Geez, she’s such a spoiled baby,” Jason huffs. If you ran off like that, you’d be fine. He told himself this as he walked back into his room to unpack, and he told himself this as he kept unpacking, but the more he told himself the more worried he got. “Ugh, I hate it here already,” he walked out, wandering the halls of Wayne Manor. He didn’t even know where to start, though. He’d just arrived here today and now he’s on some goosechase to find his whatever’s daughter. “Hey, uh… (Y/N)? Where are you?” He calls absently. “You okay?” He listened closely, trying to see if he could hear you anywhere. He’s always wanted a little sister, but now that there was one in front of him he’s not too sure, he didn’t know they would be so… whiny. Then, luckily for him, he heard your voice in one of the rooms and he followed it before opening the door carefully and only a little. You were standing in front of a telephone, your back to the door and both hands holding it while you spoke to someone on the phone.

“Hello, I am calling from the Batcave, can you hand the phone to Nightwing please?” You rocked on your heels, standing atop a dangrous pile of books that wobbled every time you did so. “Hi, Dick, when are you coming home?” You asked quietly. Jason couldn’t hear the other end of the conversation. “He’s mean…” your voice was so fragile. “Dad and Alfred told me to be nice, but I don’t think he likes me.” You waited for a bit, probably listening to Dick. “I know we just met, but it wasn’t like this when we met… what do you mean it was exactly like this? Nuh uh! At least you were trying, I was the one being mean then but I know better now… well, yeah, I know not everyone can be like you! But… I miss you, come home soon, okay?” You waited for a bit again. “Okay. I’ll be nice to him, I promise. Bye bye,” you hung up the phone, leaning forward slightly to reach where you were supposed to but it back and, just as Jason thought, the books slipped under you, and he was running inside faster than he could think, catching you by the shoulders before you could fall forward and slam your head on the desk.

“Geez, (Y/N), you’re just asking to get hurt!” He shouts.

“Nuh uh!”

“Why did you think that was safe anyway?!” He places you on the ground and you zip your mouth shut.

“My older brother says that if I can’t say anything nice then I shouldn’t say anything at all,” you shook your head.

“Hello? I just saved your life!”

“You should’ve just let me fall so the front part of my brain gets smushed too!”

“You’re such a brat!”

“You’re a jerk!”

“I don’t even know what I was thinking coming here to check on you!”

“Me neither!”

“Fine, I’m leaving!”

“Fine!”

“Fine!” Jason leaves first and you jump on the couch. A few seconds later, the door cracks open just slightly.

“How does the back of your head feel?” Jason asks without walking in.

“Alfred put ice on it earlier, it’s okay… I told him I fell down the stairs,” you said quietly and you heard Jason laugh outside, but quickly he stopped.

“Did you tell Bruce?”

“… no.” And you had no intention of actually telling him either.

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

2022

“Alright, exam 2,” you clapped your hands together and looked among the crowd of students. “As you’ve all known, this is a mock hunt. Behind me is a controlled part of the woods and standing along the perimeter of the circle are various other knights to make sure you don’t get lost and bigger monsters don’t come in. To pass exam 2 and to enter the Knighthood, you must return with a specific beast, alive or dead is up to you. Right now, Marion is handing out tile cards with the beast you are to find,” as you instructed this, Damian took the circular card from Marion and flipped it over. Behind it looked to be a fox-like creature with antennae on it’s head and between its ears. “Does everyone have a card? Okay then, go!” You blew the whistle and the teens rushed past you and into the forest, all of them running for a head start on the competition, while Damian stayed behind. You looked at him in a way to ask what the hold up was.

“Just letting them have a chance first,” he says.

“Wow, so chilvalrous,” you chuckled.

“Alright, I think even Niers caught something by now,” he rolls his shoulders back and sports a confident smirk.

“Niers? Oh, baby brother’s making friends now, huh?”

“Friends might be pushing it but if I’m planning on staying here for a while I’d might as well get close to some people.”

“Right… huh?” Your smile falls and you turn to him, but he was already running off into the forest. Staying? Oh no. No, no, he can’t stay here, not when he has a life set up for him in Gotham already.

“Whoa, you look worried,” Carter walks up to you and hands you a water bottle.

“I think Damian wants to stay here with me,” you muttered.

“Is that so bad?”

“Yeah, very.”

“Why? You two seem really close, everyone’s talking about how quickly he ran through the first exam, and I’m pretty sure he’s about to ace this one too, he’ll be a good addition.”

“He’s a teenager, Carter.”

“So are all of them,” he nods toward the forest.

“He has a good thing going for him in 617.”

“So did you.”

“But… argh,” you groaned and dragged a hand down your face. “They’re looking for him right now, I bet. Our family.”

“And they won’t find him,” Carter shakes his head. “They don’t have the tech.”

“I know that, but… I don’t know, I just have this weird nagging feeling that there’s this big picture that we’re both missing, you know?” You bit the tip of your thumb, but eventually you shook it off. “Whatever, we’ll just wait for the recruits to come back,” you dismissed the notion, but Carter wasn’t too convinced. You could tell from the way he shifted his weight onto one leg and about the wary glance he gave you but, with multiple easrs listening, he knew not to say anything more.

2010

Your feet rocked back and forth, peeking from behind the curtain to see who was in the crowd. You really didn’t expect much though, your dad was always busy at this time, your mom too, Dick was always preoccupied with the Titans nowadays, and even Alfred had a family event to go to.

Then again, there was Jason. But he wasn’t really interested in anything you did, he was more focused on whatever it was that Robins did, always sticking around by your dad, always training, and even when he wasn’t you didn’t want to bother him since it was so rare he’d get a day off anyway. Plus, he was probably patrolling tonight with your dad, so you didn’t even bother to ask him.

But, it would’ve been nice if even one of your family members showed up today. You felt a wave of stage fright wash over you when you looked at the piano, a small hobby you’d picked up when you heard your dad listening to a piano album in his office one day, and you were as enchanted by it as he was. When you expressed interest in it he was quick to find you a tutor so you could excel, and you were always grateful for that. If only he had the time to see the result, though. You couldn’t be upset, though.

It was kind of cool, having your dad be a superhero, that is, it just wasn’t cool that you couldn’t brag about it at all. And it was even cooler that your brothers were as fantastic as they were, you’d always watch with silent awe whenever they’d train and you’d always cry when one of them would come home hurt, and every time your dad promised you that they would return home alive. At your age, maybe, you just couldn’t fathom the idea of them not coming home at all.

“(Y/N) Wayne, Tchaikovsky’s Valse Sentimentale,” your tutor announces. You walked onto the stage carefully, ignoring the stares as you did so, but soon you had to turn to the audience, not because you had to, no, but because of the commotion you heard suddenly. The door opened quickly and someone rushed in, obviously disheveled and patting the stray hairs down while he smoothened out his suit.

“Sorry, sorry, excuse me,” Jason ducked his head and walked quickly down the aisle, he walks in front of a few people. And you felt your heart soar. He came, he came to see your recital, and as soon as he was situated, he waved at you and shot you a thumbs up, and you grinned at him, curtseying quickly before sitting at the piano bench. Your hands rested on top of the keys and you took a deep breath before starting the song.

Now that you thought about it, while your hands moved across the piano in a way that was impressive for your age, every time you practiced this song Jason was in the room with you. As soon as you’d enter he’d follow after you, say something to tease you and get your riled up, before disappearing for a moment, only to come back soon after with a book in his hands while you practiced. And every time he saw you focused on a piece he’d never say anything, he’d only ever chime up after he noticed you taking a break, and once you fell back into your practice he’d stop again. But he was there. And you never really thought about it until now, as he watched among this crowd of strangers. He’s probably heard this melody enough times to know how to play it himself, and still every quick look at him showed you that he was as impressed as the rest of the audience.

And when you finished the piece, his cheers were the loudest. As soon as you hit the last chord he was out of his seat cheering for you, and sure, it was embarrassing, his voice seemed to bounce off the stage, but it made your whole chest fill with warmth. You stood up from the bench and curtseyed again before walking backstage.

“(Y/N)! Over here!” Jason was quick to follow you and your tutor noticed the interaction.

“Oh! He’s my brother,” you pointed him out and the tutor nodded.

“Here, I gotcha something, kiddo,” Jason pulled out a pink rose and handed it to you. “I saw someone giving them out in front of the auditorium, so I figured I’d get one for you,” he says. Then he pulls out another one. “And this one’s from Dick, he couldn’t make it, but he told me to get one for him,” he says.

“Thanks, Jay,” you smiled. You looked behind him.

“Bruce isn’t here,” he says. “Something came up,” he quickly adds.

“That’s okay, I figured dad wasn’t going to come anyway,” you shrugged and held onto the two roses tightly. “Thank you for coming! You didn’t have to.”

“Yeah, yeah, of course, you didn’t even invite me,” he says sarcastically.

“I didn’t think you’d want to come,” you frowned. Jason hesitates and takes a deep breath before he rubs the top of your head with a playful roughness. “Hey! It took forever to do that!”

“Of course I want to come! You’re my little sister!” He says and you inhale sharply.

“I’m your what?” You asked him quietly. For a year now you’d been trying to get closer to him, for a year you’ve spent time with him whenever you could and whenever he didn’t chase you out of his room, just because you didn’t want him to feel alone in that big wide mansion. You didn’t want him to feel the same loneliness you felt. And just now, at this moment, you felt seen. You’d considered Jason a brother the day you met him, your father was never the kind to just bring anyone in, and being together this long only solidified that bond in your head, but never did you hear Jason acknowledge it until now.

“Aw, geez, don’t make me say it again,” Jason’s cheeks dust with a light pink and you smiled, a real one this time that even reached your eyes. Jason side eyed you and sighed. “I didn’t think I even needed to say it, you’re my sister,” he repeats. “And, I’m here to fulfill older brother duties, so why don’t we go grab ice cream?” A mischievous smirk rises on his face and you gave him a confident nod.

“Yes! Definitely!” You were almost too excited. You’d always seen your friends go out with their families after school and you always had that secret hope that one day you’d see your dad come out of the car instead of Alfred, and when Dick moved in you had hoped he’d be the same, and sure sometimes your mom picked you up but she was never the kind to take you around Gotham, nor was it even safe to do so, but now? After your recital? This is like a dream come true!

“Good, I know a place,” Jason pulls your coat out of his backpack and wraps it around your shoulders. “Just hold onto me, yeah? Just in case.”

“Yes!” You pushed your arms through the sleeves and followed close behind him out of the auditorium.

Maybe you did take Jason for granted sometimes, you weren’t really being fair to him sometimes. There would be days you’d compare him to Dick, but that wasn’t something you should have done. They were two different people, you knew that. Dick, he’s a good brother, but when it comes to being in a team and a leader he had to put the Titans first and you understood that even if you wished he chose you instead. Jason, now that you really thought of it, he always put you first. He came here today, and you knew that he didn’t have to. You could see his very poor attempts at hiding the bruises on his hands and arms while you held his hand to walk across the street, you saw the way his face winced when you first grabbed onto it. Even the suit he wore had mud caked on the bottom of the trousers that was messily wiped off.

After that day, Jason seemed to be the one to pick you up more often than Alfred. No matter how beat up he would get, or how busy patrol was, ice cream after school was a must.

2022

So you all waited, each knight staring into the woods with bated breath. And as the hour passed with small talk and careful glances, it was only natural that everyone grew tense.

“The recruits should be running back by now,” you looked at your watch. Carter leans in toward you, checking the time as well.

“Yeah, just about,” he agrees.

“Damian should’ve been here by now,” you added quickly after. Sure, he was in new territory, but you knew him well enough to know that he would’ve adapted quickly so… where is he? “Actually, where is anyone?” You asked.

“It’s a little too quiet,” Carter looks into the woods. You pulled your phone out and Dailed Alex’s number, it took a while before it finally connected.

“(Y/N), we might have a problem.” And that was enough to get you to charge in.

“Cap! Wait! We can’t just interfere!” Carter called after you. He looked to the other knights behind him and rubbed his head harshly. “Henry! You’re in charge, if any of the recruits come back tell them to wait out here,” Carter ran after you as soon as Henry nodded.

“Tell me the situation, Alex!” You said.

“High level beast, knocked out a few of our guys already, I don’t know the full details yet but I’m en route too.”

“Have you seen Damian?!”

“No, I’ve been keeping an eye out for him too.”

“Dammit,” your eyes were scanning the area constantly. “Damn,” you skid to a stop just as a daemon charged past you and bang it quickly fell to the ground with a bullet wound shot through. Carter took this chance to catch up with you, handing you the rifle and urging you to keep running.

“That definitely shouldn’t have been here,” you watched the daemon struggle one last time before stilling completely. “Damian?!” There was no response. You knew he could handle himself, usually, but that anxiety you had for your siblings never went away. The way your heart would clench at the thought of either of them getting hurt, either of them getting abandoned, it terrified you. And the monsters here are so different from the ones in Gotham. At least in Gotham they talk, here they just kill. No rhyme, no reason, just horror.

And you just sent your brother out here to get one of them. Stupid. He barely knows how any of this world works.

Becoming an older sibling was something you never really thought about, it came naturally to you according to Tim and according to Dick you were perfect at it. But never did it stop that fear. Whatever fear you had for your older brothers, the way it increased ten-fold after what happened to Jason, and the way it grew when you saw the first Robin who was younger than you… how the hell did those two do it. At least you knew Tim and the others could handle themselves, but what about you?

You who could hardly defend yourself, you who would call them straight home just to help you with something as mundane as getting rid of a spider, for all you knew they could have been fighting some intergalactic monster and then there you were, at home and safe.

And now here you were, aiming your rifle at the daemon twice your size. Oh, how Dick would have a heart attack if he saw you now, and how Jason would cry. Even seeing the way Damian’s shock manifested was enough to make your heart heavy once again.

The sister they once knew was gone, and only you remained.

2012

“Dad?” You walked into the bat cave, your hands automatically rubbed your arms up and down. Would it kill him to put a heater down here?

“What is it, (Y/N)?” He was at the bat computer, neither looking at you and just barely acknowledging you. You kicked at nothing in particular.

“Where’s Jason?” Your question cut through the silence of the cave. You were used to your brothers being gone for a good chunk of time, and usually they told you an approximate time of when they’d be back. And this was no exception, right before Jason had left he had told you he’d be back in a week tops, he even promised it. He promised because there was a book signing that you both wanted to go to, to be honest you hadn’t even heard of the author, you just wanted to do something with him, anything. He’s just been so busy, in and out with missions and always off doing something that you couldn’t follow him into. But it’s been a month now. Whenever the missions would run long you’d usually get a postcard or a call from them, but it’s been silent on his end. He wasn’t picking up his phone or answering your texts. Alfred only eyed you warily before turning to your father.

“You have to tell her eventually,” he says quietly. His voice, however, echoed around you. Your father stayed still. Was his breath actually shaking?

“Tell me what?” You took a shaky step toward him. Your father, however, remained silent.

“Master Bruce,” Alfred says again. “He’s her brother as much as he is your son,” he says. He stands up and removes his mask so you could see him completely. It was amazing, as soon as the mask came off, there was your father. He walked to you slowly and put a hand on your shoulder.

“I don’t…” his voice was choked up. “I don’t expect you to understand this yet, (Y/N),” he says.

“Where is my brother?” You asked him again. By now, you were fully aware of what your father and your siblings did at night. You always had an idea from what they’d tell you, and it was only recently that you heard the details. You had found out on accident, actually, when Jason tumbled in late one night into your room on accident. He miscounted the windows, his room was right next to yours, after all, and that night you happened to be up late watching a TV Show, so imagine your surprise when your brother landed beaten on your rug. You knew that what they did was dangerous. But you trusted your father enough to keep them safe until the end, he always did, he promised you he would. But his silence scared you.

“I think… Dick would’ve been better at telling you this,” he sighed and dragged a tired hand down his face until it covered his mouth. He looked to Alfred, who only shook his head. “Jason’s dead, (Y/N).” He was always so blunt, but something about what he said terrified you.

“Master Bruce, at least try to be more gentle with your words,” Alfred says. Bruce held his hand up to stop him.

“She deserves to know the truth,” Bruce says. “She was closer to him than I ever could be.”

“The relationship between siblings is far different than the relationship between father and son,” Alfred shakes his head.

“Did I hear you wrong?” You asked, your own voice was wavering. Bruce reached out to you again and his hands held onto your shoulders awkwardly, then his hands came down in front of him instead. It was a solemn sight, one you weren’t used to seeing on him.

“No, (Y/N), you heard me right. His body should be flying in by tomorrow,” he says. You shook your head again. Why did he sound like that? Why did he sound so… heartless?

“You promised.”

“I know I did!” His voice roared and you stepped further away from him. “(Y/N), I’m sorry.”

“No, no… it’s…” you stopped the words before they came out. It’s your fault. You wanted to tell him that so badly, but just by seeing the way he was now, you knew the truth, or at least you hoped you did. He wouldn’t have let Jason die, he wasn’t a monster. “I’m gonna go.”

“Where? It’s late, (Y/N).”

“Mom’s.”

“It’s dangerous in that neighborhood at this time.”

“I don’t… I can’t be here right now, dad,” you shook your head and, before your father could say anything more, you turned around and left the cave.

“Miss (Y/N), please, stay tonight, you can go to your mother in the morning,” Alfred was the one to follow you, why wasn’t it your dad?

“I don’t want to be here right now,” you pulled your jacket from the coat rack.

“I know it’s hard, Miss (Y/N), but no one can protect you right now,” Alfred insists. No one? At all? Dick’s busy, you know that, and you know he doesn’t like coming home anymore, but your dad is sitting at the computer right now not doing anything as far as you know. “Miss (Y/N), Jason wouldn’t want you to act this way.”

“Well, he’s not here to tell me that anymore, is he?” You rubbed the tears out of your eyes before they had a chance to roll down your face.

“(Y/N),” Alfred calls to you again, more stern this time, and you pivoted on your heel.

“I don’t want to talk about it, okay?!” You burst. Alfred only sighs and hands you your scarf.

“At least stay safe on your way there, I’ll drive you to your mothers,” he says. “It’s dangerous for a young girl such as yourself to be walking alone in Gotham,” he implores. You looked at your hands. Pristine. Near perfect. And whenever you thought about Jason’s, whenever you would hold onto his hands when you were younger, you never thought about how rough they were compared to yours.

“Okay, Alfred,” you wrapped the scarf around your neck. You were young, but you were no stranger to death. It seemed to surround this family. Your father’s enemies, Dick’s parents, and now Jason. You hated to admit that death was as much a part of this family as you were. “Thanks, Alfred,” you followed him out. You didn’t want to think about it. Because no matter how bad things got, Jason always came home. And now you have to deal with the new reality that the last memory you had of him was his back, because you were too tired to wake up properly to say goodbye.

Goodbye. You didn’t even get to say goodbye. You wonder what his last thoughts were.

2022

Damian, meanwhile, was occupied.

“Niers! Duck!” Damian shouts. As soon as Niers bows his head, Damian pulled the knife from his belt and flung it at the beast who towered over him. And the beast roared, louder than before, it shook the forest around it and it instilled fear into the all the recruits who had bound together. It’s eyes were crazed, bloodshot, and frantically searching the group for whatever. As soon as the larger monsters came out, all of the recruits were quick to regroup, something about strength in numbers. But that plan backfired because now an impenetrable fear shook the group, and it debilitated everyone except for the one who has seen much worse.

“Where are the Knights? They should be here by now!” Retta’s hands dug through her hair and Damian watched her carefully. Sometimes, he forgot that it wasn’t normal for him to be used to these situations. Whatever frustration he felt from this huge group not being able to find it in themselves to step up to action he tried to push down. The beast snarled, staring into Damian’s eyes and locking him into a face off.

Damian takes a deep breath, it wasn’t moving, it was almost like it was studying him the same way he studied it.

“Hugo, hand me your sword,” Damian says quietly. Hugo was still. “Hugo, give it to me.”

“It’s mine, I can’t,” Hugo says.

“Do you want to die?” He hisses. Hugo flinches and, with some hesitation, hands him the sword. Damian takes a step closer to the beast and it growls, causing him to flinch back for a moment before regaining his composure. Slowly, now, he approached the monster. Just moments ago it was on a rampage, striking fear into the recruits and even injuring a few in its rage, but now it was still, the commotion had died down, and the beast had been in a guarded stance since then.

And then it roared. It roared and charged the group. And Damian held the sword up, ready to strike, but he didn’t get the chance. Not when the array of magic circles surrounded the monster and the bang of a shotgun rang out. The bullet lodged into the beast’s shoulder and the magic circles kept it in place.

“Recruits! Fall back!” Your voice was commanding, but it was a welcome sound to the teens who had seen a true monster for the first time.

“Follow me!” Carter’s voice was next, sword at the ready just in case. “How long can you hold it, Xander?” Carter turns to Alex, who was too focused to respond. Alex’s hands shook as he brought them together, bringing the magic circles surrounding the creature closer to bridge the gaps.

“Just go, we’ll follow close behind,” you answered for him, reloading the shotgun and holding it up.

“Sister, wait!” Damian shouted before you could take the shot. “It’s not dangerous! It’s just scared!” Damian shouts. You looked at him, and you took a deep breath, then you brought your finger to your lips as if to tell him to be quiet. So Damian shut his mouth.

“Monster’s feel no emotions, Damian,” you said loudly to negate his previous statement in front of the other teens. “Fall back with the rest,” you aimed your rifle again, noticably hitting a nonvital spot. Damian nodded and followed the others away from the scene.

“I can’t hold it for long, (Y/N),” Alex says.

“I know, just give me enough time to look at it,” you answered. You slung the rifle across your back and approached the beast, and soon it stopped struggling. It stared at you and you looked around for any sort of identification and… bingo. The dog tags were near hidden by the beast’s fur but you could just barely make out the writing on it. MM-93. “Okay, break!” You backed up and Alex separated his hands, causing the magic circles to separate entirely before dissapating. The beast breathes heavily, staring at you intently, before whimpering, turning around, and leaving.

“Damian figured it out fast.”

“He’s a bright kid, that one,” you huffed.

“Let’s head back, we’ll tell them that the beast as subdued,” Alex catches his breath.

“Should I just pity induct them all in?” You asked.

“That seems rather unfair,” Alex shakes his head. “We’ll review the footage of the test and go off of that.”

“How the hell did it get close anyway? Who’s in charge of this sector?” You asked him, keeping your guard up in case more daemons were around.

“I was,” Alex answered quietly. You shot him a worried look.

“Losing your touch so soon?” You tried to joke.

“Somehow, it slipped through my radar, nothing can do that,” Alex responds. “Whatever it is, whoever they are, they’re getting smarter,” Alex was on edge. “What’s your theory, (Y/N)?”

“I know they’re human, and that’s about it. Mixing human and beast DNA, it’s…” you couldn’t find the right word for it.

“You don’t need to say it,” Alex shakes his head. “The one we have in captivity right now, I know you went to see it earlier, how’s its progress?”

“Slow, it’s been near impossible to get any samples from it,” you shook your head.

“And its identity?”

“Unknown,” you shook your head. “We’ll discover more later,” you nodded, ending the subject as you and Alex left the woods.

“Recruits, good job,” you said after mustering a confident facade. “There was an unforseen circumstance, and you responded well. Usually many people would run away and think only of themselves, but instead you came together, and that thinking is commendable. We’ll review the scouter’s notes and whatever footage we have to grade all of you equally since we were unable to fully complete the test, return home until then, you’ll hear from us soon,” you instructed. But the air was still tense. “The beast has been taken care of, carefully,” you finally said, and some people seemed relieved while others seemed skeptical. Regardless, they slowly dispersed, except for a small group that had found their way to your kid brother.

“You should talk to them,” Carter urges.

“Yeah, yeah,” you handed him your rifle and approached the group. “So why are you all hanging around?” You asked. For the most part they seemed awestruck that you were even looking at them.

“I believe they’re big fans of yours, sister,” Damian says with a snarky tone.

“I still can’t believe your sister is the Captain Wayne,” Lowen whispers.

“What? Want an autograph?” You joked.

“Could you?” Retta’s eyes shone. You didn’t think they were serious, but when they pulled out pieces of paper you were surprised, hell, you never even did this in your last universe.

“Uh… sure?” You took a pen and scribbled a messy signature on all of them. “I’m sorry about that scare earlier, our job is to control the testing environment and yet multiple high-level beasts found their way in, it’s good that you’re all uninjured,” you said.

“Damian was cooler though!” Niers chimes in. “He was ready to fight the daemon before you all showed up!”

“Was he now? I believe it,” you nodded. “Actually, now that I’m really looking at you all, you’re staying in the dormitories, right?”

“How’d you know?” Luciana asks.

“Well, I am close with your siblings,” you smiled. “And you’ve all been grouped together since Academy days so I know of your faces,” you nodded. “Except for you, Hugo, new addition?” You turned to Retta.

“Uh, ah,” she stammers. “Yeah! New addition,” she brings him closer to the group.

“Good on you all then, I’ll just grab Damian,” your hand habitually rubs the top of his head and he glares at you.

“Don’t embarrass me, sister.”

“Oh, please, it’s part of the job description,” you grinned. “Go then, don’t let us hold you up,” you urged the group to disperse and, once they did, your expression fell.

“You’re smart for that,” Damian says.

“For what?”

“Alleviating the mood,” he says.

“Of course, it was an error on our part, we can’t have them shaken up for something they’re not responsible for. Plus, we don’t want people thinking the Guard has lost their touch,” you said. Alex and Carter make their way over to the two of you. “We’re heading back, I have a lot to train this one for if he’s going to be staying awhile,” you said.

“Naturally, Captain, we’ll handle things here,” Alex reassures you.

“Leave the report on my desk, I’ll handle it tomorrow,” you nodded. “Damian, let’s go, I’m about to crash course you on everything you need to know to make it here.”

“Right…” Damian nods. “I’m ready.”

2015

The mask was still stuffy no matter how often he wore it. But, if it kept his identity a secret the best, then it would have to do. With vigilant eyes and ears, he stood above Gotham city. It was almost the exact same as when he left, and that was a problem. One he would have to deal with himself if Bruce couldn’t. But, amidst the grumbles and schemes, there was one voice that seemed to echo above the others.

“Do you even know who I am?!” That voice stopped Jason dead in his tracks. He looked around him. No, how could this be possible? “Aw, hell, I didn’t think I’d ever use that line,” the voice slurred. Jason ran toward that voice and immediately saw you. You were trying to tug your arm away from whoever was holding it. “Get your… Get your hands off of me, asshole,” you tried to yank it again, but your drunk stupor hindered you. Jason turned away, he had things to do, important things. Besides… he was sure Dick would’ve come running to help you.

But that didn’t stop him from watching from a distance. Why weren’t you fighting back? Where’s Dick? Or anyone? Were you out alone? Hell… wait. Jason did the math in his head and, once it clicked, he was behind you and the stranger in moments. You had completely passed out while the man tried to lug you along with him, but he stopped his movements when he heard the click of a gun behind him.

“Who the fuck?” The man turns around and Jason didn’t hesitate to pull the trigger. “Fuck you, who do you think you are? Do you know who I am?” The man shouts while he clasps his side. Jason paid no mind, instead he hauled you over his shoulder. “Fine, take the bitch for-” Jason only responded by kicking him against the wall before continuing out of the alley. He adjusted you enough that you were slumped against his back, holding onto the back of your knees securely while your arms hung loosely over his shoulders. Then, as if this wasn’t enough, he suddenly felt you sniff his shoulder.

“(Y/N), are you kidding me?!” Jason nearly drops you.

“Ooh… you know who I am too?” You asked. “Mm… Sauvage Men’s Cologne, I didn’t know vigilantes cared for what they smelled like,” your words were laced together.

“Well, I didn’t know daughters of billionaires just went around barhopping when they’re underage.”

“I’m not underage!”

“Yes you are!”

“How would you know?” He felt your glare, but he just shook his head and you knocked against his helmet.

“Why not take this off? Isn’t it stuffy?” You asked.

“No.”

“Ugh, you’re stubborn,” you rocked back and forth and Jason nearly lost his balance. “You know what? Now that I say that, I only knew one other person who wore Sauvage!”

“Yeah, yeah-”

“But I always told Jason that it made him smell old,” you laughed.

“It did not!”

“Oh! You know Jason too then?” You pulled your phone out and held it in front of his face.

“Jesus, (Y/N),” Jason groans.

“Look, look, this is me and my brother, like, three years ago,” you showed him a picture of the two of you. Jason’s shoulders relaxed now, he hadn’t seen that picture for a while. It was taken by Dick at one of the galas, you’d somehow pranked him by shoving his face into cake and, while he was not amused in any way, you laughed until you couldn’t breathe. “Wait, sorry, that’s a shitty picture of us, I swear I have nicer ones,” you tried to scroll through your phone, but the more pictures you went through the more embarrassing they got.

“Why the hell do you have so many pictures of m— of him?” He asks.

“Why not? He’s my brother.”

“Was.”

“Is,” you corrected him. “Death doesn’t separate people, people do,” you knocked your head against his shoulder. Then he heard you snoring. Jason groaned again and readjusted you along his back, he didn’t even know where to take you, really, he just couldn’t leave you there. Imagine this sight, the Red fucking Hood carrying (Y/N) Wayne to god knows where. He wasn’t stupid enough to just drop you off at the manor but…

He instead found himself struggling up the fire escape of a much too tall apartment complex. Six flights in, he paused and took a deep breath.

“The shit I do for you, (Y/N),” he curses and presses on until he reaches the top floor. He bends down to set you on the patio bench, but somehow you found a way to cling onto him. “Come on, (Y/N), let go.”

“Jay?” Your voice slurred. “Your finally home, that’s good,” you spoke to yourself mainly.

“I’m not Jason.”

“I know,” you muttered while Jason tried to put you down again. “But you remind me of him, so let me just pretend, okay?” You yawned.

“Jason Todd’s dead,” he says harshly. “Let go, (Y/N),” he pulls you off of him and stretches his aching back. He sits down at the other bench and your eyes remained closed. “What… what would you do if he was still alive?”

“Smack him.”

“Why?!” Jason’s head whipped toward you.

“Fucker missed my recital… it wasn’t even worth playing the piano anymore,” you adjusted yourself so you were comfortable.

“You love playing the piano,” he said softly.

“I loved spending time with him,” you corrected. “Some of the only times I saw him and we weren’t arguing were when I practiced,” you slung your arm over your eyes.

“Did you miss him?”

“Always, he’s my brother,” your voice was slow. “He wouldn’t miss me though.”

“Why do you say that?”

“All I ever did was annoy him,” you tried to sit up, but your spinning head kept you plastered to the chair. “He would always complain about how much of a hassle it was to watch over me, he hated when he had to play babysitter. He always wanted to…” you hesitated, “he always preferred being with my dad. My dad does some cool stuff as a job and Jay always cared about that more, having to do anything with me was a drag for him. So, I miss him, a lot, but I know he’s having the time of his life without me.”

Jason listened carefully to your rant, and at one point, you just quiet, not necessarily expecting a response at all. Your words sunk into a whisper, and soon they became snores. He did miss you. He’d always wanted a little sister, and to him you were the best one he could have ever had. Any chance he got he would brag about you to his teammates. Watching over you was one of his favorite things to do, he could take a break from patrolling, and he could spend time with you. Someone who was fundamentally so different from him. He who grew up on the streets and you who was born with a silver spoon.

“What about your other brother?”

“Dick? Oh... we don’t talk much anymore,” you shook your head.

“What?! Why?”

“He moved,” you shrugged. “And he has his own thing going on, I can’t bother him with dumb stuff like…” you zipped you lips shut.

“Like what?”

“Like changing my tires…” you mumbled. Jason’s shoulders slumped. “Or fixing my faucet, or… or picking me up from a party I didn’t even want to go to… I can’t even call him anymore because he’s so busy, he never answers,” you kept ranting. “And I don’t want to bother him, everyone has their own thing going on, and plus I have Google so I can figure things out, I always do.”

“Aren’t you rich? Why isn’t your dad helping you?”

“Oh, dad doesn’t give a fuck about me,” you laughed. “I renounced the family business for good and now… now it’s like I don’t even exist to him,” you scoffed. “I mean, you saw me, I was way out past midnight with some stranger, and dad never checked up on me once. Even now, I’m here with you, aren’t I?”

“Yeah, but that’s different.”

“How so? You’re still a stranger,” you shrugged. Your phone rang and you looked down at it.

“That your brother?”

“Yeah, Timmy,” you yawned.

“Timmy?”

“Mmhmm…” you declined the call and turned over on your stomach.

“At least answer the phone!”

“It’s fine, it’s fine…” you waved him off. “Good night,” your breathing evened out.

“At least one of us is sleeping soundly,” he leans against the balcony. He glanced at the sun rising over the harbor and he shakes his head. One night wasted, apparently. He makes a move to remove his helmet, but stops as soon as he notices the woman staring right at him.

Selina was frozen in her spot, her glass of water had shattered under her a while ago now. Did she just witness the Red Hood bring her daughter up to her balcony? Apparently so. The Red Hood only turned and left the way he came, but not before writing something down and placing it into your hands. She was outside in seconds, she looked down the fire escape, but the new vigilante was out of sight. Besides that, she moved to you. You were out like a light, but aside from that it didn’t look like you were hurt anywhere. No, if anything, this was the heaviest she’d seen you sleep in a long time. Curiosity got the best of her, though, so she took a look at the note.

‘If you ever need to pretend again.’ And a series of numbers.

2022

“Alright, baby, let’s see this,” Jason swings the pocket watch in his hand and cracks it open, taking some time to stare at it’s face. He turned it to the side, looking at the overlapping hands on it, and he was just about to twist the knob when Tim interrupted him.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, Jason, don’t play with that thing,” Tim snatches it from his hands. “We don’t know what it could do yet or how it works,” he says.

“Okay? And how are we going to figure that out if we just stare at it?” He takes it back.

“Jason, I’m serious, this is the only lead we have on those two, if you break it then we’ll be back to square zero,” Tim grabs the chain.

“Tim, chill out, it’s fine!” Jason strengthens his hold on the watch.

“No! Jason, I have to study this before it breaks!” Tim tugs on it.

“It won’t break!” Jason tugs back.

“It might!”

“It won’t!” And, once Jason tugged it for the last time, a bright light surrounded both of them.

When the light had subsided, both of them collapsed onto the ground, Tim landing hard enough on Jason that the latter slammed his head onto the asphalt. The pocket watch tumbled out of Jason’s hand and landed a few feet away from him broken.

“Ow…” Jason rubbed his head harshly. “Yo, Tim, you good?” Jason pushes himself off of the ground and helps Tim up next.

“Other than a headache, I’m fine… where are we?” Tim rubs his head too before looking around. The two seemed to have landed in an alleyway, the bright skies were pierced by tall buildings with winding fire escapes and various other powerlines and, shockingly, someone zipping above them on a flying skateboard.

“Wherever it is… I’m pretty sure it’s not Gotham,” Jason says after shaking off the initial shock.

“Aw, hell, Jason, I knew you’d break it!” Tim picks up the pocket watch, the various hands on its face had bent and broken on impact with the ground, and the front of the pocket watch was marred with scratches. Tim swallows harshly, but before he could speak any more a shrill scream behind them caused both of the boys to assume an offensive stance.

“Oh my god!” The woman shouts, trying to tug her purse away from a burglar.

“Ha, basic,” Jason steps forward and punches the burglar square in the jaw, the latter knocking out and dropping the purse in the process, which Tim easily caught and handed back to the woman.

“Are you alright?” Tim asks, but the woman shies away, clutching her purse tighter, and runs off just in time for a whistle to be heard next.

“Hey! You two! Stay right where you are!” The voice shouts next and Jason and Tim turned around just as an officer approached them.

“Right over here, officer,” Jason points at the knocked out criminal, a smug and confident grin on his face.

Only for the officer to handcuff Tim first.

“Excessive violence with probable cause is against the law, young men, you’re coming with me. State your names now,” he makes a move to handcuff Jason next, but he’s quick to move out of the way, although the officer was quicker.

“Don’t tell him our fucking names, Tim!”

“Christ, Jason!”

“Tim and Jason, okay,” the officer scribbles down both names.

“Dammit.”

“Fuck.”

“Follow me, boys, I just have a few questions,” the officer says.

“We can just knock him out and run for it,” Jason whispers to his brother. Tim shakes his head.

“No way, we have to play it safe for now, figure out where we are.”

“I can hear you both, you know,” the officer glances back. Jason groans and Tim elbows him on the side. “We’ll sort things out in the precinct, until then, you have a right to remain silent,” the officer began to list of their rights and Tim could only groan while Jason rolled his eyes.

And when the two were unceremoniously thrown into a cell, they were even more annoyed.

“What kind of fucked up justice system is this that we get punished for helping someone out?” Jason grumbles.

“You dislocated the guy’s jaw,” Tim grimaces.

“We always do shit like that in Gotham.”

“But we’re not in Gotham, Jason,” Tim reminds him. “I have no idea where we are, for all we know we could be in a whole other dimension with no way of going back because you broke the one lead we had!”

“I didn’t break it!”

“You did!”

“We did!” Jason corrects him. Tim just shouts in frustration and buries his head in his hands. “Man… if I was going to get jailed for anything I would’ve hoped it would’ve been for something cooler than punching a thief,” Jason crosses his arms. “Why are you so quiet?”

“I’m trying to find out how I’m going to survive with you of all people.”

“You little shit,” Jason spits.

“I don’t even want to deal with you right now!” Tim’s hands tense up around his head and he takes a calming breath.

“Alright. What’s fucking you up?” Jason crosses his arms and Tim huffs.

“Nothing!” He shakes his head. “Something, maybe.”

“Okay, hit me then,” Jason adjusts so that he could fully face Tim.

“Figuratively or literally?”

“Whichever one,” Jason shrugs. “You’re taking this whole thing a little too hard, Tim.”

“Don’t you want to find (Y/N) and Damian?”

“Of course, I do! But, Tim, chill out. Nothing will come out of us freaking, and the more time we spend doing that, the more time those two could be stuck somewhere dangerous,” Jason says. “So what is it, Tim? What’s on your mind?”

“It’s just…” he huffs. “I feel like if I didn’t… if I didn’t confront (Y/N) so early on maybe she would have stayed longer is all…” he says quietly. Jason leans back against the wall. “I know it hit all of us hard, when (Y/N) passed away, and when she came back, if that was even her, I don’t know I just…” Tim grabs the pocket watch. “I felt so relieved, like we all had a chance at a do over, but you should have seen the look on her face, Jason, when I asked her,” he says.

“What did she do?”

“She didn’t care,” Tim mutters. “Like… like she’s been back for a while, but she never thought to come back here. And when I did see her here she looked so disappointed, I can’t place it, when I saw her she looked upset not relieved, not happy, not…” he shakes his head. “I don’t know, I keep hearing that you knew her best, what do you think?”

“Me? I knew her best? Try Dick!” Jason’s jaw drops.

“Dick was the one who told me that!” Tim says. “Hell, I thought I knew her best, but even now I wonder why she does certain things and you always have the answer! So, what do you think, Jason? Why wouldn’t she have wanted to come home?”

“Well, was this ever really her home?” He asks.

“Of course it was!”

“I don’t think so,” Jason rocks on the chair now. “Even when I first got there, she’d been there longer than I was and she was still so uncomfortable in the manor,” he shakes his head. “Wanna know what I think? I think we all owe her some sympathy. I wasn’t here for the big fight that happened with her and Bruce, when she renounced being a vigilante, but I do know that that changed everything,” he says. “She already felt alienated in that house before, so putting it out there, maybe, was the final nail in the coffin.”

“That fight…” Tim mumbles. “You’re right, it was really big.”

“What exactly happened?”

“Well… I don’t know the details myself, I was just starting as a Robin too, and I think I blocked out a lot of it. To be honest, I think Dick would remember more than I do. I just remember we came back from a mission, it was rough, I had bandages all over already and when (Y/N) saw me she lost it. I’ve never seen or heard of her standing up to Bruce until that night. And Bruce took it well, he was really careful about his responses until (Y/N) said that one thing and then…” Tim caught himself. “It’s not your fault, Jason. You were dead, and she was angry.”

“What did (Y/N) say?” Jason’s voice was low.

“She asked ‘why are you repeating what happened to Jason?’” Tim said quietly. “Then, more arguing, and (Y/N) finally said ‘if death is so okay with you then I don’t want to be next in line. I will never be a vigilante.’ And I don’t remember much more after that, who wants to remember their sister shouting like that? Dick had to break them up.”

“Metal,” Jason shrugs.

“Jason! I’m trying to open up for why I care so much!”

“And I’m applauding my younger sister for standing up to the guy, she was always afraid to do it.”

“And the second time she did she died.”

“Don’t say it like that,” Jason sneers.

“I know it’s selfish of me to say it, but I wanted to spend more time with her,” Tim says. “I was juggling so much with being a Robin, my family, and school that I didn’t get to really sit with her,” he says. “And she was always there for me. She would move schedules around and drop things last minute if I called but if she called me? God, it was her or the Titans and you know how that goes. So when I saw her in the manor, and all, I just wanted to talk to her. But, no, instead my skeptical ass chased her out before I could even apologize.”

“Well, your skeptical ass was right, so we can’t be mad at that,” Jason says. “Who knows what goes on in that kid’s mind? I don’t even know, if she wanted to do something it was easier for me to help her rather than stop her, you know? That’s Dick’s thing. I’d rather I know what the hell she was up to so I’d know when to step in,” he shrugs. “Maybe this is another one of those things, some crazy escapade. I know when I came back to life shit was crazy, I didn’t know who I was, I didn’t know why I was here, maybe it’s the same for her, who knows?” Jason grumbles.

“Maybe you should ask her yourself.” Tim and Jason turn toward the front of the cell, and Damian crossed his arms.

“It’s your lucky day, boys, you’re getting bailed out,” the guard huffs next to him. “Next time, don’t leave your ID screens at home,” the guard nudges his head to the side, signaling for them to get out of the cell. Once Tim walks out, the guard shoves the box with their belongings into his arms.

“Right, yeah, of course, officer! We’ll remember to bring them next time,” Jason says a little too loudly. The guard pushes them out of the door and into the waiting room in between.

“Damian! Holy shit, man, we’ve been looking everywhere for you!” Jason exclaims. Tim looks at the pocket watch, trying to piece together the connection.

“Well, I’m here,” Damian says nonchalantly. “Didn’t think I’d run into Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum though.”

“Geez, at least have some tact, we almost went crazy because we had no leads,” Tim says.

“Actually, yeah, you’re a little too calm and collected right now, just what have you been up to?” Jason asks skeptically. “And what’s up with the fit?” Jason raises an eyebrow, just now noticing the uniform Damian was wearing.

“I just had a little help, is all,” Damian mutters. “Anyway, I’m just here to pick you two up, we’ll share notes on the way.”

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