Colony of Gotham - CrzyFun (2024)

Chapter 1

Chapter Text

Bruce Wayne was born a vampire, one from the long-standing Kane family of vampires through his mother. This nature granted him a few abilities. He was more durable than a human and could heal faster. He was stronger and faster than a human and had better sight and hearing, though not to anywhere near the degree that some metas boasted. He could take on the form of an animal and could influence bats, corvids, canines, and felines to a certain extent. Finally, he would stop aging once he reached his thirties, a trait of those who were born or turned young instead of those like Alfred who were turned at an older age and therefore would always be that age.

However, when he set off on his path to becoming Batman, he swore to himself that he would not rely on any of this to fight the criminals that plagued Gotham. He would not be like those heroes past who relied on their powers, then were left defenseless when those abilities faltered or were ripped away. After all, only a vampire’s healing and longevity remained during the day and some spells and devices could similarly strip his nature away.

Batman stuck to his wits, tech, and martial arts training.

Even still, the criminals of Gotham could tell something was off about the Bat. Rumors flew about a demon haunting Gotham’s night, which Bruce leaned into. He hadn’t chosen a bat just because of the family significance. He wanted to strike fear. As such, he stuck to the shadows and allowed his fangs to bare. He used makeup to make himself appear paler and contortionist tricks to make his movements uncanny. He allowed Batman to become an urban legend that sent shivers down the spines of Gotham’s infamous.

When Barbara Gordon became Batgirl, she quickly realized his tricks were just that and leaned into them as well. She became a ghost following in the Bat’s footsteps. She disappeared into a mist made from special smoke pellets and spun across the ground and air in a weightless way that came from years of ballet and gymnastics training. She wore shadows like Batman’s, but violet and gold peeked through the darkness to make her stand apart.

Bruce initially didn’t want her in the field, but she eventually proved herself both competent and stubborn. In a bid to help protect her, he outfitted her with proper gear and let her in on the secret of his nature. She considered it, then a week later she asked him to turn her so she could always watch his back.

Then Dick Grayson was taken in by the billionaire and became the Bloody Robin. They called him a demon child, the son of the Bat who flew on bird’s wings. His cheerful laughs and giggles echoed and hissed eerily thanks to a voice filter. His clothes were bright colors, but were covered by the wing-like shadows that wrapped over his shoulders. Fake blood dripped from his hair and eyes and coated the tips of his gloves and cape. He chirped like a bird as he flipped and flew through the air. His mask made his eyes glow white and his body almost appeared boneless when he moved around on the ground thanks to the contortionist who’d babysat him at the circus.

The three heard the tales when teams of heroes began to form, but they didn’t reach out. Gotham’s Colony was a myth, an urban legend. Those outside of Gotham had never heard of them and those within only spoke in whispers.

That was how the Colony preferred it.

Besides, the rest of the world wasn’t as dark as Gotham.

Their tricks and games worked fine in the shadow-filled gothic architecture that made up Gotham, the near-perpetual overcast days, and the deep darkness of Gotham’s nights, but cities like Jump, Metropolis, or Central were far brighter. They could do without, they’d proven that plenty of times against the bigger villains that were either too crazy or brave to fear the Bat, but why should they? The tricks and games had become a part of them over the years and discarding a piece of themselves just so they could work outside of Gotham with strangers felt wrong.

So the Colony stuck to their own.

On the job, at least.

Dick met Wally West at a two-week-long Jr. Forensics Summer Camp when they were eleven and thirteen respectively. Bruce had sent him to brush up on his skills while Wally’s mentor, Barry Allen, thought it would be good training. Neither boy knew about each other's secret lives, but became close friends all the same and kept in contact when they returned home. Dick didn’t reveal it to Wally when he discovered the other boy was Kid Flash, but kept a close eye on Central City just in case.

A similar situation happened two years later when the Colony discovered Green Arrow’s latest protégé, a girl named Artemis Crock, lived in Gotham and had been helped into Gotham Academy by the other billionaire. Dick decided to keep an eye on her, but his pseudo-stalking quickly turned into a genuine friendship.

He may have taken a bit too much joy in introducing Wally and Artemis to one another. Wally got back at him a few years later by introducing him to the model Kory Anders, the secret identity of his celebrity crush Starfire. Dick had to admit to having a crush on Kory as well to explain his nerves.

It turned out to be a net gain in the end, though, since he came out of it with her phone number.

As time passed, Dick started to get too old to be the demon child. He decided to create a new story for himself. One that would let him step out from under the shadow of the bat, using a name from an alien myth in Bruce’s files that he’d loved reading growing up. He and Bruce argued, and Dick spent some time sleeping on Barbara’s couch, but with nowhere to run they were forced to come to a compromise. There was still tension, but it was smoothed over with time and a bite.

Nightwing was a nocturnal bird that had taken human shape after being taken in by Batgirl’s elegance. It chased after and raced the ghost, nothing but shadows and a blue streak flying through the air. Those who got close enough to see his face would say that his skin was like porcelain while black wings covered his eyes completely and his lips were painted with darkness.

Nightwing wasn’t the only change to the Colony, though, because as Dick was finishing up his designs for the story, a little boy was stealing the tires off the Batmobile.

Dick was furious when the kid climbed out of the car into the cave, thinking Bruce had brought the kid in as a new Robin without even consulting him, but anger’s quickly replaced by confusion.

Because Batman wasn’t with the kid.

Jason Todd had gotten grabbed by the Bat after having already nicked three tires off the batmobile. Batman caught him before he could run then replaced the tires. He’d made a mistake in leaving the boy in the car when he went to call for someone to pick him up, however. Jason, who some might generously call impulsive, proceeded to use the opportunity presented to him to hotwire the vehicle and take it for a joyride that ended when he accidentally had the autopilot bring him to the cave.

Dick was immediately taken with the small spitfire’s story, as well as his stubbornness and intellect. Meanwhile, Jason was amused by the fact that Gotham’s demon was, in his eyes, nothing more than a spectacular conman and wanted in. They teamed up to force Bruce to adopt the younger boy through underhanded -- and perhaps slightly illegal -- tactics.

As Dick started using his new story more and Robin less, Jason got his own turn under Batman’s cape.

People started to say Robin was more vicious. He’d climb walls, the claws on his feet and hands easily cutting into brick and metal. He’d give a fang-filled smirk as he hung from the ceiling like he’d forgotten he was a bird instead of a bat, only to drop down on unsuspecting shoulders. If he wasn’t clawing at opponents, he was beating them with his fists.

As one of his first acts as Robin, Jason saved a young boy who had been kidnapped for ransom. The kid had acted out of it during the rescue, but Jason put it down to trauma. He’d had no reason to realize the young detective-to-be had noticed the edge of Jason’s fake fangs through the shadows and fake blood. No one could have predicted the rabbit hole young Tim Drake had just fallen down nor that it would lead him to massive discoveries in the near future.

When Jason discovered Catherine Todd wasn’t his birth mother, he considered going alone to look for the mystery woman who’d given birth to him. He and Bruce had just had a fight about his temper that had left him benched and he wanted to prove himself, but something Dick had told him months before echoed in his mind.

“No matter how much we argue, we’re always going to be there for each other. Us birds and bats, we’re a family. We have to stick together.”

In the end, he asked Dick and Barbara for help. It was something he was thankful for when his mother sold him out to the Joker. At least he could hold out against the torment with the knowledge his true family would soon come for him.

When Batgirl and Nightwing arrived, Joker fled. Barbara got Jason out while Dick, after seeing the state of his brother, tracked down the clown. Bruce got to him just in time to stop him from beating Joker to death, but when he saw Jason’s condition he couldn’t bring himself to scold his elder son for his loss of control.

Jason was barely hanging on and Bruce, knowing there was no other choice, turned him.

The boy lived, but his injuries were too severe and he fell into a coma.

Three weeks later, Bruce and Dick came into Bruce’s study to find Tim Drake waiting for them. Both were a little more focused on “My parents are never home” than “so I’m in a perfect position to cover for Jason as Robin while he’s sleeping,” to Tim’s confusion, but he ended up in the suit all the same.

The whispers that had come after Joker’s latest incarceration had him crowing about clipping bird wings tapered off as Robin sightings flared up throughout the city. People saw him flying next to the Bat and they heard him tap-tap-tapping his claws. He tapped them against the walls as he hunted through warehouses and against the floors as he crouched in front of technology that seemed to unlock under his gaze thanks to the computer that’d been built into his gloves, the interface of which could only be seen through the lenses in the Colony’s masks and cowls.

Tim didn’t really know how to feel about being adopted by Bruce, aside from the guilt he knew was mixed in there somewhere. It felt wrong to be slipping into the family like that while Jason was right there and Dick had to talk him down when the anxiety attack eventually hit.

Tim was Tim. He wasn’t Jason and they didn’t want him to be Jason.

Dick understood though. He explained how Dick and Jason had both had similar feelings regarding Barbara and Dick respectively, though Dick could admit he’d gotten off easier all things considered. He told Tim that the Colony was a family, and adoption or not, Tim was a part of that now. Jason wasn’t going anywhere and neither was Tim.

When Jason woke, Dick had a similar conversation with him after Jay saw a news broadcast about Tim while waiting for the others to arrive. It soothed him some, and Tim soothed him more when he assured Jason he wasn’t taking Robin from him.

“There can’t be two Robins.”

“Why can’t there?”

As Jason went through physical training to get back in shape, the two worked together to develop a strategy for acting as Robin together. One part of this was Trillic.

Tim, with help from Dick and Jason, invented a secret language made up of chirps, whistles, and clicks. It started as a way for the Robins to communicate with each other without giving away there was more than one, but over time the rest of the Colony picked it up and the vocabulary expanded until it became the family’s own personal language that they’d use whenever they didn’t feel like using words.

A few days after Jason was released from the hospital, Dick found Jason down in the cave and grew worried his little brother was pushing himself too soon after his accident. Then he saw the young woman on the screen. She looked a year or two older than Jason with long red hair, olive skin, and bright green eyes.

They’d met in Ethiopia, Jason told him, while saving a woman from some men. Jason had wanted to try to track her down now that he was awake. He’d succeeded, but it turned out she was an Amazonian hero.

Combined with the fact her name was Artemis, Dick couldn’t help but laugh and make a joke about Jason following in his footsteps. Jason smacked him and told him she was really more of an anti-hero so it wasn’t the same as Dick making friends with Kid Flash and Tigress, but Dick ignored him.

Jason did end up contacting her, and even got her to take a visit to Gotham. Dick took the opportunity to introduce her to Wally and his own Artemis, who Wally began to refer to as Stripes to not get confused. When questioned, he claimed it was because of some outfit of hers that stuck in his mind. Dick and Jason, knowing it was actually based on her identity as Tigress, nodded along and picked up using the name, to her annoyance.

Surprisingly, the two women didn’t get along despite their similar attitudes. This led to them taking great offense whenever people couldn’t tell which Artemis was being talked about, something only Jason, Dick, and Alfred never managed to do.

While the teens were laughing over this, whispers were going around about how the Bloody Robin seemed to be everywhere. If you fled from a room you knew he was in, you’d find him standing right in front of you in the new room. There was no escape. And he trilled more than ever, though his voice almost seemed to echo back at him as if he was having a conversation.

Not long after the Justice League had formed, Barbara had hacked into their security system and planted a little bug she named Mockingbird. It was designed to alert her whenever someone mentioned the Colony’s civilian or vigilante identities and copy any footage during the time. More often than not all it gave her was Wally and Bow-Artemis (as most of the family thought of her, to contrast with Axe-Artemis) discussing Dick. Every so often though, there’d be someone pining after Dick or Bruce, which could be good for a laugh depending on who it was.

On a day not long after the Robins had been set loose together, Mockingbird gave her something that was sort of new, yet at the same time not.

The video started with Wally discussing some prank he and Dick had pulled on Bruce and slowly devolved into him just bragging about how awesome Dick was. Suddenly he froze, staring off into the air.

Artemis took one look at him and asked, “Did you finally realize you’ve got a crush on your best friend?”

He immediately went to reassure his girlfriend, but she said got it and even shared his feelings.

Barbara settled in to watch the show.

Unfortunately, it took longer than she’d anticipated for Dick to catch on that the two actually wanted to date him and not just spend more time with him. He was usually pretty good at picking up on people’s feelings, yet Artemis ended up having to pull him into her lap during a movie night and kiss him flat on the lips before it sunk in.

When Barbara approached him about it, he pouted over her spying. Then he admitted that he’d known for years they all had feelings for each other, he just hadn’t wanted to risk getting in the middle of the two’s relationship since they seemed so happy together. When he’d realized how they’d started flirting with him, he’d been worried they were just after a quick thing and he couldn’t do that to himself. So he’d put on his media mask of naive ditz Dickie who wouldn’t recognize flirting if it hit him in the face.

Thankfully the two had reassured him and after talking it through, the three settled happily into their throuple.

To congratulate his brother, Jason gave him a solid week before making jokes about Dick following in Bruce’s footsteps by dating someone with a feline-themed suit.

The next hurdle was deciding how to deal with the media. Dick was Richard “Dickie” Grayson, eldest son of Bruce Wayne. The media loved to go on about him. Pretty much every second of his relationship with Kory had been recorded by the press. Neither of them had minded. He was still a performer at heart, always would be, and she was a warrior princess who had been in the spotlight all her life.

But Dick knew Wally and Artemis weren’t Kory so he talked to them about how they wanted to handle things.

In the end, they agreed only friends and family would know about Artemis, but Wally and Dick would go public. They all had practice keeping much bigger secrets so it wasn’t hard on Artemis to hide their relationship. Meanwhile, Wally didn’t mind playing around for the cameras. Plus, he knew how people treated Dick when they thought he was single and a small possessive part of him didn’t want them trying anything, even if he knew Dick would never cheat.

Things didn’t actually turn out too bad. Of course, there were always the conservatives that came around when Dick got a boyfriend, but they never stuck around long. Bruce had made his support of Dick’s sexuality very clear from the beginning and no one wanted to risk really ticking someone as rich and connected as him off by attacking his son like that.

The real problem came when their agreement to tell their families accidentally didn’t reach everyone.

Dick had been alone at the manor when it happened.

Bruce had gone on a weekend business trip, bringing Tim with him. Alfred was on a trip to England. Jason had taken the opportunity to spend the weekend hopefully not blowing things up with Artemis Grace, who had ended up getting a small flat in Gotham to act as her home base so she could visit with Jason and Dick during the rare occasions she wasn’t running across the world causing trouble with the Outlaws. Dick had been planning to spend the weekend with his partners at Stripe’s apartment, but they’d both been caught up by something (Dick assumed a mission had unexpectedly run long) so he had the night to himself.

He was watching a movie in the theater room when he felt a shift in the air. He immediately dropped to the floor, barely avoiding the sai that had been coming for his throat. Then he was over the back of the couch and engaging the assassin. He quickly realized she was with the League of Assassins as he recognized moves Bruce had picked up from them. She was good, too, but she had clearly come to the fight unprepared to face a Gotham myth. He didn’t take too many hits before pinning her and binding her hands and feet with the obijime from her dress. He then disarmed her of all her hidden weapons just in case.

When he questioned her, she declared that she was Artemis’s sister and had come to avenge her honor after Wally had betrayed her for Dick. She was not going to sit back and let the fool cheat on or dump her sister for the likes of a man she had believed was nothing more than an airheaded socialite.

Then, with narrowed eyes, she added that she had clearly been mistaken as not many airheaded socialites had been trained by assassins. Nor did they use moves only known by those trained by Ra’s al Ghul.

Dick ignored that and explained the trio’s situation as he untied her, having recognized her as Cheshire aka Jade Nguyen aka his girlfriend’s -- apparently protective -- assassin sister.

He took pride in the fact that he was dating someone who was only related to criminals instead of actually dating a criminal, unlike a certain father of his.

She thankfully believed him, though she did warn that should he be lying or should he hurt Artemis, she wouldn’t underestimate him a second time. She made a few more thinly veiled digs at his assassin-based fighting style as he showed her out that he cleanly sidestepped with comments about self-defense training. They both knew she didn’t believe a word of it, but she left it alone as she slipped away into the night.

So long as her sister remained unharmed, she had no desire to get involved in whatever was going on between the Wayne’s and al Ghul’s.

Before she left Gotham, though, she met Artemis and Wally on their way in and informed her sister that she approved of her new boyfriend. Both to be sure Dick was telling the truth and to mess with the speedster. The two predictably freaked out and she used their panic to slip away.

Dick answered Artemis’s call with, “Oh hey, Stripes! Your sister came by earlier to give me the shovel talk over tea. It was pretty gory, but I think the one Jason gave Wally was still probably worse so I’m not going to complain. Are we still on for tomorrow?” to their relief.

Artemis had not wanted to try to explain her assassin sister to her civilian boyfriend.

Chapter 2

Chapter Text

When winter came, Jack Drake used a Christmas gala as an excuse to approach Tim. He brought him into a side room to give him the news that Janet was dead, then proceeded to all but demand Tim return to the Drake mansion before the boy could fully process his words. When Tim tried to bring up the others, Jack stated Tim was nothing more than a charity case for Bruce just like Dick and Jason. Tim knew that wasn’t true for the older boys as Bruce had claimed them. For his own case, however, Jack’s words hit hard.

Bruce had yet to turn him. Tim knew the older boys had both been with him for years before their own turnings, but that was because neither had wanted it. Barbara had been changed right away, so why not Tim? He couldn’t bring himself to ask -- wasn't sure he could handle what would happen if Bruce said no -- but they had to know, right? They must have seen the way they watched them when they ate or discussed their nature. They were all detectives, after all.

He started to wonder if Jack might be right and Bruce didn’t really want him. Between that, his mother being dead, and his father actually wanting him, Tim didn’t fight it when Jack tried to lead him out.

Which was when Jason appeared in all his fury. He didn’t know why Jack was there, but he did know he had no right to be anywhere near Tim after what he’d done. Tim tried to talk him down, but that only made Jason angrier. He pulled Tim away from the man and told him Jack didn’t know what he was talking about. Bruce loved Tim just as he loved Jason and Dick. When Tim tried to argue, Jason realized how Tim had linked being turned with being family.

Temper rising and impulsivity at its peak, Jason heard Jack tell Tim they were leaving without even asking if that’s what he wanted, looked the man dead in the eyes, and bit his little brother. He made sure Jack couldn’t see his fangs or Tim’s wound as he gathered his brother into a hug and told Jack, in no uncertain terms, that Tim was theirs and if he had a problem with it he could take it up with Bruce’s lawyers. Then he led Tim away while passing him a dehydrated blood bar so he could complete his transformation.

Jason realized that maybe his timing needed work as the fever haze of turning began to wash over Tim, but the memory of the sunshine smile he’d received when his little brother had realized what he was doing and the tight hug Tim was giving him even in his declining consciousness made it worth it.

At least until they reached the car and Alfred leveled Jason with a look.

The moment Tim was tucked away in bed, Bruce and Dick laid into Jason about discretion and consent. Jason had been sure Tim wanted it, but doubt started to creep in as the younger boy slept through his transformation.

When Tim woke to an apology, he thought it meant Jason didn’t want him after all. The two quickly reassured one another then, with Barbara’s help, managed to make the others see reason as well.

When Tim’s animal form turned out to be a scrub jay, Jason never let his Tiny Jay live it down.

Kate Kane traveled the world for years to bring herself out of the downward spiral of alcohol and women she’d fallen into after leaving military academy, then returned to Gotham to make a name for herself as the Batwoman.

They called her a succubus with porcelain skin, lips painted with blood, and red fire for hair that had horn-like ears poking out. Unlike the rest of the Colony, she had eyes that could be seen, bright red with black sclera and slit pupils. There were hints of a curvy figure under the armor she donned. It was black with a bat painted onto the chest in blood.

They said she was beautiful.

They also said she was, without a doubt, the most vicious of the Colony. She didn’t carry guns, but she’d be happy to steal yours to use. It only took a few gunshots to men’s knees before word got around she favored women and protected them, though some never got the hint and still tried to flirt with her.

Bruce was not pleased when he found out who she was, but he knew the woman well enough to know she wouldn’t stop so he brought her into the fold as much as she would allow.

Jason and Tim hadn’t met her before, having joined the family after she’d left. The younger boy got along well enough with her, but the older boy was immediately taken with his new crazy vodka aunt (they were technically second cousins once removed, but everyone agreed aunt was simpler) and Bruce regretted introducing them when he realized the two were sneaking off to gun ranges together.

A new team of heroes eventually arrived on the scene, one that would go on to cause problems for one Tim Wayne.

It began one month after the team’s formation when a certain clone -- in a fit of rebellion against one of the men whose DNA had formed him -- decided to take a trip to the one city the Justice League avoided like the plague and ordered their mentees to do the same.

Despite almost immediately regretting it, he held out for three hours before deciding to head back. The problem came when he realized he had no idea how to do that. He was completely lost and had left his phone at home to be sure Clark wouldn’t figure out where he’d gone.

Not for the first time, he wished he could fly.

He wandered around lost for another half an hour, not willing to trust any of the Gothamites that all seemed to eye him with an even greater distrust, before a boy stumbled out of a coffee shop and directly into him. Kon was impressed the smaller boy hadn’t managed to spill a drop of coffee nor lose his footing in the collision considering the massive bags under his eyes and the way he almost seemed to be vibrating from what Kon realized was a half-empty black coffee with six shots of espresso.

Tim managed to show him the way to the train station in between complaining that he was a creature of the night that didn’t need sleep, wishing destruction on his elder brother for dragging him into the city for a book signing before disappearing on him because of an emergency, the brightness of the day (despite the sky being more overcast than Kon had ever seen it in his month of life), and describing the video game he’d stayed up the night before playing.

Kon was honestly extremely worried about the guy, and he might have forced him to swap numbers before he left on the train so he could make sure Tim got home safe, even if the guy claimed he just needed to call his other brother to pick him up. Tim did get home safe, but he also got a second coffee beforehand so Kon felt justified.

In Tim’s defense, he required three times the amount of caffeine to feel the effects. Not in his defense, he had drunk more than three times the amount that day.

Tim did not appreciate the grumpy, yet overprotective puppy he’d somehow gained. All the same, he couldn’t bring himself to block Kon’s number. Even when he put together that Conner “Kon” Kent was Superboy, a founding member of Young Justice.

Tim also didn’t appreciate his brothers teasing him over his new super friend.

The teasing only got worse some months later when Tim and Barbara went to a convention together where he got into a long conversation with one Keli Quintela about the integration of human and alien technology and the pros and cons of utilizing alien coding language in firewalls. They ended up spending most of the convention together and went home with each other’s numbers and emails. So of course she turned out to be Young Justice’s Teen Lantern.

He would never let his brothers know that Keli set mandatory downtime hours on all the projects they worked on together because, apparently, he had “an unhealthy work ethic” and needed to “take more personal time.”

Unfortunately, he couldn’t keep it from Barbara. She soon started setting similar blocks on his other projects.

Stephanie’s story is a familiar one. She took on the persona of Spoiler to help the Colony take down her father Cluemaster whenever he decided to cause trouble. She wore body armor she’d stolen from her father and dyed purple alongside a cloak and a mask that covered the bottom of her face. She interacted with the Robins the most during their on-again-off-again team up so it was no surprise she eventually realized there was more than one. This meant that when Jason decided he was getting too old for Robin, they went with the obvious successor.

Stephanie will never admit how long it took her to realize the lot of them weren’t demonic monstrosities. Or how long it took her to catch onto the vampire thing.

According to rumors, the Red Hood had been the leader of the Red Hood Gang when it was at its prime. He’d been brought back from the dead by Batwoman to serve as her right hand and he held a grudge against the Joker for leading the gang to ruin. He was a brute in armor to match hers under a black and blood-red hooded vest. A red mask covered his mouth and nose while a black domino with glowing red lenses hid his eyes. His hair was a fiery red that matched his mistress’s. They said he was just as vicious as her and while he was thrilled to beat you down with nothing more than his fists, and more than capable of doing so as well, he often used the guns hidden under his vest. Some said he never kills, others said he simply handed those he does over to his mistress. He never spoke but in growls, but his mistress always knew what he was saying.

That might have been because Jason only spoke over comms while his mask filtered his voice into animalistic growls.

During this time, Cassandra Cain celebrated her eighth birthday by killing Miranda Row on her father’s orders. Cass, trained to understand body language better than most understand words, was horrified as she took in how the dying woman was feeling and fled both the scene and her father. He went down for the crime, but Miranda’s daughter Harper knew the man hadn’t acted alone and was out for blood.

On a happier note, this was also around when Stephanie was turned.

If anyone ever asked Stephanie how it happened, she would be sure to give them a story full of lies that was guaranteed to be far more dramatic than what actually happened while Tim would be off in the corner, blushing face hidden in his hands.

Because honestly, it was an accident.

She and Tim had been cuddling in the cave on their night off. Tim had gotten a little enthusiastic with his fangs, not that she minded at the time. Then she grabbed a drink from the mini-fridge. Unfortunately, neither of them realized just what she was drinking until it was too late.

A human is bitten by a vampire. A human drinks another human’s blood. The human is no longer a human.

The situation made the Colony more cautious around their significant others, to the amusem*nt of one asexual-aromantic Jason Todd-Wayne. It wasn’t a problem for Bruce as Selina had turned before he’d ever met her, but Barbara and Kate both started keeping their blood locked in mini-fridges in their closets. Dick, unfortunately, wasn’t as lucky.

The manor was safe, but he wouldn’t be able to keep anything locked away at Artemis’s apartment without explanation. He could easily just keep all his normal blood at the manor, but he usually had a blood bar or two on him in case of emergency and Wally was known to steal food thanks to his speedster-increased metabolism. The bars weren’t toxic to humans in case someone happened to get their hands on one and Wally had only made the mistake of stealing one once before when Dick had first turned (he’d eaten it too fast to react to the taste, but had immediately gagged after and sworn off ever trying one again), but Dick was still nervous one or both of his partners might get their hands on one by accident.

As a result, he stopped nibbling on Wally and Artemis during intimate moments just in case, something that did not go unnoticed. Dick was a biter, so when he suddenly stopped out of nowhere the two began to worry. They tried to talk to him about it, but he talked around them or played dumb. Artemis then texted Jason, Artemis Grace, and Barbara.

Jason simply sent her a vomiting emoji before saying if she still wanted to come with him and Kate to the gun range, she wasn’t allowed to talk about doing that kind of stuff with his brother around him ever again.

Grace advised them that if Dick wasn’t satisfying them then they should rid themselves of him. When Artemis tried to say that wasn’t the problem, all she received in response was a shrugging emoji.

Barbara said she didn’t know but she’d try to talk to him, then immediately texted Dick to tell him to either get over his fear or tell his partners what was up.

Dick worried over it for a week before blurting out that he was a vampire while the three were cuddling in bed.

The two laughed, assuming it was another of his jokes, until they realized he wasn’t laughing but hiding behind his hands. The three had had a long conversation after that about the nature of vampires, how Dick fed, and the powers and limitations that came with vampirism, the latter of which included Wally receiving a painful kick to the shin over a glitter joke.

The two had taken it well, having seen weirder things in their lives, and Artemis got a lockbox for Dick to keep his bars in to prevent any accidents that could come from Wally’s hunger-induced amnesia.

Mary Elizabeth “Bette” Kane was first cousins once removed with Kate Kane, which is how she ended up getting sent to her aunt’s for the summer. She had been excited at first since she knew how much Kate liked to party, but she was more than disappointed when she found out she’d been signed up for a science summer camp at Wayne Enterprises. She fought with her aunt over it and when that didn’t work, she went looking for dirt. That was how she’d accidentally stumbled upon the Batcave.

Kate and Bruce unfortunately didn’t have enough time to figure out what to do about it before something else took precedence.

Barbara was shot by the Joker.

That night affected three young women’s lives.

Barbara’s vampiric durability meant the damage wasn’t as bad as it could have been, but her mobility was still too limited for her to ever go out in the field again. After some time to come to terms with her new state, she settled into the role of Pythia.

It was a serpent made of code, slithering through servers and whispering into the ears of the Colony. It was never seen, only heard. It saw all. It knew all. Beware if it turned its attention to you.

Stephanie stepped up as Batgirl. They needed the cover and she honestly butt heads with Bruce too much to be a good Robin anyway. Plus, purple was much more her color.

Batgirl had grown stronger. When you could see her, she was nothing more than a shadow cloaked in violet. However, it was rare you’d see anything. Thanks to the theft of an invisibility device Penguin had built for her father, sometimes you couldn’t even see her when she was right in front of you.

Bette was in the cave while the others were hunting down Joker, Kate too worried to leave her at home until they were sure he didn’t know their identities. As she watched the Colony work, it suddenly hit her what her aunt was doing as Batwoman. After that day, she put more effort into the camp and even developed an interest in medicine. At the same time, she began to learn how to fight from her aunt. When the summer came to an end, she pulled some strings to get enrolled in Gotham Academy so she could stay with Kate. Then she took her place as Tim’s partner by offering her fashion and makeup skills.

“The shadows have started to overwhelm the Bloody Robin,” people whispered.

The ones that had always wrapped around him rose up in the form of a hood while darkness had ensnared his limbs, leaving only hints of green on his clawed feet and hands. The formation of the hood, though, revealed his neck.

And the long bloody gash that encircled it.

They say the change was done by Batman, that he tore Robin’s head off to bring out his darkness.

During this time, Barbara was dealing with the trauma of what had happened to her. One of the ways she did this was by joining an online support group for trauma survivors. It was through the chatroom that she met Hank Hall and his girlfriend Dawn Granger. The three quickly became friends. Hank was grumpy but well-meaning in a way Barbara was all too familiar with. Dove was more openly kind and caring, though Barbara could see a viciousness lurking beneath.

The three talked for weeks before deciding to meet up for lunch when Barbara was on a trip to D.C. It was only then that she looked them up, not wanting to risk meeting them in person if they were up to something.

She took the teasing over having super friends with far more dignity than the boys. Admittedly their status as super friends was more debatable since the couple were semi-retired and only really went out in emergency cases or as favors to their old Titans friends.

When Bart Allen heard his Grandma Iris and Uncle Wally talking about the latter going on another trip to Gotham, he was ecstatic. The myths about Gotham were always the best horror stories to listen to growing up in the future and now that he was Kid Flash he was sure Wally would let him go with him. He’d been waiting for his opportunity since he’d taken the name and joined Young Justice, but there had always been things in the way. Wally had a mission. Dick was busy so Tigress had come to Central instead. Bart had a mission. Bart had another mission. The police commissioner's daughter got shot so no one was going to Gotham. So on and so forth.

It had been over a year, but finally, Wally was going to Gotham and Bart had nothing planned.

“No, you can’t come,” Wally said immediately.

“Why not?” Bart whined.

“Gotham’s too dangerous,” Iris said, from where she was folding towels. She gave Wally a pointed look. “Neither of you need to be going there.”

Wally shrugged.

“But -”

“No,” the two adults cut over Bart.

He went anyway.

Unfortunately, while he could run just as fast as his uncle-slash-first cousin once removed, he wasn’t quite as coordinated as the older speedster so he lost track of him halfway through the city. Not managing to find him again, he ended up deciding to just grab something to eat and head back. Deciding to ask for a local’s opinion, he ran around until he spotted someone moderately trustworthy looking (it took longer than it would normally, but he’d expected that in Gotham). When the shorter teen offhandedly mentioned he was sneaking away from his brothers and their friends, Bart invited him to come eat with him. When the guy couldn’t seem to remember when the last time he ate was, the invitation turned into a kidnapping.

The guy, Tim, was pretty cool even if he clearly couldn’t take care of himself. He actually kind of reminded Bart of the friends Kon and Keli had mentioned having in Gotham, so maybe a lack of self-care was a Gotham thing. Either way, Bart had them swap numbers and proceeded to bother his new friend around mealtimes to make sure he ate.

Tim hadn’t even needed to look up Bart since Dick showed up in his room with a big grin talking about how Wally’s nephew had gotten a new Gotham friend named Tim.

The younger brother wasn’t sure what he had done to deserve this. He hadn’t asked for it. Why did these people keep showing up out of nowhere!

Chapter 3

Chapter Text

Duke Thomas lost his parents when Joker unleashed a new version of Joker Venom onto a crowd. While most of the infected were rounded up to be cured, some disappeared, Duke’s parents among them. The boy was determined to find them, no matter what it took, which landed him in trouble with both his foster parents and the law. Even when he was labeled a delinquent, though, he continued to search.

Meanwhile, a similar search came to its end.

Harper Row’s hunting had eventually led to her crossing paths with Batman. Despite her fear, she refused to back down under his warnings until her brother Cullen was attacked by some of his classmates while she was away on one of her searches.

Bruce, having been keeping an eye on the woman, stepped in to ensure they got justice for the attack and, in the process, helped her get custody of Cullen so they could both be free of their abusive father. In the face of all these changes and with Batman’s promise to find the other killer, Harper agreed to stand down.

However, Cass would find him first by taking a bullet for him after her father sent men to attack Harper and Cullen to draw her out.

Having expected a monster like Orphan, not this small child who stared up at her with the most apologetic eyes, Harper immediately forgave the girl and worked with Bruce and Batman to clear Cass’s name and take the girl under her wing. It was hard as Cass didn’t understand any language but body, but Harper and Cullen were willing to put in the work. In an effort to help, Bruce brought the Rows into the fold and promised any aid they could require.

Cullen was fascinated, but also happy to keep to the normal side of life. Bruce may have secretly wondered why the other children he found himself faced with couldn't be that level headed.

Harper, on the other hand, was more taken in, but also wary of getting too involved now that she had two people relying on her care. She went out sometimes in all black body armor with a full face mask and short hooded cloak, but she stayed out of sight enough that Black Bat remained an unknown myth.

A trip to Los Angeles had Tim declaring he was never going with Bruce on business trips ever again. The first two days had been nice enough, but then Bruce caught him pulling an all-nighter working on a case that he wasn’t supposed to be working on and banned him from coffee.

Which was how a half-awake, phone focused Tim found himself nearly stepping out in front of traffic. Thankfully someone not dead on their feet spotted him in time and she pulled him back onto the sidewalk. He tried to laugh it off as just being too focused on his phone. That failed when he turned to walk away and almost immediately walked into a newspaper rack. The girl insisted on walking him to his hotel. When he pointed out he was going to pick up something from his father, she declared she’d walk him there and back.

When he returned back to Gotham with a new number in his phone, he refused to look her up. No, she was just some random civilian. He didn’t care if Wonder Girl doesn’t even wear a mask! Obviously that was her! A hoodie doesn’t help hide anything, Cassie! You and Kon are terrible! How do you two even have secret identities? At least Superman had those stupid glasses!

No, she was an ordinary civilian.

Duke Thomas’s search eventually ended when he teamed up with Batman to free his parents and the other missing Joker Venom victims from the Court of Owls, his photokinetic vision helping them navigate the labyrinthine tunnels. Unfortunately the Court’s experiments paired with going so long without the antidote had left the victims catatonic. Even still, Duke was so grateful that he did what he could to help Batman with his cases in the future.

Bruce, giving in to the inevitable even if he was wary to have a meta vigilante in Gotham, brought Duke into the Colony. There was some debate over how he’d fit in until Duke made it known that he would prefer getting some actual training before he went into the field for real.

This doesn’t stop Tim and Bette from glaring eachother down over who got to move on from Robin first.

Cass suggested settling it with a Mario Kart race.

Tim won.

One day Jinny “Hex” Woodson got fed up with all her friends discussing their Gotham friends -- ones she was pretty sure none of them were even allowed to have since no one was even supposed to go to Gotham -- so she packed a bag and headed out to find her own Gotham friend.

She decided the place was alright enough. It was actually kind of nice that no one questioned her for having a pair of pistols holstered on her hips. Someone even tried to mug her despite them.

It was hilarious.

She was having trouble finding her new Gotham friend, though. At least until a kid fell off a fire escape she’d been passing under and into her arms.

It was fate.

Apparently the kid had been trying to take a picture of a bird (aka Tim was scouting for a stakeout) and the railing hadn’t been quite as sturdy as he’d thought (it had only let him balance on it in a crouch for two hours before giving way). It was then that he noticed her guns.

“You’re not going to shoot me, right?”

“Angel, you’re so skinny, you can't even see your shadow. I don’t need my guns to whup you.”

“Angel?”

“Because you fell from heaven.”

Tim was not amused. He was even less amused when she declared they were friends now. No, he doesn’t get an opinion on the matter. Should have thought about that before throwing himself at unsuspecting women. She doesn’t even swing that way, Angel.

Around the same time that it hit the Young Justice team that they were all friends with the same Gothamite, it also hit the Colony that Tim had somehow managed to befriend the entire team.

Except no, Tim affirmed that they befriended him. He had no input in this whatsoever, thank you very much. It was probably Kon’s fault, really. He had probably set it all up. Tim was definitely going to give Kon the cold shoulder.

At least until his badgering got too annoying.

The worst part was that Stephanie stole his phone to get Cassie’s number when she found out she and Tim had been flirting. She stated it was so Stephanie could defend his honor if she tried something, but he caught both her and Bette in a group chat with not only Cassie, but Kara Danvers aka Supergirl and Suzanne “Cissie” King-Jones aka Arrowette.

Apparently, they didn’t get to be teased since the girls actively sought out their super friends.

When Talia al Ghul personally informed her that the Heir to the Demon was now living with his biological father Bruce Wayne so she would be wise to keep her distance from Gotham, sister or not, Cheshire knew she’d made the right call keeping her nose out of the Waynes’ business.

It didn’t occur to her that when Talia al Ghul had met Bruce Wayne over ten years earlier at a party and decided to spend the night with him, the woman believed he’d given up his training to settle down for a life of luxury and frivolities. Cheshire didn’t know Ra’s had only allowed Talia to keep the child that had been an accidental result because he’d seen Bruce’s promise and believed, if raised properly, the child could become what he thought Bruce hadn’t.

That Talia had only brought her son to his father because she had no other choice.

The Demon’s Daughter fled to Gotham with Damian after her father was killed by Slade Wilson. She had hoped that between Bruce’s former training and the shadowy Colony of Gotham, Damian would be safe until Wilson could be dealt with.

Damian did not get along with his siblings. He made an attempt to pick a fight with Tim that failed when Tim refused to fight a child. Cass tried to fight him in Tim’s place, but Harper told her no. Damian tried to stab Dick when he hugged him and Dick disarmed him before he could without releasing the hug. He picked a fight with Jason and got his butt handed to him. Damian snuck out to prove himself, picked a fight with Nightwing, and got his butt kicked. Damian tried his hand with Tim again and the older boy, annoyed, agreed then used knockout gas on him the moment the fight began. Dick tried to talk with Damian and they ended up fighting. Damian, of course, got his butt kicked.

Stephanie was standing on the sidelines the entire time, encouraging everything.

Soon enough the Colony noticed Slade holed up near Gotham and launched an attack. Due to the danger, Bruce pulled in everyone, leaving the Robins and Alfred to keep an eye on Damian, Duke, Cullen, and Cass in the manor while Catwoman took guard outside. When Damian found out about the attack and tried to go after Slade, Tim sent him in the opposite direction then followed after him in the suit he’d been designing for post-Robin while the others took shelter in the cave.

Tim knocked Damian out and dragged him back to the cave where they locked him in a cell, to Bruce’s annoyance. Damian woke up and realized his father was Batman when he overheard Bruce reveal that Talia was likely coming back for Damian now that Slade was taken down. He also heard the family’s argument over it. None of them wanted him to go with her, but in the end they agreed that it was Damian’s choice.

When she did come, Damian remembered what the others said about him having a choice and some things about family Dick had said when the two had had their private conversation. He decided to stay with them, citing that there were things his father could teach him that he couldn’t learn while helping his mother rebuild the League.

She was obviously annoyed and disappointed, but didn’t fight him on it.

It wasn’t easy. Damian still fought with all his brothers as well as Stephanie, though Duke did his best to keep out of it. The youngest Wayne tried to challenge Tim and Bette for his place as Robin, but Dick and Bruce were able to get him to agree to training instead with the reminder that he was lacking the theatrical and teamwork skills that the Colony utilized and were mandatory as Robin.

Bruce didn’t mention that he wanted more reassurance the boy wouldn’t step over the line before ever letting him near the field.

Damian was not impressed when he discovered his father’s relationship with Selina Kyle and made it well known.

She thought it was adorable.

Damian would never admit that the kitten she gifted him was what calmed him. He simply didn’t see the point in wasting any energy on outwardly disliking the woman when his father clearly wouldn’t be changing his mind.

When Duke took Tim’s place as Robin, he made sure to keep his own contributions to the role quiet. Robin was a legacy while his meta abilities were not. Tim was not quite so subtle in his new role.

No one was sure where the name Corvid came from since the new bird didn’t speak in words, only trills. He wore an armored suit that was blue on the chest and arms and black on his sides with white detailing. His legs, hands, and feet were all black as well except for the blue splashes on the outside of his thighs. A white belt draped over his hips while black bandoliers crossed over his chest, a silver and black bird logo covering the cross. The bandoliers connected to his cowl, which was open at the top unlike the Bats’ which allowed his feather-like hair to fall down around his face. It was shoulder length and faded from black at the roots to blue at the tips, much like the wings that formed from his feathered cape.

They said he was a fallen star stolen away by the Colony. He soared soundlessly through the air on wings that never flapped, leaving behind a trail of blue light. He was more migratory than the others. Sometimes he flew above Batman and Robin, sometimes Batwoman and Red Hood, and sometimes Batgirl and Nightwing. A criminal could only hope they got the warning of seeing one of the others first or he’d have them in his talons hundreds of feet in the air before they even realized he was there.

Time passed. Damian grew closer to the rest of the Colony under Dick’s instruction.

Jason and Kate bonded with him over their more aggressive styles (to Bruce’s consternation) while helping him learn ways to calm his temper.

Despite their rough start and continuing antagonism, Damian grew to respect Tim’s quick mind as he tutored him in strategy and the Colony’s language.

He also developed a respect that had nothing to do with fear -- not at all -- for Barbara after she repaid an insult he gave her by sharing with the entire family a video of him fawning over some stray kittens in the park. He never discovered how she got the footage as he had made sure there were no cameras in the vicinity before acting in such an undignified fashion. (It was Dick. He pouted for weeks when he realized the cute video he took of his adorable baby brother was used for such purposes.)

A similar kind of respect grew for Harper as he quickly learned to be noticeable when approaching her. She had far too much experience with bats and birds sneaking around and far too little concern over jabbing them with a stun gun in revenge, whether they meant to scare her or not.

He was not afraid to admit he was scared of Cass once he realized who she was, though. He knew her skills and knew she could take him down in seconds if it came to it.

He was skeptical of both Stephanie and Bette, who he believed to be vapid, but Stephanie’s pranks were amusing when they weren’t directed at him and Bette introduced him to social media revolving around animal rights (and cute animal pictures).

Although he was rather dull, Cullen was by far the best person to be with while working on his newfound appreciation for drawing and painting, especially if the older boy was doing his own artwork for the webcomics he and Duke collaborated on.

While not being the most mentally or physically skilled, Duke was the most patient of the lot and could be trusted to keep his mouth shut so he was the one Damian went to when he needed assistance with homework (a rare occurrence, but the American schooling system was so different from his League tutors, to the point that sometimes they even seemed to contradict one another) or wanted to practice his Trillic.

Though he would never admit it out loud, Dick was Damian’s favorite of the lot. While he didn’t have Duke’s patience, he was just as considerate and confidential. When something happened, Dick was always willing to hear him out and talk him through it until he understood. Or at least was on the path to understanding. Dick did not share Jason’s anger, his father’s suspicion, Tim’s caution, or Duke’s anxiety. He had only sympathy. Damian knew his mother would consider Dick weak, but he couldn’t bring himself to care.

After a year in Gotham came and went, Dick went to Duke and Bette. The three talked, eventually bringing in Harper as an idea began to blossom.

Robin had a sword. They said he got it from his shadow.

The only thing not pitch black on the Black Bat was the thin golden outline of the Bat’s symbol on their chest. Their face was featureless, not even possessing eyes like Batgirl. They never made a sound. If you saw Robin, then his shadow was behind you.

There was no time to run.

On the other hand, those who believed themselves safe during the day proved to be foolish.

Bright spirits had come to Gotham.

They wore metal armor and carried their wings on their chests. They came and went in flashes of light bright enough to stun.

Bluebird was their guide and donned armor of blue. Her voice echoed with the voices of lost souls and lightning danced across her form.

Lark was their prophet and donned armor of gold. He could see the past, present, and future and fought with the strength of ages past.

Hawkfire was their messenger and donned armor of red. She spoke with the voices of everyone she passed and her armor blazed with the heat of the sun.

Though they walked the day and seemed to be creatures of light, it was nothing but a trick. They were will-o'-wisps, false lights. They were birds.

The Colony had invaded the day.

With the three working together, Bette offered to turn Duke and Harper. The two accepted. Afterwards Harper sought out Cullen and Cass to offer them the same. She wasn’t surprised with Cass’s easy agreement, though Cullen’s was a little more shocking as he’d never shown any interest in the Colony’s nightlife. Quite the opposite, in fact. He simply shrugged and told her vampirism had nothing to do with the nightlife. It was just how their family worked.

He and Cass were greatly amused, but unsurprised when Harper, Bette, and Duke forgot to mention the latest turnings. They decided to keep their own mouths shut to see how long it would last, though he did confide in Alfred. Not that it was necessary as the man seemed to put it together himself the moment he saw Cullen.

It took three months for Bruce, Tim, and Barbara to figure it out for themselves, then an additional two for the rest to find out when Duke casually mentioned it during a family meeting.

Damian blamed Tim when he found himself stuck in a room with Superman’s spawn Jonathan Kent while said superhero in disguise interviewed Damian’s father for the newspaper.

Clearly, Tim’s horrible curse had somehow rubbed off on Damian and the older boy would pay dearly once he returned home by way of Damian renaming all of Tim’s non-case related computer folders and creating a maze of invisible thread around his room.

At least the half-alien had good taste in video games. And his voice was nice enough that his incessant chatter was more like a soothing white noise than a nuisance. And Superman clearly would have trained Jon in discretion, even if not to Damian’s family’s standards.

For the record, the only reason Damian accepted Jon’s number was so that Dick would be so pleased Damian had finally acquired a friend that he wouldn’t allow the others to tease him over something that was clearly Tim’s fault to begin with. And when that plot fell through, he simply forgot to delete Jon’s number because he was busy expanding his revenge to include Jason and Stephanie.

Chapter 4

Chapter Text

Selina found Carrie Kelley when the girl was attacked on her way home from her gymnastics class by a group of older boys. The woman ran them off then checked the girl over. She asked why the girl was walking alone and was annoyed to discover the girl’s parents had forgotten to pick her up from class, and not for the first time. Apparently, she usually would have gotten a ride from her teacher after pretending her parents called to ask, but he had left early because of an emergency and the assistant teacher took the train.

As Selina escorted her home, she tried not to think about how much Carrie reminded her of herself.

She still found herself waiting outside the gym two days later when the girl’s class ended. She watched Carrie wait for nearly half an hour before Selina moved to talk to her. She was surprised when Dick appeared moments later. She’d known the gym was the one he worked at, but it hadn’t occurred to her Dick might be the girl’s teacher.

The two swapped notes after Dick drove the girl home and began an investigation. Selina was half-tempted to just spirit the girl away, but kept things to the legal side of the tracks in the end. Mostly thanks to Dick.

Soon enough, she was the proud adoptive mother of Carrie Kyle. She hadn’t planned on taking in the girl permanently when going into it, but she knew she trusted the system even less with the girl thanks to her own experiences with it. Besides, even if she didn’t know how to parent, she had a wonderful fiancé who had all kinds of kids. One was already even attached to the girl. It’d be a piece of cake.

That confidence lasted a week, at which point she heard a news report about some heiress getting kidnapped while Carrie was at school and the anxiety kicked in. She probably should have called Bruce to talk about it. Instead, she panicked and took Carrie aside when she got home to tell her about vampirism. She then asked if Carrie wanted to be turned.

Carrie, thrilled to have this in common with her new mother, agreed immediately.

Once the girl was sleeping through the transformation, Selina calmed down enough to realize she maybe overreacted and called Dick. Unfortunately, Jason had answered the phone for his brother and put it on speaker without letting her know, which meant he heard everything she said and proceeded to spill her sins to the entire Colony like the little hellion he was.

All of the Colony eagerly accepted the girl into her new life, except Damian.

Something had been gnawing at the boy, and Carrie’s turning brought it to the surface.

Damian was his father’s only child by blood. By right, he should be a vampire. But as his mother was human, he was born human. He knew that vampirism was no more important to being considered family than it was to being a competent vigilante, but it still felt as if it were one more reason he fell short compared to his brothers. He was not chosen as they were. They had had years with his father before he had even met the man, before he had even been born in Dick’s case. And they had all been claimed into his vampiric clan. True, neither Tim nor Duke had been turned by his father just like most of their non-sibling family, but they were still related through vampiric magic.

Damian was not.

Gathering himself up, Damian met his father in his study to request to be turned.

Bruce said no. He wanted Damian to be older before he made a decision like that. When Damian pointed out he and Carrie were the same age and Cass was younger while Tim had been the same age as him when he was turned, Bruce reminded him that none of them had been turned by Bruce. If he had had the choice, he would have made them all wait as well. Damian’s anger grew as his father refused to budge even under his arguments about the life experience he already had and the fact he should have been born a vampire to begin with.

Damian ended up marching off in a fury.

The next time someone saw him was that night when Wally, Artemis, and Dick got back to their shared Blüdhaven apartment from dinner to find the boy sharpening a dagger on their couch. Wally gave the boy a cheerful hello and ruffled his hair, not noticing when the boy was only held back from stabbing his hand by a look from Dick. He did hear Damian’s threat to eviscerate him, but laughed it off as he usually did. Artemis gave the boy a wider birth as she followed Wally into their bedroom.

Dick sat down next to him, but before he could ask him what was wrong, Damian demanded to be turned. While Dick would have been happy to help his baby brother, he had a feeling there was more to it. After a bit of digging, Damian admitted that Bruce wouldn’t turn him so Dick had to. Trying to play mediator, Dick told him he would talk to Bruce and if that didn’t work they could come back to the conversation.

The boy thankfully agreed as Dick knew he would -- he knew his brother really wanted Bruce to be the one to do it -- so Dick went to change while Artemis turned on a movie and Wally slipped into the kitchen to make Damian something to eat. Dick sent Bruce a quick message to tell him where Damian was and that they needed to talk. Afterward, once his brother was fed and Wally finished off the leftovers, they played a few card games until it was time to put Damian to bed in the guest room.

The next morning, Dick and Bruce went back and forth over the phone for an hour before Dick’s voice began to grow loud enough for Wally, Artemis, and Damian to hear him out in the living room. Wally stepped in at that point to help Dick calm down. Cuddled up to his boyfriend, he managed to stay calm enough to get his point across.

He understood that Bruce wanted Damian to be older when he made the choice, but there really wasn’t a choice for Damian at the end of the day. He was a child who wanted nothing more than to feel like he was accepted by his family and that family was made of vampires.

So Dick gave Bruce a choice: either Bruce turned him or Dick would. He gave his father until the end of the week before hanging up.

He then proceeded to spend the following fifteen minutes with his face buried in Wally’s neck.

“Bruce is going to kill me!”

All Wally could do was pat him on the back because honestly, Bruce could be really scary when he tried. Especially when it came to his kids.

Damian stayed with the trio during the week. Meanwhile, Jason was giving Bruce the cold shoulder and hiding out at Artemis Grace’s empty flat. Tim and Duke had made it clear they were siding with Damian, but otherwise kept their opinions to themselves. Barbara, Kate, the Kyles, and the Rows had elected to stay out of the argument altogether.

Stephanie and Bette had teamed up to leave a bunch of pamphlets and essays about the importance of teaching body autonomy on the desk of Bruce’s study, under his pillows, in the pockets of his suit jackets, on the desk in his office at work, and in the cowl of his suit.

Only Damian and Dick were at the apartment when Bruce showed up at the end of the week since Wally had work and Artemis had monitor duty. Both sons were anxious when their father first entered, but relaxed when he set his hand on Dick’s shoulder and squeezed it lightly. He admitted that he still thought Damian should wait, but if it was what he wanted, Bruce would support them both. Despite a bit of disappointment still lingering, Damian gave him a small smile before Dick pulled them into a group hug.

It was nearly eight months after Dick turned Damian that Robin finally got his secret twin back.

People had whispered for years about a relationship between Gotham’s demon and the infamous cat burglar that pilfered its high-rises. Some said Catwoman had been trying to gain the Bat’s favor for years in a bid for immortality. Others said it was Batman who chased the Cat, looking to steal her away as his bride. No one could say for sure who was right in the end, nor was anyone sure when the hunter had finally caught their prey, but either way the result was the same.

It started with tales of criminals facing off with Robin, only to turn to find a cat waiting to step in instead of a bat. These tales led many to look back and realize the thief hadn’t been seen for months.

Some mourned her lost humanity.

The only sign of her descent was the way her eyes glowed in the dark behind her goggles, her irises and pupils large like a cat’s. She still had her claws and fangs, and she still knew how to use them. She hunted for blood now instead of jewels and watched over the demon child like he was her own.

And perhaps he was. Robin had come to develop a grace not unlike her own with the balance and reflexes she was known for.

The first day of winter break did not go well for Thirteen. First, she had gotten woken up by her dad ranting about something or other. Next, they were out of Lucky Charms so she had to eat plain oatmeal. After that, she found out the Teen Titans were on a mission so she couldn’t go hang out with them to get away from her dad’s rants about… ghosts? She was pretty sure she heard something about ghosts. Then, when she finally decided to just do something on her own and took a zeta tube to Denver to go skiing, she ended up stumbling upon some wackjob sorcerer trying to summon a demon or monster or something from… Okay, maybe the day wasn’t a good day for Traci’s attention span.

The point was that the day sucked.

She watched the guy shuffle about the cave rambling to himself -- or maybe her, she wasn’t paying attention -- as she channeled power towards the summoning circle he was using in hopes of stopping his spell from doing whatever it was supposed to do. Apparently, it worked because when the guy raised his hands and started chanting in Sumerian, the resulting bright flash left a girl within the circle instead of some hell beast.

Carrie was confused when she went from watching a movie with her mother one moment to standing in the middle of a cave the next. She took in the shocked face of the guy in the puke green cloak and the nervous expression on the tied up girl and said, “I’m guessing I wasn’t the one you were expecting?”

When puke cloak turned towards his book, huffing and puffing about magic and teenagers, Carrie decked him. He was knocked out instantly so Carrie called him a wimp and went over to free the other girl using the butterfly knife she always kept on her since it was a rare gift from Damian. The two alerted the police then took off, collectively deciding they didn’t want to explain why they were there.

Since Carrie didn’t have her phone and hadn’t bothered memorizing any of her family’s numbers (something she knew would be corrected as soon as she got home), she couldn’t call someone to pick her up. What she did have was her wallet, which included Tim’s debit card (because he needed to keep a better watch on his wallet) and a fake Id claiming she was seventeen (instead of her actual fourteen, because she and Damian bonded by going to the movies). She used the card to buy herself and the other girl, who she learned was named Traci Thurston, tickets on a Greyhound. Traci, not wanting to leave the girl on her own, had pretended she had been taken the same way Carrie was and revealed she was from Metropolis. She tried to object to Carrie buying her ticket, but the other girl waved her off. Her brother wouldn’t miss a couple hundred dollars. And if he did, Bruce would probably pay him back.

The two’s serendipitous two-day road trip turned out fun. They played games and watched videos on Traci’s phone. Carrie bought a pack of cards for them to play with so Traci showed her some card tricks Zatanna had taught her. In return, Carrie showed her some knife tricks Jason and Damian had taught her during rest stops. Traci told her a few stories she’d learned during her magical education and Carrie told her some Gotham myths.

Myths like ones about the demonic bat-man who had slaughtered a child and stolen the soul of a woman so he could create a family for himself, the succubus queen that slit the throat of any man who laid eyes on her and fed them to her undead minion, and the false angels that stalked the daylight.

In Carrie’s defense, Dick was the one who taught her those stories and he’d been telling them to Wally for years. How was she to know that Traci would immediately call Zatanna after Carrie climbed into her cab to make sure demonic monsters had not, in fact, taken over Gotham? Wally just thought Dick was making stuff up! Besides, she didn’t even know Traci was involved with anyone from the Justice League until she reached home and -- after explaining where she’d been to her worried family -- was brought down to the cave by Dick to find out which hero her new friend was.

None of her siblings believed Traci could be a civilian due to their own experience, which turned out to be justified.

It wouldn’t have been a problem if Zatanna waved it off like she’d wanted to do, but instead, the woman had to promise to look into it to get the girl to calm down. She assumed it would just be a monster in the closet scenario.

She was not at all prepared to discover Batman existed, let alone his legion of demons.

Normally demons would be a situation she handled on her own, but the sheer scale of the situation combined with the lack of information on basically anything Gotham had her bringing the rest of the League in on the situation.

Wonder Woman, Superman, and Cyborg were there to represent the founders. Flash, Tigress, Troia, and Aquaman arrived together, representing the second-generation members. The five main Young Justice members came, Nightwing bringing Power Girl and Supergirl along with him since the two had been visiting the former Superboy when he got the call. Last were Green Arrow and Arsenal, who had both been on the Watchtower when the meeting was called and as such ended up joining in despite not being called.

Wonder Woman started the meeting, but quickly handed it over to Zatanna.

When Batman was brought up, Tigress went stiff and Flash frowned. When the magician started to list her findings, few as they were, he leaped to his feet. “Wait, Batman’s real?”

“Yes, and we need to find him.”

Tigress immediately stood and left. Flash was about to follow, but Cyborg saw it coming and caught his wrist. “Where are you going?”

“Far away from here. I thought all those stories were just that. Stories. I’d like to be able to sleep tonight without worrying I’ll wake up to find a bloody kid hanging from my ceiling.”

At the series of exclamations that came from that, Flash and Zatanna explained that Batman didn’t work alone and actually had a large group of spirits or demons that followed him. When Flash was asked how he knew about the Colony, he admitted that he and Tigress lived in the area and both she and their civilian partner had grown up in Gotham. He said their partner had been telling him tons of stories about the Colony since he was a kid, but he’d always assumed they were just urban legends.

The Young Justice members all shared a look, wondering why Tim had never said anything. Wonder Girl glanced at Supergirl, who shook her head. Stephanie and Bette hadn’t said anything either.

Arsenal spoke up, saying Artemis of Bana-Mighdall had never mentioned seeing any demons in Gotham when she stayed there to visit friends and Power Girl added that Hawk and Dove had a friend in Gotham and they’d never mentioned trouble there.

The rest of the members considered this until Aquaman asked Flash for more information. Reluctantly, he started talking. He told them about each of them in turn, putting off a certain bird until the very end and then skipping over giving his name when he did reach him. He tried to move the conversation on from there, but Troia cut him off to ask if the last spirit had a name.

Despite himself, Flash glanced at the former Superboy before he answered yes. Nightwing noticed and crossed his arms with a frown as he asked what the spirit’s name was.

Flash’s voice was barely a whisper when he answered, but that was plenty loud enough for the Kryptonians in the room. Superman went stiff, Power Girl glanced at Nightwing, Supergirl gasped, and Nightwing slammed a fist into the table just light enough not to dent it as he demanded Flash repeat himself. When he did, he did it loud enough for everyone to hear so sounds of confusion and shock filled the room.

“Now you know how we felt when Kon-El here decided to go by that name! I’d been hearing stories about the guy for years by that point!”

Nightwing began to explain that the name came from a Kryptonian myth, before cutting off and glancing at Superman and Power Girl. The latter reluctantly finished it by saying that the original Nightwing was a spirit sent by the sun god Rao to destroy the evils that hid in the darkness. He was a creature of shadows, which left him separate from the gods until he and a fire spirit named Flamebird met and fell in love.

A silence fell over the group until Hex pointed out the obvious. “So a shadow creature looking to wipe out evil has the same name as a shadow creature looking to wipe out evil? Are we entirely sure we’re talking about two different monsters?”

The group fell into an argument. The Kryptonians denied that their myth could be the violent spirit in Gotham (aside from Supergirl, who started panicking about Batman corrupting the original Nightwing) while everyone else was split between agreeing with the Kryptonians or arguing against them.

Flash considered sneaking out, but hadn’t made up his mind before Wonder Woman decided they needed more information and her eyes landed on him. Despite his arguments against it, he was assigned to get information about the myth. Arsenal and Power Girl were also asked to speak to their Gotham contacts, but everyone knew Artemis of Bana-Mighdall didn’t like Wonder Woman while Hawk and Dove were wary of the Justice League so they weren’t expecting much on that front. Flash sent a quick look Young Justice’s way, well aware all of them were friends with his partner’s little brother. None of them met his eye and they all kept quiet.

Rolling his eyes, he grabbed his nephew by the back of his suit and the two left.

Chapter 5

Chapter Text

The zeta had barely finished announcing the departure of the speedsters to Gotham when a hissing voice echoed through the Watchtower.

“Yeah, you probably shouldn’t have done that. But I’m sure they’ll come out in mostly one piece. Maybe not alive but probably one piece. Shame. They didn't seem too bad. For heroes.”

Everyone was immediately on their feet and in fighting stances. Wonder Woman demanded to know who was there and the voice announced itself as Pythia the Coded Serpent, Oracle of Gotham and Advisor to the Colony. For a moment, every screen around them flicked to an image of a python with dark green feathers in the place of scales and looming shadow-like bat wings stretching out from it. Its empty white eyes stared them down, then it was gone and when they tried to speak to the voice, it didn’t answer. They tried to contact the speedsters and Tigress, but their calls wouldn’t go through. Zatanna tried to dispel whatever magic the serpent had used, but couldn’t. Without any idea where the speedsters had gone, all the older heroes could do was sit and wait.

Meanwhile, Young Justice and Supergirl immediately sent messages to Tim, Stephanie, and Bette, asking them to let them know if they saw Wally and Bart and got thumbs up emojis in response.

The three did not text them when Wally and Bart arrived at the manor.

Instead, they stayed hidden in the cave with Barbara and watched Dick tell them Tim was out before giving them both a dumbfounded expression when they asked him about Batman.

“Bat-who?”

He waved off all their questions, saying Batman was just a myth and he wouldn’t have told Wally if he’d known the stories would spook him like that. All the same, the spooky stories had been banned from the manor for the time being since Cass had started to have nightmares lately. They kept trying to get him to talk, but he soon received a text and had to leave to pick up Carrie from a friend’s house.

When the speedsters got back to the Watchtower no worse for wear without even seeing a bat, they all thought Pythia was just bluffing.

Then they found a small, bat-shaped listening device on Kid Flash’s boot. No one could explain how it had gotten there. No one, not even Dick, had gotten close to him while he was in Gotham.

Then again, few people notice Cass when she doesn’t want them to.

Over the course of the following week, the same kind of bugs were found by all the heroes who’d been at the meeting, and some who weren’t. And it wasn’t always when they were suited up. Lois Lane, Superman’s wife, found one in the pocket of a pair of his lazy jeans, Troia found one stuck to her work camera, and one of the Green Lanterns stormed into the Watchtower, cursing out Superman and Wonder Woman for ticking off demons after he’d found one on his ring. The only relief they could find was that none of the bugs were turned on, but it was a small relief.

The message was clear: The Colony knew exactly who they were and could get to them without them ever knowing they were there.

The only ones who didn’t receive bugs were Flash -- who was happy to say, “I told you so!” to anyone who brought it up -- and Tigress -- who left any time someone brought up the Colony. The one and only time someone tried to stop her, she flipped them over her shoulder then said, “I wouldn’t pick a fight with Joker so I’m sure as hell not messing with the only thing that can take him down. Leave. Batman. Be.”

Safe to say, by the end of the week everyone was jumping at shadows.

Which meant the call they received was a bit overkill.

Wonder Woman, Superman, Flash, Wonder Girl, and Nightwing were debriefing after a joint mission between the League and Young Justice when all the screens in the room filled with static and the lights dimmed halfway. The largest screen then lit up with the image of a figure. Most of him couldn’t be seen, the dark patches of hair, mask, and suit blending into the shadows that surrounded him, but this only made his pale face and the bright blue streak on his chest and arms stand out more. Black lips split into a sharp smile as the creature realized he had their attention.

He greeted them each in turn, reaching Nightwing last and referring to him as “Copycat.”

“Nightwing?” Superman said, stepping towards the screen.

“In the flesh. Or as close to it as I come. Well, sort of. Got a little help from Pythia.”

If the group had looked at some of the other screens, they might have noticed the shapes of serpents moving through the static. Unfortunately, no one dared look away from the man so Barbara’s hard work went unnoticed.

“What do you want?”

The spirit’s head tilted to the side, slipping past his shoulder in a way that made his neck look broken. “Wasn’t that obvious?” He chirped. Then his head was straight up and he wasn’t smiling. “I’m here to warn you. Stay out of Gotham. If anyone wanted you here, they would have asked. And the little magic kid doesn’t count. As any Gothamite would tell you: Gotham problems are Gotham’s problem. Get lost, Metropolis.”

Flash couldn’t help but snort, having heard those last three words more times than he could count from both his partners. He regretted it instantly when he felt the spirit turn his attention to him, though he couldn’t tell you how he knew when all he could see where his eyes should have been was void.

The demon’s lips pulled up into a smile again, but this one was less fangs and more mischief. “You should take my words seriously. I had planned to leave my Flamebird alone until it was time for us to be together again. But if you keep it up, I might just need to steal my fire away now.”

“Flamebird?” Superman asked.

“My love,” the spirit answered, though he kept his attention on Flash. “I recently found my fire in Blüdhaven. Such a beauty, as I’m sure you can all attest. After all, Flamebird is one of you.”

Before anyone could respond, he was gone. As the screens and lights returned to normal, they turned to each other. Flash was pale as he started wringing his hands. Nightwing barely started to ask what was wrong before Flash started fretting about how Tigress must have been the one the spirit meant. They lived in Blüdhaven together and no one else in the League was recorded as living there. Her blonde hair and orange suit and fiery attitude must have made the spirit think she was Flamebird. They had to do something!

They called Tigress up and showed her a recording of the video Wonder Girl had smartly taken. She glared at all of them as the video progressed and when Flash worried over her she rolled her eyes. She was from Gotham. She knew the Colony. If they came for her, they came for her. Worrying wasn’t going to do anything to stop people that managed to slip past their defenses time and again. The only concession she agreed to was asking Dick if he’d be alright staying at the manor for a few nights so they could have some personal time.

It wasn’t unusual. They each had stayed elsewhere on a few occasions since they’d moved in together. Sometimes they just needed time as a pair instead of a trio. As such, Dick agreed easily.

Despite her calm attitude, something about the video bothered Artemis. As they went home and readied for bed, it replayed over and over in her head. She didn’t recognize his voice, but something about the way he talked nagged at her. The quirk of his smile tugged at her brain. The way he’d focused on Wally then immediately started in on Flamebird after the speedster had snorted seemed strange too. The way he was teasing Wally, taunting him, it didn’t feel malevolent. More like he was screwing with him.

Artemis shot up in bed. “Goddamit Dick, you little troll!”

Wally woke up at her scream and jumped to his feet, looking around for trouble. When he didn’t see anything, he turned to her, only to see her pulling on sweatpants. He asked what was going on and she told him they needed to see Dick immediately. He tried to argue, but she just made him put on some clothes before dragging him out of the apartment. Once in the car, he complained about how he shouldn’t be getting punished when Dick was the one in trouble then nodded off until they reached the manor.

Artemis was already at the door by the time he climbed out of the car so he didn’t hear what she said to Jason when he let them in.

“So which demon spirit are you?”

He does notice when Jason grabs them both and hauls them around the mansion, through a secret door, and down into some giant cave.

He doesn’t know why it’s happening, but he is awake enough to register that it is happening.

They both end up tied to chairs with a serious Jason, a cheerful Cass, and an annoyed Tim standing over them.

“So what do we do with them?” Tim asked and Jason pulled out a gun.

Suddenly Wally was wide awake. “Woah, okay, what is happening? Where are we and why is Jason going to shoot us?”

“He’s not,” Cass said, which wasn’t very reassuring considering she was speaking over Jason’s, “You know too much.”

“Who knows too much?” Cullen asked, strolling in. He looked over the two captives and shrugged. “Come on, Cass. Time to go home. Leave the others to their games.”

Cass pouted, but followed her older brother out after giving Artemis and Wally a friendly wave.

“So what do we do with them?” Tim repeated.

Artemis proceeded to curse them both out now that there were no children in the vicinity before demanding to see Dick.

Jason’s response was to aim the gun between her eyes and pull the trigger.

Once she had a faceful of glitter, he said he’d go get Dick. He ignored her cursing as he swaggered back the way they’d come.

“Should have called the idiot and made him come to us,” she growled and Tim agreed. She shook her head to try to get rid of some of the glitter, to no avail.

“No, seriously, what is happening?”

“Your death.”

Wally shrieked and vibrated straight through his bonds. He spun around and found himself face to face with a giggling Carrie. Except that the voice coming from her was not her voice.

He looked at the others to see Tim was amused and Artemis was done. It was at that point that he took in the cave. His eyes widened. “Oh.”

Jason and Dick arrived, the latter looking sheepish. Artemis immediately tore into him.

“In my defense, you guys didn’t exactly tell me about your secret lives either.”

“You ALREADY KNEW!”

“Yeah, but you didn’t tell me. And hey, at least I told you I was a vampire.”

Both took a second to think about that as they realized they probably should have connected the large family filled with creatures of darkness to the creatures of darkness running around protecting Gotham.

“You still didn’t need to be a dick about it.” Dick opened his mouth at Artemis’s words. “Oh shut up, you know what I meant!”

As it hit Wally just how much the family had been messing with the League, he smirked. “You know what would really freak the League out?”

“No,” Artemis said as the siblings perked up.

Young Justice were all hanging out in the Watchtower’s canteen, waiting for Kid Flash so they could have a team meeting, when Tigress came in to ask Troia and Aquaman if they’d seen Flash. Apparently, he’d left early that morning to check on their partner before monitor duty then disappeared. The last anyone had heard from him was when he’d asked Captain Marvel to fill in for him shortly after he’d left Tigress. She had called their partner, but apparently Flash had never shown up.

That was when Kid Flash raced in, looking terrified.

Flash had called him in the early morning and left a voicemail, but he had only just seen the message because his phone had died. When he’d charged it enough to turn on, he’d listened to the message and…

“Hey, kid. Wanted to see if you wanted to get lunch after I get off duty today. I’m getting to the manor now so I can ask Dick and Tim if they want to come too. Call me wh-Oh shi-What are you do-”

“Hello, my flame.”

Troia and Aquaman immediately sent a call out to everyone connected to the Batman case. No one was pleased to realize Nightwing thought Flamebird was Flash, not Tigress like they’d assumed. When the group checked, they found that the call came ten minutes before the one to Captain Marvel and came from the edge of Wayne Manor’s property line.

Hearing this, the team all spammed Tim with texts checking to see if he was okay.

The bird, having grown tired of all their smothering, sent them a picture of himself flipping them off with a caption saying he wasn’t a child and could take care of himself. He was from Gotham, not Metropolis. He then turned his phone off so he wouldn’t have to see their demeaning fretting.

If he hadn’t, he would have seen the group panicking over a shadow behind him that they were convinced was one of the Colony. Without the others noticing, the five snuck away to Gotham. Tim was less than pleased when he opened the door.

“Since when do you open the door for yourself?” Jinny asked.

“Since Alfred’s in England and Bruce and Selina are on their honeymoon. Why are you guys here?” Cassie showed him the picture and he slapped his forehead. “I knew you guys were getting paranoid, but this is ridiculous. That is my jacket.”

They refused to believe him so he offered to bring them up to his room to prove it. They made it halfway there before the sounds of thumps had him turning around to see them all unconscious on the floor, Jason and Cass standing over them.

“Seriously, Jason? Stop kidnapping everyone! You're ruining the bit!”

“You and Dickie are the ones who decided to drag your friends into what was supposed to be a family thing.”

“I told them I was fine! They’re the ones who just showed up for no reason!”

“You’re just mad Artemis isn’t here too,” Dick said as he and Wally walked up.

“Shut up, dickhe*d. She’d kick all our asses if we dragged her into this and you know it. Now help me get them to the cave.”

“Definitely pouting,” Dick whispered to Wally and Jason slugged him.

Chapter 6

Chapter Text

When they woke up, Young Justice was lying inside a small recess in the wall of a large cavern. Thick bars separated them from the main cavern while an innocent-looking blue rock hung over them.

“Shouldn’t we call Batman and Catwoman now?” a deep voice asked from somewhere out of sight.

“We don’t know where they are,” a staticky voice answered.

“Didn’t they go to the Maldives?”

“I thought they were in Lapland,” a third voice, high and echoey, said before continuing with, “No, Father clearly said they would be in Antarctica.”

“They told me they were going on an African safari,” a fourth added, and the group all turned to a pale Cassie since the voice sounded exactly like her.

“Yeah, apparently they lied so we couldn’t mess with them during their trip. Corvid figured it out, but Pythia’s been keeping him from tracking down where they actually went,” the staticky voice explained.

“You demons don’t need to be bothering them. We’ve got this under control,” the team heard Pythia say.

There were some bird sounds, followed by an animal growling.

“Corvid’s got a point. Someone’s eventually going to notice the team’s missing,” the deep voice pointed out.

“Who asked you, Day Shift?” the staticky voice huffed.

“Leave him alone. You don’t even live here,” the high voice snapped, then added, “Neither do you. You are only here until Father and Catwoman return.”

There was a moment of silence.

“Did no one tell Robin that Catwoman and Robin were moving in?” the staticky voice snickered.

“Can we please focus?” Pythia asked as the high voice started stammering and multiple laughs rang out.

“I don’t know why I thought you’d all be more collected while on the job,” a familiar voice said and the team perked up.

“No clue. You really should have known better,” Spirit-Nightwing answered.

“Wally!” Bart shouted before he could stop himself and the team all glared at him.

The cave went silent, then Nightwing walked into view, followed by a younger man in a feathered cape and a small child covered in blood. Nightwing smiled at them while the other man seemed to study them and the child bared his fangs.

“Morning, Young Justice,” Nightwing chirped. “You already know who I am. This is Corvid and Robin.”

“Let us out of here,” Kon growled, punching the bars. He hissed and yanked his hand back when the punch actually hurt.

Corvid pointed up at the ceiling and trilled.

“Blue kryptonite,” Robin translated. “It takes away your powers without the pain and exhaustion of the green variant.” He crossed his arms and glared at Corvid. “I still say we should have just used green.”

The feathered spirit smacked the back of his head and the demon child drew his sword.

“We’re not torturing them. We might not be human, but that doesn’t mean we have to be inhumane,” the staticky voice said and a cloaked figure appeared next to Corvid in a shimmer. A growl came from somewhere else and the figure said, “Yes, I’m sure. Don’t mind Robin and Red Hood. One was raised to be an assassin and we’re still teaching him that killing is wrong while the other’s a thug with anger issues. I’m Batgirl, by the way.”

“She’s lying about the assassin thing, right?” Kon heard Wally whisper and someone shushed him. “No, seriously. I need to know if he’s meant all those threats he’s been giving me the past couple of years.”

“Super hearing, dork! Shut up!” Kon’s voice hissed at Wally and Kon frowned.

“Years?” he asked and Red Hood growled again.

Nightwing and Corvid gave confused frowns that the team might have believed if Batgirl didn’t smack her forehead and Robin didn’t shoot a glare off to the side.

“Oops,” Wally muttered.

“Nice,” the deep voice sighed as someone snickered.

“I’m going to kill him,” Robin said and Nightwing grabbed him with one hand and disarmed him with the other.

“See! Does he mean that?” Wally whispered.

“No, you’re not. He’s mine,” Nightwing said firmly.

Robin looked about to argue before a beep came from him and he growled. “One moment.”

As he slipped away, Jinny asked Kon, “What happened? What’s going on?”

“I can hear Wally. He said something about Robin threatening him for years.”

“So this is why they used to call you Kid Mouth.”

The team froze as they recognized Tim’s voice. Bart darted to the bars and tried to look around the wall. “Tim?”

“What did you do to him?” Kon growled.

“Calm down, your boyfriend’s fine,” Robin said as she walked back up. She climbed up Nightwing to sit on his shoulders with a wide smile that flashed her fangs. Corvid trilled and she turned to him. “Really? Then is he dating Kid Flash or Wonder Girl this time?”

“He isn’t dating any of them right now,” Nightwing answered.

“How do you keep track?” Batgirl asked, causing Robin and a few of those out of sight to snicker.

Kon, Bart, and Cassie all glared at her, then turned the glares on Jinny and Keli when they snickered too.

“Anyways, Timmy isn’t here,” Batgirl said. “That was just Hawkfire. She only speaks with other people’s voices.”

“Hi there!” came Bart’s voice.

“Now where were we?” Nightwing asked just as a dark shape dropped down next to him. He turned to it with a frown. “Black Bat? What are you doing down here?”

She made a few signs with her hands.

“What? Hood, go -”

“I better be wrong or I swear I’ll send you all to hell the hard way!”

The team perked up at the sound of Tigress’s shout and Nightwing groaned.

“Well, we’re dead,” Robin said, sliding down Nightwing so she was clinging to his back.

“It’s been nice knowing you.” Batgirl saluted them then disappeared the same way she’d come.

“Where are you demons?”

“Hey there demons, it's me, ya boy,” Kon heard Wally mutter.

“West!”

“Oh, hey Stripes. So -”

“Where are they?”

“We can exp-”

“You!”

Suddenly Tigress marched into view and grabbed Nightwing by the front of his suit, earning a yelp from Robin.

He gave her a nervous -- yet somehow still flirty -- smile. “Hey.”

“Tigress!” Cassie called.

The older heroine glanced at the team and her glare grew. She shoved Nightwing away and rubbed her forehead. “What happened?”

“They came to bother Tim and Hood overreacted. We were just going to give them a scare and send them off.”

“We did warn them to stay out of Gotham,” Pythia said.

Corvid trilled and Hawkfire translated in Tim’s voice, “They were getting on Tim’s nerves too, so we were doing him a favor.”

Tigress glanced over her shoulder with a frown. “Okay, that’s freaky.”

“Thanks,” her own voice answered.

“Don’t ever do that again.” She turned back to Nightwing. “I’m taking them back to the tower.”

He nodded. “Yeah, alright.”

“You’re letting us go. Just like that?” Keli asked skeptically as Corvid unlocked their cell.

“We respect Tigress,” Nightwing said with a shrug.

“She minds her own business,” Robin added.

“We can’t leave. They have Wally,” Bart pointed out.

“I’m taking him too,” Tigress said.

“But he’s my -”

“No," she cut over Nightwing. "This stupid game is over. Congratulations, the whole League is thoroughly traumatized. Mission accomplished.”

“You know what, I’ll take it,” Hawkfire said in Bart’s voice.

“Me too,” Batgirl agreed. “Want to go watch Gotham Girls?”

“Heck yeah,” Cassie’s voice answered. “Coming Black Bat?”

The shadow nodded and skipped off as the deep voice said, “No way I’m letting you guys leave me alone with them. You coming, Robin?”

“You know it.” She dropped off Nightwing’s back in a flip and ran off.

Robin and most everyone else who must have been in the cave had disappeared by the time Corvid opened the door to let the team out because the only ones with them in the cave were Tigress, Nightwing, Corvid, Flash, and a tall man in red and black.

Bart raced over to his uncle, who wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

“Are you okay?”

“Me? You got kidnapped!”

“So did you.”

“You got kidnapped first!”

“He never got kidnapped. He and the rest of these idiots just wanted to screw with the League,” Tigress said and Flash and Nightwing both pouted.

“We were warning them to leave us alone,” the spirit argued.

“You were trolling them because you and your siblings are all chaotic little brats who can’t help yourselves.”

Red Hood growled with a nod and Corvid trilled with a shrug.

“Would the two of you just talk like normal people?”

Red Hood flipped her off while Corvid gave an offended face, setting his hand on his chest.

“That’s some discrimination right there,” Flash said and Nightwing nodded.

“Shut up. We all know they’re just doing it to be extra,” Tigress said, running a hand over her face. She pointed at the team and Wally. “Alright, we’re leaving now.”

“Hold on, what’s going on?” Keli asked.

“What do you mean Flash wasn’t kidnapped? How do you know them?” Kon asked, looking them over. Flash had seemed terrified of the Colony before, now he seemed relaxed. Had they done something to him? Or maybe… Hawkfire had copied voices, so maybe they could copy more?

Kon closed his eyes and listened for heartbeats. He could hear Jinny’s, Keli’s, and Tigress’s steady human beat; Bart’s and Flash’s (thankfully) rapid-fire thumps; Cassie’s gong-like pounding; and the sloshing pulses of Red Hood, Nightwing, and -

Kon’s eyes sprung open and he turned to Corvid. The spirit went stiff as their eyes met, before slumping and giving a sharp whistle that had Red Hood and Nightwing looking at him in confusion.

“Tim?”

Everyone’s heads snapped to Kon, then Red Hood smacked Nightwing’s arm and snarled.

“What? How is this all my fault?” Nightwing whined.

“You just had to tease Flash,” Corvid -- Tim! -- sighed.

“TIM!”

Tim pulled down his cowl and his brothers revealed themselves shortly after. They explained that they weren’t demons, they just leaned into the rumors because fear made people sloppy. When questioned, Tim told them that yes, that had just been a jacket and no, he hadn’t tricked them on purpose. They really were just being paranoid idiots.

He really didn’t appreciate how stunned they all seemed by the idea of him being a vigilante.

“I told you I could handle myself!”

“You drink coffee like its water.”

“I have to ban you from working so you'll take a break.”

“You never sleep!”

“You never EAT!”

“Okay, but like he also pulls the stupidest sh*t so why are we surprised again?”

Tim threw his hands in the air and marched off when the team and his brothers all nodded at that. Dick and Jason followed, Dick ruffling his hair and Jason bumping their shoulders together. Once the brothers had changed back into civilian clothes, the group headed upstairs where Stephanie, Duke, Cass, and Bette were watching tv.

“You guys dropped the ball already?” Stephanie asked, not looking away from the tv.

“Figures,” Bette tutted, holding out her bowl of popcorn for Cass.

The younger girl nodded as she grabbed a handful.

“Copycat cheated,” Dick said.

“Copycat? You’re the one who stole my name.”

“Kid, he’s been Nightwing longer than you’ve been alive,” Jason pointed out.

“He’s not even Kryptonian,” Kon huffed. “And you’re only three years older than me.”

“Technically I’m seventeen years older than you.”

“No clone jokes,” Tim said, slapping Jason’s arm.

“Yeah, it’s like Dick jokes. Low hanging fruit. You can do better than that,” Stephanie said, throwing a piece of popcorn at Jason.

He caught it in his mouth.

“How’d Kon cheat?” Duke asked, actually turning to face the group, unlike the girls.

“He heard Timmy’s heartbeat.”

“I’m already making plans to implement some sort of white noise generator or something into the suit to keep that from happening again,” Tim said.

“Why? Are you planning on getting comfy with someone else with super hearing?” Stephanie asked, finally turning away from the tv so she could wiggle her eyebrows at Tim. “How did he become familiar enough with your heartbeat to be able to identify it, hm?”

“And I’m gone,” Jason growled and marched out of the room.

“I’m just looking out for you, Timmy. Wouldn’t want another accident like our twins.”

Wally and Bart choked as the rest of Young Justice gaped and Artemis raised an eyebrow.

“You have kids?” Kon breathed.

“No. No! We do not have any kids!” Tim said quickly before trilling at Stephanie, “They don’t know we’re vampires! And quit saying your fangs are our kids!”

“How was I supposed to know?” she trilled back and threw her hands up in the air before turning to the tv. “And never.”

“It’s an inside joke from when they were dating,” Duke explained. “Kind of a you had to be there thing. They don’t have kids.”

“Do you guys just always make bird noises at each other?” Jinny asked, gesturing between the two.

“It’s a code Tim made up years ago. We use it on the job when we don’t want to risk people eavesdropping on us so it’s basically a second language for all of us by this point,” Dick said.

“What’d you guys do to Jason?”

The team jumped as Robin’s voice came from above them and looked up to see Carrie hanging from a light fixture.

“No voice filters in the manor,” Dick reprimanded and Carrie pouted at him.

“Should she be up there?” Keli asked.

“Bruce reinforced anything that hangs from the ceiling after Dick brought down his third chandelier. It’s fine,” Tim said before looking up at Carrie. “Steph was talking about relationship stuff.”

“Ew.”

“You know, Timmy, you didn’t answer my question,” Stephanie hummed.

“I’m not hooking up with anyone else,” Tim sighed. “I just want to be prepared. I mean, you’re friends with Kara and Damian’s friends with Jon. Either one of them could figure it out.”

“It might be too late for Jon,” Bette said.

“What do you mean?” Kon asked.

She gestured towards the door to the parlor. When the others peeked inside, it was to see Damian and Jon curled up on the couch, each holding a Switch. “They were already there when we came up.”

“Yes, flee you sniveling boy! Fear the power of Anser caerulescens!” Damian shouted at the game.

“You’re so weird,” Jon teased, bumping against him. “Hey look, I’m on tv! Watch me dance! Honk honk!”

“And you claim I’m weird.”

Kon stepped into the room and crossed his arms. “You were playing video games while I was being kidnapped?”

Jon looked up at him, confused.

The boy had texted his friend after he heard his mom and dad talking about how Kon had disappeared right after Flash had been kidnapped in Gotham. Damian texted back saying, “Your brother and his friends are down in the basem*nt, as is West. If any more people come here, yourself included, I will end them.”

So Jon had immediately flown over.

“What part of stay away didn’t you get?” Damian huffed, opening the window to his room.

“The part where everyone else is already over here. You have something on your neck.”

“It’s fake blood. My brothers and I are playing a prank on your brother and his friends.”

“Sounds fun. Do you need to get back?”

“Carrie is covering for me. I assumed you would not heed my warning.”

“Cool. I brought my Switch. Wanna play?”

“I suppose,” Damian shrugged. “I left mine in the parlor. We can grab some snacks on our way.”

“Yes!”

“Did you tell your parents you were coming here?” Damian asked once they were sitting on the couch with their games.

“Mom knows. She’ll probably tell dad.”

“Good. Did you have a plan for how you were going to explain how you’d gotten here?”

“Everyone here knows I’m Superboy.”

“I meant if someone were to show up who doesn’t know.”

“Oh, I figured I’d just say I’d come with Kon.”

“Acceptable. Shall we play the game with the misleading title?”

“It’s not misleading.”

“Its title claims it to be untitled. That is an oxymoron.”

The two bickered as they settled in, but quickly got drawn into their game. They ignored it when the others passed through until Kon interrupted them.

“You were playing video games while I was being kidnapped?”

Jon looked up at him, confused. “Kidnapped?”

Damian rolled his eyes with a snort. “You call that a kidnapping? Your heart didn't even stop.”

“See, when he says things like that, it makes me wonder about the whole assassin thing,” Wally whispered to Dick.

“I’ll explain later.”

“And by later he means after we’ve reassured everyone that you lot haven’t been kidnapped by demons,” Tigress said.

“Demons?”

“The prank. They didn’t tell anyone they were coming here so your dad’s going crazy, remember?”

“Oh, alright.”

“Come on, Jon,” Kon called as Tigress started herding them all out.

The boy stuck his tongue out at him. “Unlike you, I told Mom I was coming here. She already okayed the sleepover.”

“I never said you could stay the night,” Damian huffed half-heartedly before snapping, “Get back you harlot! The leek is mine now!”

Chapter 7

Chapter Text

Once Tigress had escorted Flash and Young Justice to the Watchtower and had calmed everyone down, she explained that the Colony was not, in fact, malevolent.

She told them that the family was simply territorial of the area they protected. Their actions had just been them making their point in their typical chaotic and playful way. She and Flash had encountered some of the Colony the night before and after assuring them they would continue to keep their business out of the city, the bats and birds had agreed to a truce. The Flash's kidnapping was just Flash wanting to get in on the joke. He was meant to show up that night with a figurative olive branch from the Colony, but then Young Justice had rushed in and the Colony reacted in kind by capturing them. They then informed Flash so he and Tigress could return them. The team was reprimanded for rushing in without backup and Flash was given extra monitor duty as punishment for his trick. He accepted it graciously, having expected it.

When they made it back to Gotham, Dick explained Damian’s past to Artemis and Wally. The latter was not pleased to discover the young boy he’d been teasing and calling cute for years was an assassin.

“He might be a former assassin, but he’s still adorable.”

“No, Dick, you don’t call people who can and will slit your throat if you upset them adorable. You could have warned me! I nearly died!”

“A lot,” Jason added from off to the side where the rest of Dick’s siblings were watching the show with popcorn.

“Damian wouldn't have actually killed you,” Dick argued.

“Maybe just maimed you a little. But hey, you heal fast.”

“Not helping Tiny Jay,” Dick hissed as Wally pointed at Tim and nodded.

“Maimed! I could have been maimed! Just because I heal fast doesn’t mean getting maimed doesn’t hurt!”

“Dami never meant to kill. Dami only meant to maim or seriously injure,” Carrie croaked from right behind the speedster, causing him to jump with a shriek.

“No voice filters in the manor,” Dick huffed at her before turning to his siblings as a whole. “Guys, please stop traumatizing my partners!”

Artemis, who until this point had been pinching the bridge of her nose, looked up with a murderous expression. “YOU STARTED IT!”

When Bruce and Selina returned from their honeymoon, the kids explained what had happened.

Bruce would never admit it, but he was proud of how the kids handled the situation. They ensured the other teams wouldn’t interfere in Gotham and limited the amount of information that got out about them to people who were already trusted. That said, he would have preferred they had taken the situation more seriously, which he made sure they knew.

No matter how amusing the recordings Barbara had shown him of the heroes’ reactions were.

He also would have preferred no information got out about them, but he knew it was only a matter of time for those who did find out. Young Justice was just a little too invested in Tim’s wellbeing, not that he was complaining, so they were sure to notice something eventually. As for Wally and Artemis, he’d been waiting for this since they’d found out the family’s other secret.

Selina had bet the engagement announcement would happen first, but he knew Dick wouldn’t have agreed without all secrets coming to light first.

He was a little less forgiving of the rest of the kids taking this as permission to tell their friends.

He wasn’t too annoyed with Damian as Jon had already suspected there was something different about the family (he was too much like his mother) and he mostly excused Stephanie and Bette seeing as Cassie already knew, which meant they were more likely to mess up in the group chat. He didn’t say anything to Barbara, partly because she wasn’t really his (no matter how much he cared for her) and partly because she’d somehow managed to convince Hank and Dawn she was still a demon.

He did have talks with Dick, Jason, and Carrie though. Kory might have been a friend of the family for longer than Jason had been a member (as Dick had been quick to point out in his defense), but they hadn’t been as close since the breakup. Artemis Grace tended to be a wild card in regards to her loyalties and her team had a looser grasp on the law then most others in their business (Jason took offense to this, of course, even if he didn’t object). As for Traci, they simply didn’t know her (No, Carrie, a two day round trip does not give you plenty of time to know a person. No, I don’t care if you managed to convince her you were a demon. Barbara’s situation is different!).

There was a bright side to this, though. The mix of information that the heroes had ended up causing a few amusing situations.

One such situation came up a few months later when Tim, Stephanie, and Bette were hanging out with their friends at Mount Justice. Bette offhandedly mentioned to Cissie that Damian’s mother was part of “the League” right before the three Gothamites got called away. This resulted in Cissie, who thought the Robins were human, gossiping with Roy, who thought Robin was a demon, about how “Batman totally knocked up someone in the JL and Robin’s the result.” This resulted in Oliver, who’d been eavesdropping, ending a League meeting by asking if anyone knew who’d spawned the Bloody Robin. The information reached anyone even remotely connected to the League within twenty-four hours.

The Colony just sat back and watched the accidental chaos, obviously.

The most common theory was Wonder Woman, though no one was willing to suggest it anywhere she might hear. One of Hawkgirl’s past lives was also a popular theory, and she was horrified when she realized she couldn’t be sure it wasn’t true.

It came to a head when the Titans decided to have a get together of current and former Titans and Teen Titans. Guests were allowed, so Kory and Roy invited Artemis Grace and Bizarro. Assuming the event would be boring and wanting to either have someone who would lighten it up or be bored with her, Artemis only agreed to come if Red Hood came too. To the horror of everyone not in the know, Kory not only agreed, but decided to extend the invite to all the younger members of the Colony.

Nightwing and Robin arrived first with Tigress and Flash, the older bird arm in arm with Tigress while the younger was sitting on Flash’s shoulders. Both gave too wide grins as they waved at the Titans and Teen Titans who were already gathered. Robin dropped limply off Flash’s shoulders and hit the ground in a roll before running off to drape herself over Thirteen.

Batgirl, Hawkfire, and Lark arrived next with Cassie and Donna, to the latter’s obvious discomfort. They were quickly joined by Cissie and Kara as Donna went off to greet her friends. Batgirl took great joy in disappearing and reappearing around the room, while Lark took great joy in selling her out every chance he got since he could always see where she was. Hawkfire was equally thrilled to use the voices of anyone who got near, having made sure to study up on as many people who’d be at the party as possible so she could mimic their voices.

The rest of Young Justice arrived shortly later with Superboy, Corvid, and Robin. The last surprised most of the people who’d already been there, until they realized Robin was no longer at Thirteen’s side despite many being sure she’d been there only a second before. Throughout the party Robin seemed to disappear from Thirteen’s side, only to reappear across the room at Superboy’s within a second. Some even swore they’d seen Robin in two places at once, but no one was ever sure. Meanwhile Corvid’s speech pattern had him sticking close to a member of the Colony or Kory so they could translate for him.

No one was exactly sure when Black Bat and Bluebird arrived. They were simply there, hovering around some of the others or hidden off in a corner. No one ever seemed to notice Black Bat come or go between groups either. She always seemed to just be there.

Pythia had been there from the beginning, but she mostly just kept to herself, watching and listening through the cameras, until Hawk and Dove arrived. Then she whispered at them through the nearest speaker. This meant the two mostly stayed off to the side on their own, but neither felt any need to complain.

Roy, Artemis, Bizarro, and Red Hood arrived after the party was already in full swing with no reason for being late other than a joke from Roy about being fashionable. Red Hood had a similar experience to Corvid, though Kory could not translate for him while Artemis and Bizarro could. Artemis had placed a comm into her ear for the occasion, but not even the Colony could explain how Bizarro managed to always know what Red Hood was saying.

Despite the Colony’s eccentricities, the party went smoothly.

Until someone brought up Robin’s heritage, at least.

The Robin with Thirteen snickered when she heard and disappeared into the shadows. Corvid, who had also been near, shook his head and let her slip under his cape as he headed towards where Kon and Lark were talking.

The debate began to spread until Beast Boy huffed and turned to Bluebird. “So who popped out the demon spawn?”

The room fell silent and a few people gave him terrified expressions before glancing at the Colony. The shapeshifter squirmed, not having meant for his voice to be as loud as it was.

The thing was, every Robin had been referred to as a demon spawn at multiple points in their lives, and Black Bat had had the title thrown at her a few times too. As such the group couldn’t help themselves.

With eerie synchrony, Dick, Stephanie, Bette, Duke, Damian, and Carrie all answered, “My mom.”

Most noticed that Jason, Tim, and Cass had all answered as well in growls, trills, and sign language respectively, which only added to the confusion or horror everyone in the room was feeling.

Those who knew the group to be the Wayne family and associates were confused about why they had all answered, and why answer like that as they had thought their friends had separate mothers. Didn’t they? Those who knew they were not actually demons were also thrown by how the group had managed to speak as one.

Meanwhile those who knew nothing were terrified as they came to the incorrect conclusion that a member of the Justice League had somehow managed to spawn most of the Colony without anyone finding out.

The Colony refused to say any names, but otherwise most of them were happy to answer questions about their mother. This really only managed to confuse people more, however. Especially when people would get conflicting answers. That was near always, really, as Nightwing was describing his mother; Red Hood was describing Catherine Todd; Corvid was switching between his mother and Selina; Batgirl was switching between her mother, Kate, Selina, and Talia (the middle two purely for the amusem*nt and the last for the looks she’d get from Robin whenever he caught her at it); Hawkfire was describing her mother; Black Bat was just gesturing for Bluebird to describe her own mother; Lark was describing his mother; and both Robins were describing Selina (though Damian would later state it was purely for the consistency with his fellow Robin).

It was only after the party when the Colony, Young Justice, Tigress, Flash, Starfire, Artemis, Arrowette, Supergirl, Superboy, and Thirteen retreated to the cave that anyone got a real answer.

“Oh, Dami’s mother is from the League of Assassins, not the Justice League. There must have been a mix up somewhere.”

Surprisingly, this did not bring relief to anyone. Especially when they found out his mother was none other than Talia al Ghul.

One calm day, Artemis dragged her partners down to the cave’s sparring mats so she could see what Dick could do firsthand. He did not disappoint as he quickly pinned Wally.

“Well, this explains why Jade seems to like him so much,” the speedster muttered from his place facedown on the mat.

Artemis frowned as Dick sat next to their boyfriend, patting his back. “Wait… Oh my God, Dick! You sa-Is tea code for getting your butt kicked by my sister?”

Dick looked up with a sheepish grin. “No, tea is code for kicking your sister's butt.”

“You…”

He shrugged. “In her defense, she wasn’t expecting someone with my level of training. The fight would have been much closer if she had been.”

Wally looked up with wide eyes. “Hold on, she actually tried to kill you then?”

Dick gave Artemis a look. “You probably should have told her we were together. She thought Wally had cheated on or dumped you. I thought it was actually kind of sweet, really, but Bruce was ticked when he found out and I think Jason was considering hunting her down.”

Artemis threw her hands in the air and marched off. She dug her phone out of her pocket.

“‘Ello?” Jade’s sleepy voice answered.

“You tried to kill my boyfriend!”

“Oh, you found out about that?”

“Why didn't you tell me he could fight? And well enough to defeat you.”

“You didn’t know? Why did you think I approved? I don’t approve of the speedster and he has powers. He really needs to learn how to fight without relying on them.”

Artemis could admit she had a point on both fronts, but wouldn’t admit it. “Dick’s sweet and charming. I swear if he had a superpower it would be making friends. I just thought he’d made you like him.”

“Yes. By being a competent fighter. Although if he’s going around bragging about defeating me I might need to teach him a lesson, being brothers with an al Ghul or not.”

“Wait, you knew about his brother being Ra’s al Ghul’s grandson too?” Artemis choked.

“You really need to pay more attention to who you’re dating.”

“Who’s dating the brother of an al Ghul?”

Artemis blushed. “Is that Roy? Are you two still together?”

“It’s complicated. And before you freak out, we were just sleeping when you called. Actually sleeping.” Quieter, likely from holding the phone away, she heard Jade say, “Artemis is. Her little Gotham squeeze has league connections.”

“Jade,” Artemis hissed.

“League. You mean Damian? Of course he’s… Hold on!” There was some static and then Roy was talking directly into the phone. “I’m coming to Gotham.”

“No.”

He came to Gotham. He showed up right on the porch of Wayne Manor hours later looking more excited than she’d seen him in years.

“Please tell me Damian Wayne is who I think he is,” he said as soon as she marched up to where he was waiting outside. “Please tell me he is because I need to know if everyone has been freaking out thinking Robin’s the kid of Wonder Woman when he’s actually Talia al Ghul’s spawn.”

“Please tell me you didn’t ditch my sister to come here,” she shot back, glancing around to be sure her sister wasn’t hiding in any shadows.

“She took off after we had morn-”

“Nope. Shut up.”

“So is he?”

Artemis glanced over her shoulder to see Wally and Dick watching. Dick shrugged and she sighed. “You can’t tell anyone.”

“I won’t. This is the best thing that’s ever happened to me and I’m not ruining it. So Jason is Hood.”

“Yes.”

“And Dick is -”

“Yes.”

“This is amazing.”

“If you get yourself shot don’t come crying to me.”

“I’d die happy. You haven’t heard the things Ollie and Dinah have been saying. This is the best inside joke I’ve ever heard and I hate you for keeping it from me.”

“I only found out after the Titan party last week.”

“That’s an entire week where you kept me out of the loop.”

“You want to come in for food or are you going to go track down my brother?” Dick called.

Roy shrugged and they started for the door before his eyes widened and he glanced between the three. “So that stuff about Flamebird?”

“He was just messing around to tease Wally and freak out the League. Just like everything he and his family have done since Zatanna dragged them into the spotlight. That’s how I realized he was Nightwing. They are exactly the same level of troll.”

“I love everything about this.”

“Are you sure?” Dick asked.

“Absolutely not,” Wally said, but grabbed the blood bar Dick was holding out anyway.

“If you don-

“We’re fine,” Artemis said, grabbing her own bar. “Wally’s just whining like usual.”

“I’m just saying, we have no idea how this will affect me.”

“Duke’s a meta and he was fine.”

“He’s not connected to the Speed Force.”

Dick reached forward to grab Wally’s bar. “You don’t have to -

“I want to,” Wally said, jerking the bar away, grabbing Dick’s hand with his free one. “I do. I’m just nervous.”

“As per usual,” Artemis teased and kissed the speedster's cheek. Dick stepped closer and she kissed him as well before pulling the wrapper off her bar. She met their eyes, then took a bite.

She began to sway as she finished it so Dick helped her over to the bed. All the while Wally tossed his bar between his hands. He pulled it open and frowned down at it.

Dick pulled him to the bed once Artemis was settled. “It’s alright if you want to back out. Neither of us would blame you.”

Wally shook his head and sat down. “I want this, I do. I just can’t stop thinking about what could go wrong. Like, what if my body already burned through whatever it is that’s supposed to turn me.”

Dick co*cked his head and slipped into his lap. He leaned down to nuzzle Wally’s neck, earning a sharp intake. “I can bite you while you eat it. Then your body won’t have time.”

The speedster shivered and swallowed. His free hand came up to card through Dick’s hair as he gave a quick nod.

Smiling, Dick peppered a few teasing kisses across his jugular before biting down.

Wally shivered again and melted into Dick for a moment before bringing the bar up and taking a bite. He finished it off quickly as Dick pulled away.

“It doesn’t taste like blood,” he said with a frown, tossing aside the wrapper as he licked his lips. “I don’t know what it tastes like, but it isn’t blood.”

“That means it’s working,” Dick said.

“Really?”

“You think Stephanie would have downed an entire bottle of blood by accident if she could taste it the same way a human does?” Dick pressed a kiss to the corner of Wally’s mouth. “Blood has a special flavor to us unlike anything else.”

Wally hummed and kissed Dick until his mind started to fog up. Dick helped him lay back then covered him up when the fever took him.

The bird took a moment to just stare down at the two, his thumb brushing the band on his left ring finger.

It was made from strips of black and gold titanium twisted together with rubies peaking through the cracks. It matched the one on Artemis’s hand, gifts from their wonderful fiancé.

Dick gave both a quick peck then left them to rest.

Things were sure to get crazy soon enough, especially once the announcements went out, but for now, Dick would revel in the calm and the feeling of family.

Chapter 8: Tales of a Brother (and Son)

Chapter Text

Father’s Day

Frowning, Bruce stared up at the ballroom’s antique chandelier.

“That chandelier is nearly three hundred years old,” Alfred tisked.

“Well, this is why we had all the chandeliers reinforced.”

He gave the younger man a look.

“I used to hide up there all the time at that age and you never had a problem with it.”

He raised an eyebrow. “As a bat. You weighed four grams. He weighs sixty pounds.”

Bruce opened his mouth.

“You also had wings capable of gliding. He does not.”

“But he has been trained for taller heights. He got up there didn’t he?” Alfred narrowed his eyes and Bruce sighed, “I’ll talk to him.”

“See that you do,” the older man said with a nod and walked off.

Bruce walked beneath the chandelier and stared up at the curled-up form of his ward through the twisted metal. “Hey, chum. Could you come down now?”

Dick scrubbed his face then looked down. “Do I have to?”

“Unfortunately, I think Alfred will make me get a ladder if you don’t.”

“Cool.”

“Oh yeah? Well, if you think so, then I guess I’ll have to go find the ladder. Hopefully the ice cream I picked up on my way home won’t have melted before I get you down.”

Crossing his arms, he said, “You would have put it in the freezer.”

“Do you think I would have remembered?”

“… Alfred would have put it in the freezer.”

“Not if he didn’t want us to eat it.”

Dick’s nose scrunched up then he stretched out, groaning for a solid thirty seconds. With that bit of dramatics over, he rolled over and leaped off the chandelier. He bounced off one of the columns, then the floor, losing the momentum in a handful of rolls that had him popping up next to Bruce. He grabbed the man’s hand and started leading him towards the kitchen.

Bruce waited until they were halfway through their bowls of dessert (turrón ice cream for Dick and sanguinaccio dolce for Bruce) before speaking up. “Alfred said you didn’t hang out with Barbara after camp today.”

Dick shrugged. “Yeah.”

“Is something wrong?”

He shrugged again.

They sat in silence for a few moments.

“Can I skip camp tomorrow?”

Bruce looked him over. “Are you feeling sick?”

“No.”

“Well, I won’t make you go if you don’t want to, but I thought you liked camp.”

Dick had been the one to ask to sign up for the Gotham Public Library’s Summer Day Camp, though Bruce had agreed easily. The parenting books he’d studied said socializing was important for kids and the camp seemed perfect for that now that school was out. It wouldn’t have big crowds, something Dick couldn’t stand when he wasn’t performing; some of Dick’s friends from school had signed up so there were familiar faces; it was only four days a week and four hours long, so Dick wouldn’t get restless like he often did at school; and Barbara was volunteering at the camp so the two usually hung out together afterward, either in town or in the cave.

Today was the first day Dick hadn’t come home with a project to show off and/or a story to tell.

“I do, I just…” he tapped his spoon against his bowl for a moment. “Tomorrow’s Father's Day.”

“Oh.”

This would be the first Father’s Day since Dick’s parents passed. Bruce knew from experience how that could hurt, especially when surrounded by people excited to spend time with their fathers. They’d gotten lucky and been out of the country for the week before and after Mother’s Day, but now…

“We’re supposed to make cards for our dads, but… I don’t have anyone to give one to.”

Bruce wrapped his arm around Dick as he tried to think of what to say. “I’m sorry, chum. Um, if you do want to make a card, we could take it to the cemetery so you can leave it on his grave. Or you can just stay home. Whatever you want to do.”

“… Can I make the card here instead of going to camp?”

“Of course. Do you need me to get you any supplies?”

“No.” He leaned into the half-hug. “Thanks, B.”

“Anytime.”

Not Me

“Frick!”

“What’s wrong, Little Wing?”

Jason turned to scowl at the older boy standing at the edge of the mats he was laying on. “Nothing. Get lost.”

Dick frowned and flopped down next to Jason. “Come on. What’s wrong? You were doing really well.”

“Not as good as you.” He only realized he’d spoken aloud when he got crushed in a hug. “Hey! Get off you octopus!”

“You don’t need to measure yourself against me. I’ve been doing this since I could walk. Maybe even before, if you believe the stories my dad used to tell. It’d take years for you to catch up to where I am.”

Jason pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes, going limp in Dick’s arms.

“Hey, it’s okay. There’s nothing wrong with that. You’re still doing better than most would after just a month of training.”

“It’s going to be years before I’m good enough for Robin.”

“Oh, bud, no.” Dick pulled his hands away so he could see the older boy’s frown. “You don’t need to be me to be Robin. I didn’t offer it to you because I thought you’d be just like me. We’ve got different pasts, different styles of moving, different builds. And that’s fine, because I chose you because you’re smart and stubborn and brave and resourceful and motivated. That’s what will make you a good Robin, not being able to do the same flips I can do. You’re going to be a great Robin because you’re going to be your Robin.”

Jason stared at Dick. “You’re sh*tting me.”

“I’m not. Make Robin your own, Little Wing. I know you’ll be great at it.”

He pressed into the hug to hide his blush. “Yeah, whatever. You’ll still help me with the flips though, right?”

“Of course. Anything for my cute little baby brother.”

He groaned and shoved the annoyance’s face away. “You’re the worst! Get off me!”

Snickering, Dick pressed a kiss to his head and rolled away.

Family

Damian growled as he found himself pinned to the table, his daggers scattered across the floor (and embedded in the walls, tables, and chairs) alongside the remains of lunch and the broken scraps of the chair he’d thrown at Grayson.

Said man waited until he stopped struggling before saying, “Enough, kid. Listen. Whatever blood you might share with B, you’re still the outsider right now. We might not all be blood, but we are family. And our family sticks together no matter what. You want to impress your father, then the first step is getting that through your head.”

“So I need to learn my place?” Damian snorted, rolling his eyes.

His place had always been at the top and it always would be. No strays were going to change that.

He turned his head to glare up at the man, ready to tell him exactly where his place was, but was caught off guard. Grayson didn’t look smug like he assumed. He looked sad.

“No, kid. You need to learn that we’re not your enemies. We’re your allies. I know that’s probably hard to grasp with the way you were raised, but it’s true. We want to help you, to be there for you. You don't have to let us, but you need to stop fighting us.”

Damian stared up at him for a moment then tugged his pinned wrist. “Some ally.”

Grayson did smile then, but it was soft instead of smug. The same soft one he’s been giving Damian since he’d first come to stay with Father. He let go of Damian, jumping back in the same motion like he was expecting an attack.

Smart.

“Well, it seemed like the only way I could get you to listen. Maybe next time we can just sit at the table like a normal family. I’d certainly prefer it.”

“As would I,” came the butler’s voice and the two turned to see him giving them an annoyed look. “I do hope the two of you plan on cleaning up after yourselves.”

“We’ll take care of it, Alfred,” Grayson promised.

“Very good.”

Damian snorted and gathered his daggers. As he walked out of the room, he prepared himself for Grayson to try to stop him.

The man let him go without a word.

Damian paused a few steps away from the door and listened, but all he heard was Grayson cleaning up their mess.

He tried to put Grayson’s words out of his mind, but they stuck with him.

And when his mother came for him, those words echoed in his mind.

He told her he wanted to stay. He said it was because he believed there were things Father could teach him that he couldn’t learn while helping her rebuild the League. He knew she assumed he meant about fighting, strategy, the business, or something along those lines.

He let her.

He knew he could never admit that he wanted Father (as well as Grayson and the others) to teach him about their family.

Stuck

Dick groaned when he heard something scratching at his bedroom door. Between a late patrol (he’d gotten word of a weapons deal just as he’d been about to call off for the night), the drive to Gotham to keep an eye on the kids while the adults were out of the country (Bruce had a case, Selina a heist, and Alfred a family reunion), and the prank he’d needed to pull on Jason (his eldest-younger brother had put glitter in his shampoo, so he had no other choice than to rearrange Jason’s bookshelves), he’d just laid down.

He took a moment to wish for his own bed in his apartment, which was likely empty by this time, but at least would still hold some of his partners’ warmth and would be blissfully quiet.

Then there was another scratch at his door.

Sighing, he rolled onto his feet and went to the door. He opened it, expecting to see Titus wanting a new bed to sleep in with Damian getting ready for school. Instead, he found a dog bulkier and slightly shorter than the Great Dane with large, rounded ears and a golden yellow coat covered in splashes of black and white. The Cape wild dog’s head was turned down guiltily.

“Hey, Duke,” Dick said, fighting down a smile. “I’m guessing you slept through your sunrise alarm?”

Duke whined.

Dick lost the fight as he knelt to run his fingers through his brother’s mane. “It’s okay, bud. We’ve all done it. I’ll text Harper and Bette to let them know what happened. Do you have a daytime class today?”

Duke shook his head.

“Alright,” he yawned. “Did you need anything else?”

Duke bumped his head into Dick’s chest and yawned back.

Chuckling, he stood up. “Alright. Come on, then.”

The two climbed onto Dick’s bed and Dick sent the texts before cuddling up to his little brother. He smiled when Duke licked his chin and ruffled the dog’s fur. “Your welcome, Flashlight. I’m here to help. Now go to sleep. We’re not all on the day shift.”

Duke huffed and licked him again.

Boyfriend

“Can you please stop them?”

Dick followed Tim’s gaze to see Duke, Jason, and Stephanie looming over a nervous-looking Bernard. “Yeah, no.”

“Dick!”

“Tim!”

“Come on.”

“It’s their job as big brothers -- and self-identifying crazy ex -- to intimidate your boyfriend.”

“I’m a year older than Duke,” Tim said, glaring at Dick.

“Yeah, but you’re smaller. Balances out.”

“You’re shorter than him too!”

“We’re not talking about me. We’re talking about you and your fledgling beau.”

Tim groaned and knocked their shoulders together. “Why aren’t you over there, then?”

“Simple. They’re playing the protective older siblings so I have to be the embarrassing older sibling.”

Tim’s eyes narrowed to slits. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“Do you remember when we went to that chalet and -”

“Let me stop you right there. You’re not talking about that.”

“I have pictures.”

“So do I. And I can and will release them to the public.”

“You forget, Tiny Jay,” Dick whispered, leaning closer. “I have no shame.”

Tim’s face went pale. “Don’t do this, Dick. I’ll… I’ll…”

“Hey, just be glad B’s out of town. Remember what Brucie did the first time Kate brought Renee to dinner. Imagine him in dad mode.”

Tim groaned and pressed his face into Dick’s shoulder. “Please, Dick. I’ll swap patrols with you the next time you want a date night. I’ll trade three cases with you, no questions asked. I’ll -”

“Sorry,” Dick said, patting him on the head mockingly. “It’s gotta be done.”

Tim’s grumbling cut off as a massive Siberian tiger knocked into them, the two only keeping their feet due to their training. The feline pressed against Tim, his head low with his teeth bared and his nose wrinkled. His ears were laid back and his tail was low and twitching as he gave a quiet, cough-like roar.

“Careful, Bernard, you’re heavy like this, remember?” Tim whispered to him and ran his fingers through his neck fur before glaring at Duke, Jason, and Stephanie. “What did you three say to him to freak him out like this?”

Duke gave him a shrug, while the other two ignored him in favor of their laughter.

Cheshire grin in place, Dick gave Bernard a pat on the head. “Hey, Bernard. Want to hear about the time Tim tried to -”

Tim tackled him and the two started wrestling.

He continued his story as if nothing was happening. It was his duty, after all.

Father’s Day (Reprise)

Bruce grunted as his oldest skipped into his study.

“Hello to you too, B,” Dick said, sitting on the edge of the desk.

“How was dinner with the Wests?”

“Good, but not very filling,” was all the warning Bruce got before Dick stole his World’s Okayest Dad mug off the desk.

“You could have asked Alfred for your own.”

He took a long, pointed sip of blood then dropped a box in Bruce’s lap and skipped out of the room. “Happy Father’s Day!”

“It’s not Father’s Day for two more hours,” he called back, to no response. He looked over the box.

It was a simple brown box, a six-inch cube, held closed with twine. A note was tucked into the top, which he pulled out and unfolded to find a picture very similar to the one he’d found sitting on his desk twenty years earlier on Dick’s first Father’s Day with him. Instead of holding Robin’s hand, though, Batman had his hand on Nightwing’s shoulder. The first picture had had the words Happy Father’s Day! Thank you for taking me in! Love you, B! written above it. Above this one we’re the words Happy Father’s Day! Thank you for taking me in! Love you, Dad!

He carefully set the picture aside with a smile, planning to hang it next to its twin as he opened the box. Inside was a mug proclaiming him World’s Okayest Grandpa. He rolled his eyes at the jab at his age and pulled the neatly folded paper out of the mug’s cup.

“… Richard John Grayson-West!” he choked out, racing out after his son.

Midnight Snack

Carrie stared at Dick for a solid minute before accepting that yes, there was someone sitting at the kitchen counter. “What are you doing here?”

“Artemis says we’re not allowed back in the apartment until she’s done painting the nursery,” he yawned. “Wally left to spend some time with Iris and the twins so I’m grabbing a snack before hitting the hay. What are you doing up? Didn’t you just get back from patrol…” he trailed off, staring at the clock.

She grabbed a frozen blood cup and sat down next to him. “Midnight snack.”

“Three hours ago.” He blinked. “It’s four in the morning.”

“Details. You didn’t drive here, right?”

“Wally dropped me off.”

“That’s good.” She looked over to see what he was eating and frowned when she saw his bowl was full of brightly colored cereal. “Aren’t you a little old to be eating that?”

“Aren’t you a little young to be telling me what to do?” he muttered, eating another spoonful.

“Trix are for kids.”

“Trix are for the people with the money to buy them.”

“You don’t even have any milk.”

“Tastes better this way.”

“You’re a heathen.”

He ruffled her hair, smiling when she hissed and smacked his arm.

They ate in silence for a few moments before she asked, “You guys have any ideas on names? And might I suggest Carrie if they’re a girl.”

He snorted and shook his head. “We’re still tossing around names, but Artemis has been vetoing any names too close to people we know. She’s sick of all the Artemis-or-Artemis jokes, apparently.”

“Boo.”

“Yeah, Wally feels the same. He’s managed to sneak Iris’s name on the list by shortening it to Irey, but his suggestion of Jai has been thoroughly denied.”

“No play on Bartholomew?”

“No.” He tried to get another spoonful of cereal, then frowned at his empty bowl. Slowly, he stood up and walked around the counter to the sink. He rinsed his dishes and gestured for Carrie’s after realizing she was done too. Once the dishes were in the sanitizer, he came back around the counter to pick her up. “Bedtime.”

“You're not going to run me into a wall, are you?” she teased.

He set her down. “You can walk.”

“No! Dick!” She made grabby hands as she followed him out.

He ignored her at first, but soon let her up onto his back. They made their way up to her room, where Dick flipped her over his shoulder.

She hit the bed with a giggling, “Oomph!”

“Night, Care Bear.”

“Night, Dick.”

Chapter 9: YA Vampire Love Story: Part 1

Chapter Text

Tim glanced over his new school as he walked up the path from the student drop-off.

Louis E. Grieve Memorial High School was a charter school, but may as well have called itself a private school for the lower-upper class considering how hard often all spots were filled when less charitable parents tried to get their students a place in the school. It was a step up from any other public school in Gotham, but not quite the same quality as Gotham Academy. High society saw it as the place for those who couldn’t quite afford or didn’t have the connections for the private school. It was, in their eyes, the school of upstarts and new money.

Which was why it was strange when Bruce Wayne, Gotham’s wealthiest and most connected billionaire, announced his third son would be starting at GHS instead of continuing at GA. According to Brucie, it was because of empty nest syndrome. With his elder two sons attending Gotham University and out of the house, he wanted to keep his baby close. GHS was only a ten minute drive from the manor, compared to the thirty minutes (not accounting for traffic) it was from GA. It was also in the calmer (by Gotham standards) neighborhood of Bristol. It made sense, so long as you accounted for Brucie being ditzy enough to not realize the social faux pas of sending his son to a lesser school.

Bruce, however, knew exactly what he was doing. Tim wasn’t at the school because Bruce’s nest was empty (his brothers showed up to mess with their father far too often for Bruce to miss them), but because the Colony needed an inside man as they investigated a lead on someone attempting to use the school’s chem labs to make drugs after hours.

Tim didn’t mind being that man. The only thing he’d miss from GA was the photography studio. He hadn’t had friends at the school once Jason and the few friends of his Tim liked had graduated. Tim was an introvert, he knew that. It was a fact Dick nagged him over, but not one he considered a downside. It wasn’t like he didn’t have friends. He had a few online friends he talked to a lot, like Ives, and recently he had Kon. That was plenty of friends. Besides, it wasn’t like the other GA students wanted to be friends with him either. To them, he was just another Brucie charity case, and not even a good one like the outgoing circus kid or the gruff Crime Alley thug (or the misunderstood theater prodigy, if you asked Jason’s fellow theater nerds).

Honestly, Tim was excited about going to GHS. He wouldn’t have to wear a scratchy uniform that made his skin scream on bad days, just his comfort jeans and hoodies. There wouldn’t be high society politics or expectations (Dick and Jason said to ignore that stuff, but he was a Wayne!), he could just sit quietly without talking to anyone except the occasional teacher that wanted an answer and everyone would probably just assume he was being an aloof rich kid. It was great!

With a small smile, he looked down at the schedule in his hand. He’d have already memorized it, but then he’d received an email that morning about a schedule change to accommodate the advanced biology class he’d wanted.

“Hey, new guy, huh?”

Tim blinked and looked up. “Huh?”

“Hold up there.”

A trio of students was sitting under a tree nearby. The blond in the middle was the one who’d spoken up. The other two looked up when he stood, but quickly went back to what they were doing.

“Transfer student?” the blond asked, walking up to Tim. “Foreign exchange? You didn’t go to SNMS, so what’s your story?”

“Uh… transfer. My dad wanted me closer to home,” Tim answered.

The blond hummed, placing his hand on his chin. “Well, let’s get a look at you then. See where you fit in. No visible face shrapnel, so you probably don’t belong in the tattoo and piercings crowd.” He started circling Tim, who watched him with a bemused smile. “Your eyes are clear and you lack the telltale hemp-ish smell that would place you with the heads. You’re packing quite a load of books, but I don’t get a nerd vibe from you. You obviously bathe too often and don’t walk with a permanent cringe. You could be a jock -- you look ripped enough -- but again there’re all these books to consider. Jocks and books don’t exactly mix.” He stopped, his hand on his chin again. “You’re an enigma, grasshopper. I can’t tell which clique you belong in.”

“Is that important?” Tim asked instead of pointing out just how much stereotyping had gone into the other’s detective work.

“It’s vital. A place for everyone and everyone in their place. That’s how the world works.”

Tim snorted. If only it were that simple. “And what group do you belong to?”

The blond’s grin grew as he pointed at himself. “None. I’m the exception that proves the rule. A nation unto myself, and a roving ambassador between all cliques. Don’t try it yourself. It requires extraordinary finesse. In short, I pretty much run things around here. You’re lucky you met me.”

“I can see that,” Tim said, voice heavy with sarcasm.

That only seemed to encourage the blond and he grabbed the paper out of Tim’s hand. “Let’s check out your class schedule.” He tisked as he looked it over. “You took Cooper for history? Big mistake, son. He grades on the curve. You’ll want to transfer to Weingast. He’s afraid of getting sued again so he gives across-the-board A’s, never tests, and never takes roll.”

“Um, I’ll stick with this schedule,” Tim said blankly, taking the paper back. Classes like that were boring and hell on the senses since people usually talked through them.

“A rebel, huh? Suit yourself. Name’s Bernard Dowd, by the way. Bernard, got it? Never Bernie. Call me Bernie and I’ll have to punish you.”

“Tim Wayne,” he offered as he started heading towards the school again.

Bernard followed. “Glad to know you, Timmy.”

“Tim.”

He laughed and put his arm over Tim’s shoulder.

Tim considered shaking him off, but the contact didn’t feel bad, and Bernard, while a bit obnoxious, didn’t seem like a bad guy. He actually reminded Tim a bit of Kon, though he was more nosy than protective.

“See? We’re getting along already. I sense we’re going to be good friends, you and me. Now let’s go over a few of the social rules. You’ll eventually have to learn them all, but I can cover the main ones that will let you survive the first day. Most important of all: never try to date any girl I like.”

By the end of the day, Tim had decided it was lucky he didn’t share many classes with Bernard. He was funny and nice, but first impressions made him think he’d prefer the blond in small doses.

“Gotta scoot, Bernard. After-school job,” Tim lied as he rushed through the halls. Two months later and he finally had a solid lead on the drug case. It turns out they’d been putting too much focus on the science teachers and overlooked one of the gym coaches. He needed to plant some cameras, but to do that he’d have to leave the school and then sneak back in.

“Better watch where you’re going then,” Bernard called just before Tim rammed into a girl who was heading the other way. “Ow. That’s got to hurt.”

“Smooth move, looser,” huffed a girl who’d been walking with Tim’s victim as he sat up, hand on his head.

“Uh… hello,” the girl he’d run into said as she sat up as well.

He blushed and stammered out, “Wow. I’m -- I mean -- I’m sorry. I didn’t see -”

“Darla Aquista, meet Tim Wayne,” Bernard introduced as he helped the girl up. “Forgive him. He’s new here and hasn’t been housebroken yet. Pick up the lady’s books, Wayne.”

“I’m really sorry. Really,” Tim said, grabbing the textbooks and handing them to her as he stood.

“Don’t worry. It was clearly an accident,” she said, then left with her friend.

“Darla’s really something, huh?” Bernard sighed as the boys watched the girls go.

“Yeah.”

He elbowed Tim. “Hey, remember the most important rule.”

Rolling his eyes, he elbowed Bernard back.

“Your black eye is clearing up nicely. You almost can’t see it anymore,” Bernard commented, looking over Tim’s face.

“Shut up,” he said, ducking his head. You couldn’t see anything because there wasn’t anything to see. There hadn’t really been anything to see yesterday when Bernard had seen the bit of bruise that had been uncovered when Tim smudged his makeup, and even that much had been gone by the morning. Tim had ended up needing to add a bit of shadow around his eye so Bernard wouldn’t ask questions.

“Just saying. Wouldn’t want your face getting messed up. It’s the best thing about you.”

“You’re too, too funny Bernard,” Tim deadpanned. “Say, I need my algebra notes back, so -”

Bernard cut him off with a slap to his arm. He stared over Tim’s shoulder with wide eyes, whispering, “Oh my God. She’s here! But she never comes here!”

Tim started to turn to look around the diner that had become their go-to place for an afterschool milkshake, not bothering to lower his voice. “Who -”

“Don’t look, doofus!” Bernard whispered, grabbing his arm. “Do you want to get us busted?”

Tim turned back with a smirk. “Oh, if you’re acting this way, it has to be our goddess in residence, Darla Aquista. Why are you so afraid of her? She’s probably human. Why don’t you just go up and talk to her?”

“Me? Afraid? No way I’m afraid of any girl. It’s those jocks she always hangs with that scare me.”

Tim leaned back. “So if they weren’t around, you’d hop right up and put the moves on her?”

“Sure. Absolutely.”

Tim stood up.

“Where are you going, Wayne?”

“I’m calling your bluff. Don’t let me down.”

Three guys were standing against the wall next to Darla’s booth, all juniors or seniors in letterman jackets. One had a football patch, another had a basketball patch, and the last had a swimmer’s patch. They gave him curious looks as he approached.

“Excuse me, guys?”

“Who’re you?” Basketball asked.

“I’m Tim Wayne. I’m new here and have only one friend so far, so I can’t afford to lose him.” He gestured over his shoulder with his thumb towards the booth he left Bernard in. “The trouble is that he’s madly in love with Darla here and dying to talk to her.

“Now, as we all know, the official-rules-of-guys dictate that you’d be fully justified in beating the snot out of anyone dumb enough to make a pass at your girl.” He glanced at Darla to see she was watching him with a wide grin and half-lidded eyes. He focused back on the jocks. “So here’s the deal. Just this once, I’m willing to take the beating coming to him. I’m not suicidal enough to try fighting back, but I still suggest we go outside so that you’ve got all the room you need to do a proper job of it.”

The three shared a look.

“Hey, you’re all right, Tim!” Football laughed.

“You’re pretty cool. Funny, y’know?” Basketball nodded.

Swimmer slapped Tim’s back. “Besides, she really ain’t our girl. Darla doesn't date anybody. We just keep an eye out for her”

Football waved him towards the counter. “Come on. You can buy us sodas while your bud takes his shot at her.”

Basketball, arm slipping around T’s shoulders, added, “Or a double bacon burger.”

Tim gave the sulking Bernard a smirk as they passed.

He had to do it. Bernard could take a little teasing.

“I’m going to kill you for this,” his friend hissed then left to talk to Darla.

It was hard to hear over the hustle and bustle of the diner, but Tim just barely caught Darla’s words.

“Hi, Bernard. Your friend Tim is really funny. And cute, too. Do you know if he’s seeing anyone?”

Oops.

“I’m going to sneak into your room one night,” Bernard threatened as they were leaving the diner. “I’ll tie you up and gag you then sell you to… to Bolivian organ pirates.”

“Bolivian organ pirates?”

“They exist!”

“If you say so,” Tim snorted.

Bernard was still steaming the next day at school, muttering threats under his breath and cursing Tim for breaking the most important rule.

“Believe me, Bernard, I have no designs on Darla Aquista,” Tim finally said, shoving his friend.

“I’ve seen the way she looks at you, Wayne,” Bernard argued, pointing at his face. “And don’t think I haven’t noticed you looking back.”

“I'm happily involved with someone else,” Tim sighed. He and Spoiler had been dating for a few weeks. It was rough and new, but he really liked her and wouldn’t have cheated on her besides.

“So you keep saying, but where is this mysterious Stephanie whatsername? Why have I never met her? If you’ve got something you want to tell me, then speak up. We’re buds. I’ll understand. We’re two modern, enlightened men in the third millennium, Wayne. No need to make up imaginary girlfriends.”

“That’s not it.” He’d love to introduce Stephanie to his friends, but he technically wasn’t dating Stephanie. Robin was dating Spoiler. Specifically, she was dating the Robin she called Small-Twitchy-Magic. Stephanie didn’t even know Robin wasn’t a demon, let alone that he was Tim Wayne.

“In any case, you don’t want to be fooling around with Darla, anyway. She’s too dangerous for someone as innocent as you.”

“Excuse me?” If only Bernard knew.

“Rumor has it her old man’s the neighborhood leader of the familymen, if you catch my drift.”

“Henry Aquista!” That was why her name seemed so familiar. Aquista was a mob boss. Not a high-ranking one, but one just the same. He didn’t cause trouble so he wasn’t on the Colony’s radar, but Tim made sure to keep track of even the lower names.

“So you’ll stay away?” Bernard checked.

“Yes.”

“Please tell me you’re going to be at GA next year. I can already tell these snobs are going to get on my nerves. If I’m left alone with them for hours on end, I’ll probably stab someone.”

“Don’t stab anyone. That’d only make them think they’re right. You need to be sneakier.”

“You know, that’s a weird way of saying, ‘Yes, babe. I’ll be right by your side next year.’”

Tim sighed. He didn’t know where he wanted to go next year.

The case had long been taken care of and he could have left GHS months ago, but leaving meant no more afterschool milkshakes with Bernard or bumping into Darla in the halls. He’d miss quite a few of his classmates (far more than he’d ever imagined), but losing Bernard and Darla would hurt. He could try to keep up with them, but his life made that hard.

Leaving also meant being with Stephanie, though. She’d been brought in on the secret and was training to be Robin with Tim while Jason finished up his preparations to move on to a new identity that would run at Batwoman’s side. The truth coming out had only brought her and Tim closer while also giving Bruce an excuse to help Stephanie get into Gotham Academy, an offer she’d taken up at her mother’s insistence. It wasn’t charity -- neither Brown would have accepted it if it was -- just a chance to prove herself and earn a scholarship that would let her attend the school’s upcoming year. Even still, Tim knew the only reason she’d agreed to go was that it would pretty much ensure she’d get the full ride she needed to get into medical school.

So Tim didn’t want to lose Bernard and Darla, but he also didn’t want to leave Stephanie alone at Gotham Academy. A part of him wished Stephanie had transferred to GHS instead, but he knew it wasn’t practical since she lived on the other side of the city.

“Tim?”

“We’ve still got a few months before applications need to be submitted.”

Stephanie clicked her tongue. “I see. Well, is it going to be a few months until you get outside?”

“I’m almost out now. Why? Is the hall too loud?” The hall was pretty crowded, but he didn’t think it was loud enough for Stephanie to hear.

“Nope. I’ve got a surprise for you.”

“Surprise?” he asked, pushing through the doors and out into the front yard. When he didn’t get a response, he looked down at his phone to see Stephanie had hung up. “Okay, then.”

“Tim, wait up!”

Tim turned to see Darla running up to him through the crowd that was starting to disperse now that they’d left the school. “Darla, hi. What’s up?”

“I wanted to ask you something.”

“Sure. What do you need?”

“Well… you see… the thing is… I wondered if… oh, to hell with it.” She reached forward and grabbed the straps of his backpack to yank him into a kiss.

He froze, staring into her eyes as the crowd started ooh-ing and jeering. He didn’t… He knew Darla maybe had a thing for him, but he’d thought he’d made it clear that, no matter how flattered he was, he was taken.

Once his brain re-engaged, he pushed her away. “Darla, we can’t do this!”

“Tim, I know you’ve heard the stories about my dad, but they’re not true. You have nothing to be afraid of.”

“I’m not! I don’t-It’s not that! I told you, I’m already in a committed relationship.”

“Quit saying that!” She snapped, turning away and walking off.

“But -”

“You don’t have to keep lying. Just admit it if you don’t like me.”

Shoot! He knew Bernard still thought he was lying about Stephanie, but he hadn’t realized Darla did too. “Darla!”

She ignored him, climbing into her limo and slamming the door.

Tim groaned and pressed the palms of his hands into his eyes.

“That was rough. Sorry, dude,” Tyrone -- an ice hockey player Tim had helped out when he’d been failing chemistry -- said, walking up and rubbing Tim’s back.

“Thanks.”

“Bernard’s going to kill you, though.”

Tim groaned again.

Chapter 10: YA Vampire Love Story: Part 2

Chapter Text

Thankfully, Bernard did not kill him. Or make good on his threats to sell Tim to the mythical Bolivian organ pirates. He was still a little upset when Tim told him, but he believed him when he said she’d been the one to kiss him and he’d turned her down.

Darla wasn’t as easily soothed, though, and had taken to avoiding Tim whenever possible and giving him the cold shoulder when they were forced to be around each other.

If that wasn’t bad enough, he’d also managed to do something to tick Stephanie off and she was giving him a similar treatment. Only it was worse because he didn’t even know what he’d done. One moment she was talking about giving him a surprise, the next she wasn’t talking to him. It ended up becoming an even bigger problem when they had to start working together for her Robin training. Bruce and Jason got frustrated easily by how short she was being with Tim, given Robin was supposed to be perfectly in sync to make the bit work. Jason started badgering Tim on what he’d done while Bruce started lecturing Stephanie about letting interpersonal relationships affect their work.

Dick had to intervene when Bruce brought up that maybe it would be better if she wasn’t Robin, given their relationship. He forced Tim and Stephanie to sit down and talk, which resulted in Stephanie blowing up when Tim admitted he didn’t know what he’d done wrong.

Her surprise had been that her school had let out early because of a bomb threat so she’d gone all the way to Bristol to pick up Tim for an impromptu date, only to see him kissing another girl.

Tim explained the situation and tried to reassure her as much as he could. He even made plans for her to meet Darla the next Saturday so both girls could talk. Bernard crashed the meetup and the day had turned out pretty fun. Stephanie was reassured, if a bit embarrassed and defensive. Darla was extremely apologetic for not believing Tim and forcing herself on him. Bernard thought the whole thing was a bit funny and made jokes about wishing a pair of gorgeous girls would fight over him too, which ended when Stephanie dumped her soda over his head. Tim was a bit mad that Stephanie hadn’t trusted him, but he also understood she hadn’t had the best experience with boyfriends before him.

They talked, worked through it, and ended up closer in the end.

“They have guns!” someone shouted and Bernard turned to see people running from an intersection where a pair of trucks had boxed in a limo. Four goons were holding a pair of bodyguard-looking guys at gunpoint with a girl pinned in one of their arms.

“What?” a voice asked and he turned to see Tim running up. “Tyrone! Bernard! What’s going on?”

“Wayne! Man, you gotta see this! It’s like GTA!” Tyrone said, watching the intersection with the same nervous interest that Bernard was.

Bernard frowned, squinting at the girl. He went pale. “Hey, do you know who that looks like?”

“Help me!” a too-familiar voice called.

“Darla!” Tim yelled.

“Stay in the car!” one of the goons shouted.

“Or we shoot you down!” another added.

“Please! Tony!” Darla cried, staring at one of the bodyguards, and the goon holding her growled something Bernard couldn’t make out.

Then all hell broke loose as the men on both sides started shooting.

“Oh my God! Milo! Help!” Darla screamed as one of the bodyguards went down from a headshot.

Bernard was just thinking they needed to do something, call someone, when a person went shooting past him. “Wayne! Get back here!”

“Are you crazy?” Tyrone shouted, futilely reaching for the smaller boy

Apparently, he was, because he ran right up behind the goon holding Darla and slammed a book into the back of his head.

The goon went down, releasing Darla.

Tim grabbed her shoulder and they talked for a moment before he pointed towards the school, towards Tyrone and Bernard. He pushed her towards them and she ran into Tyrone’s arms. Bernard expected Tim to follow, but instead, the boy turned to face off against another goon who had come around the side of the truck. The goon aimed his gun at Tim, but Tim threw his book, nailing the goon in the face. At the same time, Tim grabbed the man’s wrist and twisted the gun out of his hand. He tossed it under the truck as the goon clutched at his eyes.

“What the hell?” Bernard muttered. “Did you guys know Wayne could do that?”

Tyrone shook his head while Darla watched with wide, teary eyes.

Tim went around the truck just as the last two standing men -- a guard and goon -- fired on each other. The goon slumped back against the truck, breathing heavily, while the guard collapsed to the ground, unmoving.

“Tony!” Darla screamed and jerked towards the scene, but Tyrone kept her close.

Tim disarmed the last goon, then came towards them. A small crowd of students had gathered to watch and Tim immediately took charge. He pointed someone out and told them to call nine-one-one and ask for police and ambulances, warning everyone else not to call and risk gridlocking the system. He comforted Darla and urged Bernard and Tyrone to help him bring her to the nurse’s office.

Then Tyrone was shot in the leg.

They took cover as bullets started pelting the area. Tim pulled off his jacket and pressed it against Tyrone’s leg. When the gunfire moved on, he told Bernard and Darla to get inside the school and barricade the doors.

“What kind of guy are you, Wayne?” Bernard questioned, staring at his friend. Tim had always been on the serious side, but seeing him now… “These things you can do… You -”

“Not now, Bernard. Plenty of time to talk later.” Tim pulled off his belt and wrapped it around Tyrone’s leg above the wound, tying it tight. Then he pulled Tyrone up in a feat of strength that Bernard theoretically knew Tim was capable of since Bernard had known from moment one that Tim was jacked and they shared a gym class, but still seemed strange given how small Tim was compared to Tyrone. The four rushed to the school doors, Tim mostly carrying Tyrone. Bernard wrapped a protective arm around Darla, trying to keep himself between the sounds of gunfire and her. Once they got inside, Tim made sure there weren’t any students straggling before they started barricading the doors.

Thankfully the police showed up at that moment and started trading bullets with the goons and forming a perimeter around the school

Darla grabbed Tim as soon as he passed Tyrone off to a larger senior. He wrapped his arms around her and rubbed her back as he looked around the group. He told them that they needed to gather up as many students and teachers as they could find and get to somewhere defensible, like the cafeteria. There was a chance some of the gunmen could have gotten in before the police arrived.

“Well, I’m sticking with you!” Darla barked, tightening her grip on his shirt. “Don’t leave me!”

Tim squeezed her, then tried to pass her to Bernard. “I need to go help.”

Then a gunshot rang out and Darla went down. Both boys shouted her name and Tim grabbed her, pulling her into a connecting hall for cover before pressing his ear to her chest.

“Tim?” Bernard breathed as Tim started compressions. “Tim, I don’t know what to do.”

“Get pressure on her wound!”

Bernard yanked off his jacket and pressed it against the rapidly growing red spot on her shirt.

After a moment, Tim pressed his ear to her chest again. “She-she’s breathing. And her heart’s… We need to move.”

Bernard gave a shaky nod and helped Tim pick her up. They made their way to the office, picking up a few others who’d scattered when the gunfire started echoing through the halls. They found the nurse, hunkered down in her office with a few students and she quickly set to work on Darla. The school didn’t have much in the way of trauma supplies, but Bruce Wayne had made quite the donation when Tim had started at the school and part of that money had gone to sutures and the training to use them.

Tim managed to disappear from the office at some point, Bernard only realizing he was gone when he returned with a makeshift saline drip and a few more students. The nurse opened her mouth to ask, but Tim just stuffed it into her hands and told her to hurry.

“How’s Darla now?” he asked as he watched her work.

“She’s unconscious again. Under the circ*mstances, maybe that’s a blessing.”

“Will she live?”

“I can’t say. She’s lost a lot of blood and needs better care than I can provide here. I think it all depends on how soon we can get her out of here and to a hospital.”

“Are they going to kill us too?” Bernard whispered.

“Not if I can help it,” Tim growled and Bernard turned to see him grabbing the bat he’d scrounged up during his disappearing act.

He grabbed the smaller boy’s arm when he started heading for the door. “Where are you going, Wayne?”

“Back out to have a look around. Maybe find a safe route and get Darla out of here.”

“Stay right here, young man!” the nurse ordered, glancing up for a second. “The police will take care of -”

“Yeah, they’ve done a super job, so far,” Tim snorted, then met Bernard’s eyes. “Lock the door behind me and stay as quiet as possible.”

Bernard wanted to tell him to shut up. To drag Tim back over to Darla’s cot and never let him go. Darla was… and Bernard couldn’t risk losing Tim too. But something in Tim’s eyes told him to let go, so he did. He watched his best friend slip out the door, then locked it and moved a heavy bookshelf in front of the door with help from a couple of the other kids.

Then he sat next to Darla’s head and waited. It felt like hours, days, weeks until there was a knock on the door, but Bernard knew it probably hadn’t been more than an hour. Tim called out from the other side that it was safe, the Colony had shown up and taken down all the gunmen. Bernard opened the door to find Tim standing there, a bruise on his cheek and traces of blood in his hair, but whole and mostly unharmed.

Bernard slapped his arm and told him to never do something so stupid again.

Tim just buried his face into Bernard’s shoulder without promising anything.

Despite all their efforts, Darla died en route.

The school shut down, paying out a small settlement to all the students and teachers who’d gotten caught inside. Bernard’s parents used it to send him to a private school in Sommerset instead of using it on the therapy he was pretty sure the money was intended for. He didn’t mind, he didn’t really want to talk to anyone about what had happened anyways. He was pretty sure Tim didn’t either, which explained why the two fell out of contact pretty quickly.

Tim stayed on Bernard’s mind, though. Especially when he found out his new school had a mixed martial arts program. He remembered how Tim had moved during the incident, taking down and disarming goons with confidence Bernard envied. He never wanted to feel that powerless again.

Bernard frowned as he stared at the street sign. He grabbed his phone and made a call.

“Hey, Linda. It’s me, Bernard.”

“Finally calling to say you’re standing me up,” she huffed.

“No, I didn’t stand you up.” He’d considered canceling, especially after his last talk with Sabrina had made him start wondering if he was as attracted to girls as he thought he was. He wouldn’t just stand someone up, though. “I’m still trying to find your house. Don’t take this the wrong way, but NSA code-breakers couldn’t decipher your directions.”

“What’s the right way to take that?” she sniffed, but he barely noticed.

The world outside his car windows had suddenly started to move down.

“And also, now my car’s rising into the sky.”

“You’re not funny, Dowd.”

“Oh my God! Oh my God! I’m not kidding! My car’s actually flying! Help me! Help me! Get the-Hang up and call nine-one-one! Tell them I’m at the corner of… of…” He looked out the window, squinting. “Oh great! I don’t know where I am, because your directions stink!”

“Ugh! Lose my number, jerk!” she spat and hung up.

The car imploded around him. Car parts flew away and rained down on the street as he was grabbed by some sort of force and brought up face-to-face with a floating woman.

He vaguely processed that she was talking to him, something about a friend and contacting someone, but it was buried under the fact he was in the clutches of a supervillain.

“Oh, no! Oh, no! Please don’t drop me! Don’t kill me, lady! I’m nobody worth killing! Honest! I’m begging you, lady, don’t kill me!”

She brought him closer and set her hand on his shoulder. “Settle down, Bernard. Aren’t we old friends? Why would I even contemplate harming you?”

He froze, staring at her. “That voice is… you look a little like… Darla Aquista?”

Her warm olive skin had turned a pure white and her dark blue eyes had disappeared into a white abyss, but it was her face underneath.

“But you’re dead! You died! I saw you!”

“Yeah, it’s me, Bernard,” she sighed, lowering them to the ground. “But don’t call me Darla anymore. It’s best that she remains dead. I’ve decided to go by Laura Fell now. That’s the false ID I was able to get.”

“And you’re some kind of costumed superhero now?” he asked, climbing to his feet. He had a superhero for a friend! A zombie superhero! Did becoming a zombie make your skin and eyes white? That made sense. He had a zombie superhero for a friend! So cool!

“Actually, I think I’m supposed to be working for the other side,” Darla said, cutting off his excitement, “but it remains to be decided. That’s part of why I desperately need to talk to Tim.”

“Well, Wayne Manor isn’t exactly hidden,” he joked.

“But it is protected,” she huffed, looking around. She pointed at a diner just down the street. “Let’s sit down.”

“Uh…” He looked over her outfit: a skin-tight red-black one piece, a matching cape, thigh-high red boots, golden gloves, and a skull belt. “Don’t get me wrong. You look hot and this is Gotham, but…”

She smirked, then raised her hands. Yellow energy washed over her. When it disappeared, she looked just like the Darla he’d known before. Her outfit had also been replaced by black leather pants, a red-black off-the-shoulder shirt, and red ankle boots. Her long, wild black hair had also been changed into a stylish, short ponytail.

“Cool,” he breathed.

She smiled and linked their arms to tug him towards the diner.

They got a booth and ordered milkshakes before Bernard asked, “So why can’t you just use your new magic powers to get through Wayne’s security?”

“When I said the manor was protected, I meant it was protected. There are wards on the manor that keep dark magic out. I can’t get within a hundred feet of the grounds without being invited in.”

“Seriously? Why would Wayne have something like that on his house.”

“Apparently, it’s -” she cut off as the waitress came by to drop off their milkshakes. Once the woman was gone, she continued, “It’s pretty common for old, wealthy houses like that to have wards. All it takes is one occupant having ties to the occult and the wards are there forever. Usually, their power fades once the family dies out or the property changes hands, but the Waynes have had that land for ages. One of Wayne’s ancestors probably linked the wards to their bloodline or something.”

“Makes sense, I guess.”

“Right, which is why I need you to contact Tim for me.”

“That’s… not as easy as you make it sound,” he sighed, staring down at his milkshake. “Tim and I haven’t really talked since, you know, the shooting. And I lost his number when my parents changed our phones this spring. I wouldn’t know how to contact him without just going to his place. Maybe through Stephanie or his brothers, I don’t know.” He took a sip. “Listen Darla-I mean, Laurie -”

“Laura.”

“I know why you want to find Tim -- to help you sort through this -- but if you can’t find him, why not use me? I can help you become, y’know, a superhero. I can be your manager, or maybe even partner.” He leaned forward. “Maybe you can give me powers?”

“I don’t think that’s the way it works,” she chuckled.

“Okay, I had to take a shot.” He shrugged, then looked out the window. “You can at least fix my car, right?”

“I doubt it.”

His parents were going to kill him. At least they had insurance with Wakewater, so they were covered for weird stuff like this. “Well, if you don’t mind my saying so, that was one mean, dangerous way to get my attention.”

“It’s these powers, Bernard,” she said apologetically. “They’re born of darkness and make me want to do dark things.”

He grabbed her wrist and squeezed it. “Hey, it will be okay. We’ll figure something out. You’ve got me, and we’ll find a way for you to talk to Tim. And if he can’t help, he’s got rich boy connections. Surely someone he knows could help you.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“Let’s take it one thing at a time. How can we get you and Tim in the same place?” He sucked at his milkshake, thinking. “You said you could enter the mansion if you were invited, right? Do you need to be invited in by Wayne -- Brucie, I mean -- or can you be invited in by anyone?”

“I don’t know. Depending on the wards, it could be Brucie or it could be anyone living in the house or it could just be someone on the grounds. I’d have to see the wards.”

“And you can’t because you can’t get close,” Bernard said and she nodded. “Well, then the only way to find out is to test it.”

Which was how Bernard found himself stepping out of a cab to press the call button for Wayne Manor’s front gate, his phone tucked against his ear.

An elderly man appeared on the video screen and Bernard vaguely remembered him being introduced as the Waynes’ butler the few times he’d been invited over. “Hey, uh, Albert, right?”

“Alfred, Mr. Dowd. Alfred Pennyworth.”

“Right, sorry.”

“It’s quite alright. It has been a while since you’ve been around.”

“Yeah, uh, I was hoping to talk to Tim, if that’s okay?”

“Master Tim doesn’t have any plans for the night so I’m sure he’d be happy to see you.”

“Cool. Oh, and our friend Laura wanted to come over too. Would that be alright?”

“Of course, she would be welcome to join you two.”

“Thanks!” he turned slightly to make it clear he was talking to his phone. “Did you hear that?”

“That worked. See you soon.”

“See you.” He hung up and smiled at Alfred. “She’ll be along in a bit.”

“Very well,” the butler said, then the screen turned off and the gate started to open.

Chapter 11: YA Vampire Love Story: Part 3

Chapter Text

“Stupid sprained wrist,” Tim muttered as he shuffled towards his room. Thanks to his wrist, Robin was off the roster for the next couple of days. Bette had taken the news better than him, especially when Bruce decided Tim should take the time to destress and banned him from doing any casework at all. He’d tried to sneak down to the cave once he was sure the others had all left for the night, but someone must have counted on that because Harper was down there to shoo him back out.

He was just going to work out a little and do some research, nothing that would aggravate his wrist. It wasn’t fair!

“Master Tim,” Alfred called and Tim turned to see him standing at the end of the hall. “Bernard Dowd is here for you. He’s coming up the drive now.”

“Bernard?” It had been around a year since he’d seen any of his old GHS friends. Why would Bernard come looking for him now?

“Yes. Should I turn him away after all?”

“No. It’s fine. Can you show him up to my room? I need to change.”

“Very well. He also mentioned a Laura will be arriving as well,” he said, sounding unconvinced, before turning towards the foyer.

Laura? Tim tried to remember who Laura was as he continued towards his room. He couldn’t remember a Laura. There was Mac from the photo club and Liza from English. There was also Sabine, but she’d more been Dar-a friend of a friend. Had Tyrone’s sister’s name been Laura? No, her name had started with a K.

Still thinking about it, he pushed open his door and came face-to-face with a ghost. “Darla?”

“Tim! It’s you!” she cheered, throwing herself at him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. “Finally!”

“But you’re -”

She shushed him, pressing her face into his shoulder. “We have plenty to talk about, but first I just want you to know that I’m back. I’m back for you, Tim. All I have to do is work off a debt, by killing the Bloody Robin. And then I’ll be free to be with you forever, Tim.”

“What!?”

“Tim? You okay in there?”

He pushed her away and leaned out the door to see Cullen standing in the hall. “Yeah, just got some old friends over. Nothing to worry about.”

“If you say so,” the other boy shrugged before slipping back into Jason’s room.

Tim considered questioning that for half a second before deciding he both wanted plausible deniability and had other things to worry about. He closed his door and pressed the button near the door to activate his room’s soundproofing.

Cullen was awfully nosy for someone who didn’t want to be a vigilante.

“What’s that?” Darla asked.

“Nothing. Let’s just start talking. Who knows how long everyone will stay away. A lot of people live here and none of them know how to mind their own business. I don’t want to risk any of them walking in right in the middle of something.”

She smiled and leaned up against him, eyes half-lidded. One of her fingers traced the edge of his athletic tank top as she said, “Oh? Okay, Tim. That’s not exactly what I had in mind in coming here today, but if you’re in the mood…”

“No!” He choked out, voice breaking and face heating up. “No, that’s not what I meant!”

Smirking, she raised an eyebrow and backed off. “I know. I’m messing with you.” She stepped back to sit down on the chest at the end of his bed. “I’m sorry, Tim, but you’re always so serious. I thought a little humor might break the tension a bit.”

“Fair enough,” he sighed, running a hand over his face. “But we need to talk about some serious things. First thing: You’re supposed to be dead. No, strike that. You were dead. I was there, and the medical reports only confirmed it. You died!”

“I know,” she said, voice soft. “By all means, let’s talk about this. We have to talk about it. But we should probably wait for Bernard.”

Bernard. Right. “You’re Laura.”

“Laura Fell. Nice to meet you.”

He nodded and turned towards his closet. “Right, well, I’m going to go get changed while we wait.”

She faux-pouted, looking him over. “Aw, but you look so good in that.” Her eyes caught on his arms. More accurately, they caught on his scars. “What happened?”

“Long story. Don’t worry about it?”

She studied his face for a moment. “They look old.” They were a few weeks old. He’d gotten into a tussle with some of Ivy’s sharper vines. “Is that why you live with Wayne?”

He shook his head and went into his closet, leaving the door cracked so they could talk. “My parents… weren’t the best, but they never raised a hand against me.”

“And Wayne?”

“Bruce would never forgive himself if he hurt any of us,” he said with certainty. They all had experience dragging their dad out of the guilt-fueled spirals he always went into whenever he got mind-controlled or accidentally went a little too hard during training. “I just got into an accident. They look worse than they are, promise.”

“Alright.”

They fell into a comfortable, if loaded, silence as he finished changing. When he came out, she was sitting at his desk and looking at the pictures he had hanging over it. She was looking at one of him and Stephanie before she turned back to him. “How’s Steph doing?”

“Good. I’d invite her over, but she agreed to help Dick out with something tonight.” That something being a drug bust. Stephanie had taken to Batgirl and her partnership with Nightwing far better than she had playing one half of Robin. Those two were a force to be reckoned with.

“You should still probably give her a call. Wouldn’t want her finding out you’ve got a girl in your room from someone else,” she said with a teasing wink.

“Oh, no, we’re not-Steph and I broke up last Spring.”

“Sorry.”

“No, it’s okay. It was mutual,” he said honestly. “Nothing happened, we were just… stagnant. We both love each other, but neither of us could say it was anything more than that. Like, if we’re in love, you know. There were a few other things, but yeah.”

She hummed, drawing circles on his desk. “So is there someone else now or…”

Tim sat down on his bed. “Darla, I think any possibility of romance between us will have to wait until I get over the fact that you’re alive somehow.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “I don’t know how it affected you, but I-I mourned you for a long time, it still hurts a little when I think about that day. You practically died in my arms.”

“Fair enough,” she said, ducking her head. She rolled her chair over to the bed and took his hand, squeezing it. “Take all the time you need. I’m not going anywhere.”

He stared at their hands for a moment. “Unless you get in trouble for trying to kill Robin.”

She pulled her hand back.

“Darla -”

His bedroom door cracked open. “Mr. Dowd has arrived, Master Tim.”

“Thanks, Alfred. You can let him in.”

Alfred didn’t bat an eye at Darla when he opened the door fully to let Bernard in. “Can I get you three some refreshments?”

“Strawberry latte?” he requested with pleading eyes. He had technically already had his blood for the day, but this felt like it was going to be a lot and a little extra blood and caffeine always made his head run a little smoother.

“Very well. And your guests? Miss Aquista, I seem to remember you quite liked my homemade blueberry tea the last time you were here.”

She frowned and met his eyes. “My name is Laura Fell.”

“My apologies, Miss Fell. Did you want the blueberry tea again or would you like to try something else?”

She stared at him blankly. “Uh, the tea would be nice.”

“Wonderful. And for you, Mr. Dowd?”

“Oh, uh, can I get one of those lattes too?”

“Of course,” he answered with perfect grace.

Tim hoped Bernard wouldn’t notice that his strawberry latte was darker and thicker than the actual strawberry one. “Thanks, Alfred.”

“Yeah, thanks.”

“Thank you.”

The butler nodded and took his leave.

“I swear that guy isn’t real,” Bernard said once the door was shut, coming over to sit next to Tim. “He’s just too perfect. A full-blown stereotype. And the way he talks, it makes me think he’s something out of an Eighteenth-century novel.”

Early nineteenth-century, but very close. “He’s just a really good butler.”

“One hell of a butler,” Darla muttered under her breath, only just loud enough for Tim to catch.

“What?”

She blushed and waved it off. “Nothing.”

“So, where are we at?” Bernard asked.

“Darla’s alive and wants to kill Robin?”

“Wait, what? You only told me you needed help balancing out the dark magic influence. You didn’t say anything about wanting to anger an entire family of demons by killing their baby!” he said, throwing his hands in the air. “Are you insane?”

“Baby?” Tim muttered, nose scrunched up.

“I don’t want to kill Robin, but I have to,” she said.

“What do you mean?”

She leaned back, frowning down at her lap. “My dad went a little crazy when I died. He told my nana he had me cremated and bribed the mortuary to sell the story so he could steal my body and take it on a world tour, trying to find someone who could bring me back. He ended up crawling to Johnny Warlock since Johnny worked for him before he got powers. He told Johnny he’d do anything to get me back, even die. So Johnny traded his life for mine.”

“Woah.”

“That’s…”

“Yeah. Even worse, there’s this demon attached to Johnny and a bit of its power is embedded in me. It ties us together, but the demon said he can break the tie. And so, Johnny agreed to let me go as long as I did this one little favor for him.”

“You have to kill Robin,” Tim said.

“Killing Robin is a little favor? You’re kidding, right?” Bernard deadpanned.

She shook her head. “Robin appears to be the weakest of the Colony. Aside from the shadow traveling all of them use and his multipresence, he doesn’t seem to have any abilities. He’s powerful, but I should be able to take him. That’s what’s so odd. Johnny has all of these amazing powers, more than me, but for some reason, he seems to have a special phobia of Robin.”

“He and Robin have history,” Bernard offered.

“Robin blew one of his hands off.”

The two turned to Tim, who shrugged awkwardly.

“At least, that’s what I read, uh, but who can trust anything you find on the internet?”

Bernard hummed and nodded. “You know, that makes sense. He was whole the last time anyone saw him, when he was still just Johnny Warren, which was a fight against Robin. Then he disappeared for a while before reappearing with a missing hand, magic powers, and a grudge against Robin. The first thing he did was spook a whole club of thugs then attack Robin and try to kill Spoiler. Do you remember her? She was a vigilante for a while and was sometimes spotted with the Colony, then she was sacrificed to the newly resurrected Red Hood.”

Tim frowned. “She wasn’t sacrificed.”

“Uh, yeah she was. Why do you think she disappeared right before he showed up? Batwoman sacrificed her. Either to bring Red Hood to life or to feed him right after he rose.”

That was a good point, actually. They’d never bothered to come up with an excuse for where Spoiler went. Most people didn’t even know she existed. He’d have to let the others know what theories were going around. Jason and Stephanie were going to love it.

“You two are getting off-topic,” Darla chuckled, watching them fondly. “You might be right, though. About Johnny’s hand, I mean. He is missing one. While Johnny was still unconscious, his pet demon told me Johnny could restore his hand in a day, except that he’s convinced it won’t work so it never does.”

“So he’s so afraid of Robin that his powers just don’t work? That makes no sense,” Bernard said.

“That’s the trouble with irrational fears: There’s no explaining them,” Tim pointed out. “And a lot of magic is rooted in will, thoughts, and/or emotions.”

Darla tilted her head. “So, how is it you suddenly know about magic? Don’t tell me always serious and practical Tim’s a closet occultist.”

“Not quite. The manor’s just got a lot of old, weird books and I get bored easily,” Tim waved it off. “Also, Bruce has some weird connections.”

“Told you,” Bernard said, tapping his foot against Darla’s. “Alright, so here’s what I’m taking away from this. We’ve got two main problems. Number one: You’re tied to Johnny Warlock. Number two: your magic’s corrupting you with darkness.”

“Your magic’s what?” Tim asked and Darla nodded with a frown.

“The powers that brought me back are evil. The darkness is always calling to me, drawing me into it, almost irresistibly. I try to fight it, but it’s so…” She buried her face in her hands.

Both boys grabbed her and pulled her between them on the bed to hug her.

“Hey, it’ll be okay. We’ll figure something out, just like I promised,” Bernard said.

“There’s got to be a way and we’ll find it,” Tim agreed. “Just don’t give up hope or the darkness will win.”

She pressed her face into Tim’s shoulder and grabbed Bernard’s hand. “A rich boy and a conspiracy theorist against a demon-powered sorcerer. I feel safe and free already.”

Bernard was really glad he’d told his parents he was going to the library instead of telling them he was going on a date. He was sure his mother, at least, would think his explanation about running into Tim after his car got totaled by supervillain nonsense and deciding to stay the night at the manor to reconnect was a cover for staying over at a girl’s house. Or worse, that he was dating Tim. His parents already thought Tim was a bad influence or something, he didn’t want them thinking he’d turned Bernard gay (which is also why they could never know he was starting to think Tim might have been his first genuine crush). Since they didn’t know about the date, though, they just begrudgingly agreed he could stay the night.

Alfred had shown him and Darla to guest rooms after a few hours of brainstorming, citing that fresh minds would help. The next morning Bernard followed his nose and old memories down to the dining room (the family one, because Wayne's money meant they also had a grand dining room that was just for special occasions).

Three unfamiliar faces were sitting at the table when he got there. The first was a young woman with a bright blue undercut who looked annoyingly put together as she worked on something with a tablet and stylus. The second was a teenage boy a few years younger than Bernard who had the same undercut, just brown, and appeared to be dozing off in his chair. The two were clearly siblings as they had the same long pale face, pointed nose, and narrow stormy gray eyes. The young girl between them had none of those traits. She was noticeably Asian and had a round face and nose with dark brown eyes and black, chin-length hair.

She stared at him for a moment and a chill went up his spine. Then she gave a sunny smile and waved, which got the others’ attention.

“Did Wayne get another one?” the woman asked.

“Nah,” the boy yawned and straightened up, revealing that he was wearing an overlarge shirt that proclaimed Waking up is hom*ophobic! in rainbow letters. “He’s probably one of the friends Tim had over last night.”

“Yeah, I am. I’m Bernard.”

“Cullen.”

“Harper. And this is Cass. She doesn’t talk.”

“That’s cool. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Sure. Take a seat. Alfred’s making breakfast for those of us who aren’t nocturnal,” Cullen said and Harper slapped his shoulder. “What?”

“You better wake up before Jason comes looking for the person who swapped all his classics with Shakespeare for Dummies and those cheesy modern translations.”

“He doesn’t respect true art,” he muttered.

Bernard took a seat on the other side of the table. “So are you guys family or friends or…”

“Friends,” Harper snorted. “I don’t think I could handle being related to any of Wayne’s brood, even if Cullen has a crush on Tim.”

“HARPER!”

“Wayne just helped me get custody of these two and helps fund Cass’s language therapy so the family’s kind of grown on us. Like fungus.”

“They’re not that bad. Certainly better than a snitch like you.”

“If you think Tim hasn’t noticed you’ve got another thing coming.”

“Seriously,” Bernard agreed. “He can be creepily observant sometimes.”

“Tell me about it,” a familiar voice yawned and Bernard turned to see Stephanie shuffling in.

“Hey.”

“Hey, Blond Two, long time no see. Timtam said you came over last night looking for help. You guys figure it out, whatever it is.”

“Not exactly.”

“That sucks.” She dropped into the seat next to him and flopped over onto the table. “Wake me up when breakfast arrives.”

“Why didn’t you just stay in bed?” Harper asked, pushing blonde hair away from her place setting.

“Promised Dick I’d make waffles for brunch, good waffles, which means I need to be awake enough by then to make them right. And I didn’t eat yesterday.”

“You didn’t eat at all?” Bernard asked, worried.

“Dinner,” she corrected. “I didn’t eat dinner yesterday. Last night. Whatever. I did eat like a proper human yesterday.”

Cullen snorted and Harper shook her head. Cass frowned and leaned over to pat Stephanie’s head.

She looked up to smile at the younger girl. “I’m alright, Cass. Thanks.”

Breakfast arrived shortly later. The siblings and Bernard all received a full English breakfast while Stephanie only got a protein shake. Bernard patted himself on the back once he saw the drink. The dark red color was the same as the one that had been on the edges of Tim’s drink the night before. He’d known something extra had to have been added to the drink and he’d guessed protein powder given how much Tim must have worked out to keep his physique. Turns out he was right.

Jason came in from the kitchen with his own plate not long after they started in while Darla appeared when they were about halfway done.

“Didn’t think you were going to make it to breakfast,” Bernard joked as she sat next to him.

“What can I say? I used to be an early riser, but now I sleep like the dead.”

Bernard wasn’t sure what, if anything, Tim told the others about what was going on, but at the very least Jason and Stephanie must have recognized Darla. He immediately started chuckling at the joke and held up his hand for a high-five while she groaned and booed.

Bernard just rubbed his face.

“Okay, that was bad taste,” Darla admitted. Her voice sounded apologetic, but he also spotted her accepting the high-five under the table. “Where’s Tim?”

“Probably still asleep,” Bernard guessed.

“Nah, he was using the phone in Bruce’s office when I came down,” Jason said.

“Did he even go to sleep last night?” Stephanie asked and he shrugged. “Sucks to be him when Boose finds out.”

Tim showed up just after Alfred had finished clearing the table. “Okay, so I made some calls and I’ve got a lead. Or at least I’ve got a lead on where we can get a lead.”

“Good morning to you too, Tiny Jay,” Jason snorted and Tim rolled his eyes.

“What’s the lead?” Darla asked.

“Zatanna.”

“And I think that’s our cue to head out,” Harper said and the three siblings took their leave.

“Zatanna. As in Zatanna Zatara. As in Zatanna from the Justice League. That Zatanna?” Bernard asked, glancing from the too-calm Waynes and Stephanie to the equally shocked Darla.

“Yes?”

“How did you contact Zatanna?”

“Bruce had her number in his phone.”

“He… He just has the number of a member of the Justice League on his phone?”

“In his defense, he met her when she was still pretending her magic tricks were fake. They were close back then so they still talk sometimes. Anyways, she’s in Metropolis right now helping Superman with something so she said she could come by around noon to see what’s going on.”

“She’s just going to ditch Superman to come talk to us?”

“She and Bruce were really close back then.” Jason wiggled his eyebrows.

“I’d ditch Superman for a potato chip,” Stephanie shrugged.

“It’s kind of her job to keep an eye on these kinds of things,” Tim pointed out.

“Your lives are insane,” Bernard said.

“Facts,” Stephanie agreed.

Chapter 12: YA Vampire Love Story: Part 4

Chapter Text

Darla tried not to fidget as glowing runes spun around her. She could feel the magic flowing off them, through her, and into other runes. Her eyes were locked on Bernard for support and not for the first time she wished Tim could be there too. For some reason, Zatanna insisted Bernard was the only one who could be in the room, or else the results of the ritual could be skewed. The magician herself was floating in front of Darla in the lotus position, hands held out in front of her with her palms out as she chanted.

After a few more minutes, she stopped. The runes began to dissipate as she unfolded her legs and dropped to the ground. “Alright, I got a good look.”

“What did you find out?”

“Do you mind your friends being here?” she asked and Darla shook her head. She looked over her shoulder at the door. “You can come back in now.”

Tim was through the door immediately. The teens sat down on a couch and Zatanna sat in an armchair across from them.

“So the demon wasn’t lying about the two of you being tied. When your father made his deal with it through the warlock, he unknowingly tied his essence to the demon. It’s a pretty common practice and it’s why we warn people about making deals with demons and devils without knowing what you’re doing.

“Now, technically the bond should have ended when your father died and his soul left this plane, but since the demon transferred your father’s life to you, he was able to use a bit of trickery to transfer the bond as well. Thankfully these kinds of backhanded bonds are pretty easy to untie. I can do it within the hour if Alfred’s garden is still as well-stocked as it was the last time I was here.”

“Probably more so,” Tim snorted.

She nodded. “The real problem is that you have a shard of demonic power in your heart. Metaphysically, I mean. Your physical heart is fine.”

“That’s what’s trying to turn her evil,” Bernard said.

“It’s a bit more complicated than that. It’s not turning her evil, so much as poisoning her heart. I’d make her more selfish, less empathic, more like the demon the power came from. With training, time, and great will she could fight off the poison, but there’s no telling how much of herself she could lose in the process.”

Tim grabbed Darla’s hand and Bernard wrapped his arm around her shoulders as she shrunk in on herself.

“There are other options though. The first would be an exorcism, but I don’t know if I could comfortably recommend that. You're at a liminal age, not the flexibility of youth or the strength of adulthood. Liminal spaces like that make it easier for demonic energy to latch on. You also have a compromised physical state, having been resurrected. Exorcism can be a strenuous process. I can’t guarantee what state you’d be in when it’s over, if it even works at all. I could have an associate of mine, John Constantine, take a look since he’s more experienced with exorcisms than I am, but I doubt he’d have good news.

“Another option would be to shift the shard to another place within your metaphysical body. Not your mind or core for obvious reasons, but I could move it to your magical well. The downside is that you don’t have the training or innate magical strength to balance out the power so your well will turn dark.”

“So she’ll just end up corrupted that way?” Bernard asked. “How is that any different than what’s happening now?”

“Dark magic isn’t corrupting,” Tim reassured, getting that tone in his voice that said he was slightly offended but didn't want anyone to know.

It was weird, but Darla didn't have a chance to think about it before Zatanna nodded and said, “Despite what popular culture would tell you, there isn’t anything inherently wrong with dark magic. Constantine and I even use dark magic sometimes and some heroes use primarily dark magic, like Raven and Kid Devil from the Titans. It isn’t evil. No more than light magic is good. The only problem that comes from having an aligned magical well is that it’s limiting. Those with dark magical wells can’t use light magic and vice versa. There would be many kinds of spells you wouldn’t be able to use until you’d undergone the years of exercises and meditation it would take to neutralize your well.

“The final option I could suggest would be confining the shard in a relic. It would still be connected to you, but it would be put into stasis so its poison wouldn’t spread. Unfortunately, since the shard is buried in your metaphysical heart, that would mean it would have to be confined in the relic as well.” She held up her hand as they opened their mouths. “It wouldn’t hurt. In the short term, it wouldn’t affect you at all. It just wouldn’t work in the long term. Your heart won’t develop in stasis, which means you’ll be trapped at this level of emotional maturity. You also won’t be able to create new emotional attachments or let go of old ones. You’ll be emotionally stagnant, and considering you’re a teenager… There’s also the need to protect the relic. If the warlock realizes what we’ve done, he may come after it to get to you.”

“Nothing stays hidden forever and there’s only so much protection you can give something without devoting your entire life to standing watch over it,” Tim said and Zatanna gave a wry smile.

“That sounds familiar.”

“Since you’re worried, I’m guessing this is a destroy the box, destroy the heart situation.”

“Yes.”

“You mean he’d kill me if he could find the relic and smash it?” Darla said, squeezing Tim’s hand.

“It wouldn’t kill you, but you’d be emotionally dead. Before you make any jokes, I mean that literally. You wouldn’t be able to experience even the slightest of emotions. I’d say you’d be robotic, but I’ve met many robots that have at least a sense of self-preservation, and you wouldn’t even have that. As I said, it would work in the short-term, but it could get very dangerous long-term.”

Darla nodded, looking to Tim for help.

Zatanna stood. “I’ll let you think this over while I gather what I need to untie you from the demon.”

“Thank you.”

“What are you thinking?” Bernard asked once she was gone, rubbing Darla’s arm.

“There doesn’t really seem to be a choice,” she said, pressing into him and tugging Tim closer. “I can’t stay like this. I know she said there’s a chance I could fight it off, but I don’t think so. I’m already trying. I’m trying so hard to hold onto my humanity, and being here with you both helps, but I don’t think I can make it much longer. And I don’t… The warnings she gave for exorcism and the relic scare me. I just came back to life. I don’t want to risk anything like that.”

“That’s completely understandable,” Tim said and Bernard nodded.

“What about having her move the demon stuff into your magic?”

“So long as it really won’t corrupt me, then I don’t care. I didn’t ask for this magic and I’m not planning to be a hero or anything. I just want to get back as much of my life as I can.” She liked her new magic, but she’d give it up in a second to keep the darkness away.

“It won’t, I promise,” Tim said.

“B’s going to kill us when he finds out about this,” Robin whispered as she and Robin slipped through the shadows of St. Louis Cemetery No. 1.

“Probably,” he admitted. “I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to head back. There’s no reason for you to get in trouble too.”

“No way. We’re Robin, we fly together or we don’t fly. I’m just saying, we’re going to need an alibi. It’s too late for Mardi Gras, so what other reason could we have for being in New Orleans?”

“Do you think B would believe any excuse we could come up with?”

“True. Guess we’ll just have to say goodbye to the capes for the next month. Do you think -” she cut off as he held up his hand.

“That’s the entrance,” he trilled, pointing at a mausoleum just ahead of them.

“Why do you think he’s coming to this one?”

“He flew in from Istanbul this morning and booked a room at a hotel in the French Quarter. This is the closest entrance to the bar.”

“And you’re sure about getting involved? The whole reason Z left her at the bar was so the team could watch her back. They’ll be able to take JW,” she trilled, setting her hand on his shoulder. Batman had already had a pretty good amount of information on the Shadowpact even before Zatanna had suggested Darla stay with the team while she prepared for the ritual that would shift the demonic energy. They sounded more than competent enough to protect her.

“I know, but she’s my friend. If I can keep him from even getting that close, I will. Besides, I have an idea.”

“Is it a good idea or a Tim Idea?”

“Tim Ideas are good ideas.”

“Tim.”

“Just trust me, Bette.”

“You said the exact same thing last month and I ended up having to stay home from school for a week because my face was bright purple.”

“How was I supposed to know the pollen stain wouldn’t wash out?” he trilled, throwing his hands up. “The plan worked perfectly otherwise.”

“Stephanie still has pictures and hasn’t stopped making jokes about how I’m trying to steal her title.”

He just snickered so she punched his arm.

Whistling echoed through the cemetery and the two slipped deeper into the shadows.

“There,” she trilled, pointing towards an approaching figure.

“Heading across.” He tucked himself deeper in his cloak, pulling his hood further over his face, then slipped from shadow to shadow until he was on the other side of the pathway the figure was walking down.

Robin watched as Johnny Warlock walked toward them with a swagger in his step. She thought he looked rather… normal for a supervillain. Especially one who came from Gotham. He had fair skin and long blonde hair that was pulled back in a ponytail. He wore black pants and shoes paired with a dark blue jacket. Underneath the jacket, he wore a black t-shirt and stump sock.

He was just a normal guy. There were no wacky physical traits or eccentric costume pieces. He looked like he just got done with his bar job. Where was the pizzazz?

As Johnny grew close, Robin trilled, “Engaging.”

“What?” Robin trilled back at him, but he didn’t respond.

He slid out of the shadows to stand in Johnny’s way. He tilted his head back and to the side so his hood slithered off his head. “Johnny Warren.”

The man froze, staring at Robin. “What are you doing here?”

He smiled, showing off bloody fangs. “Hunting.”

Johnny took a step back, then his eyes darted down to his chest. He straightened up, though Robin could still see the nerves in his stance. He gestured to his neck. “Heard daddy got a little mad at you.”

Snickering, Robin fell into a crouch in quick, jerky intervals. He tapped his claws against the paving stones. “Batman made me stronger, but you are just the same as last time. It will be even easier to beat you this time.”

“Tim,” Robin trilled with a hiss.

“Stay back, Batman,” he called back, glancing behind him. “No need to bother yourself. I’ve beaten him before. He doesn’t have near the powers I do.”

“Is that what you think?” Johnny growled, his eyes lighting up with sickly yellow power. “IS THAT WHAT YOU THINK?”

Robin jerked forward when the warlock unleashed a powerful wave of energy on her other half, but forced herself to stay hidden.

To her surprise, Robin looked completely unharmed even as the power continued to flow over him. He just smiled wider, his head tilting in that unnatural way Nightwing had taught him. He giggled, “Is that all you got?”

All at once, the energy cut out. Johnny fell to his hands and knees, face almost on the ground. “I-I can’t do it! I can’t beat him! He’s right! He’s got better powers than me!” He shook his head. “No, that’s why he was able to beat me before. His magic powers… That’s the only way he ever could’ve beaten me before.”

Robin crawled up to the warlock and threw a handful of glittering power in his face to hide the tranquilizing mist he used. “Go to sleep, Johnny.”

Once he confirmed Johnny was out, Robin came out of hiding. “How did you know he’d fold like that?”

“Something Darla said. Come on. Let’s wrap him up for the Pact to find.”

Darla stuck close to Enchantress as she watched Nightmaster and Detective Chimp discuss what to do with Johnny. She turned away and her eyes caught on Ragman and Nightshade, who were muttering over a sheet of paper. “What’s that?”

Ragman looked up at her and held it out. “We found it stuck to the warlock, but we can’t make heads or tails of it. Does it make any sense to you?”

She took the paper to see it was a note.

Thank you for not trying to kill me. We don’t like fighting innocents. Keep out of our way and we’ll stay out of yours if you wish to come home.

In place of the signature, a robin had been stamped onto the paper with the blood-red ink having been left to drip and smear.

“Well?” Nightshade asked. “What do you think it could mean?”

“No idea,” Darla said, handing the letter back with relief warming her chest.

Bernard glared at his ex-friends. Ex because true friends wouldn’t laugh at him like Darla and Tim were. “I didn’t say I thought he was hot! I said that he’d be hot if he was human.”

“That really isn’t better,” she snickered.

He waved his phone -- which was displaying a picture of Corvid -- at them. “It is too! And besides, he doesn’t even look demonic like the others! See! You could totally imagine him as a human under the wings, talons, and fangs. He’s all lithe and that suit only enhances that. His hair looks super soft and his eyes are this really pretty blue color.”

“You can’t see his eyes.”

He rolled his eyes. “The glow is his eye color, Tim. You know, a lot of people think he’s an angel that the Colony enslaved. I could totally buy that it’s his heavenly light peeking through.”

Tim rolled his eyes, this time. “Sure.”

“You know what, Tim -”

“Okay, calm down you two,” Darla chuckled. “You know we’re just teasing. I use demonic magic and Tim’s got a crush on an alien clone from Metropolis.”

“What? No I don’t!”

“Do you think either of us actually judge you for having a crush on a member of the Colony? Especially one who doesn’t even look demonic, huh?”

“You both are the worst,” Bernard huffed, putting his phone away.

“Speaking of demonic magic, how’s that going?” Tim asked. “Was your trip fun? Where’d Enchantress take you this time?”

“Gemworld. It was… colorful,” Darla said, smiling. “More so than any of the other places we’ve gone. It was a nice change of pace, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen Nightshade look so weirded out. My magic also wasn’t too happy. Apparently, the world’s natural magic is light instead of neutral like most places or dark like a lot of demonic realms. Enchantress wants me to spend some time there since being around so much light magic will help stretch my magical well, which will make it easier for me to neutralize it.”

“Cool. So are you heading back there after the party?” Bernard asked, gesturing around at the picnic they’d set up on top of Wayne Tower.

“In the morning. But I’m going to try to make it back to Earth at least once a week, promise.”

Tim frowned. “Wait, how long is some time?”

“A few months,” she admitted, leaning back. “And if it goes well, she might send me to a few other light worlds.”

“So we’re both leaving then?” Bernard sighed, pouring a glass of the fairy wine Darla had brought (she said not to call it that, but she also didn’t deny that it was made by fairies so he was sticking to his guns).

“His parents told him they’d pay for whatever his scholarship doesn’t cover as long as he goes to any school outside of the Gotham area,” Tim explained when she looked confused.

“What? Why would they want you to leave? Gotham and Summerset have some of the least expensive, high-quality schools in the country. And Wayne will pay for the schooling of anyone in the area who’s brave enough to ask him on Twitter.”

“She’s not wrong. And Bruce knows you. He’d probably pay for your schooling even if you didn’t ask. That’s what he did for Barbara, to her consternation, and we’re all betting on how Steph’s going to react when her mom breaks the news.”

Bernard groaned. “They think it will do my righteous Christian soul some good to be away from this hell-ridden city. Honestly, I think that if God actually had a problem with the Colony he would have gone Sodom and Gomorrah on us years ago.”

“I’d love to see the look on their faces if you told them that,” she said.

“Do you think it’d be better or worse than the looks on their faces when they found out that nice Catholic girl Laura practiced witchcraft?” Tim joked.

“Don’t remind me. You know, they still blame you for introducing us,” Bernard huffed. “Even though I keep telling them it was the other way around.”

“Of course they do. I don’t think your parents are ever going to like me.”

“At least you’re a step up from me now,” Darla said, poking his cheek.

“I still don’t know what they even have against me.”

“Who knows?” Bernard shrugged. “It could be anything from that hickey you had when they first met you -”

“It wasn’t a hickey!”

“- to Brucie’s reputation.”

“He hasn’t even been that bad for years!

“You still haven’t explained why you’re leaving Gotham,” Darla chuckled. “Just have Brucie cover the costs if your parents won’t.”

“I guess I could, but taking my parents’ deal means I can get my parents to buy me a pretty good apartment so I won’t have to share a dorm. Plus, National University has a really good acting program.”

“Your parents are letting you go into acting?” she said, surprised.

“For some reason, my parents are under the impression I’m majoring in business instead of minoring in it. It’s the strangest thing.”

“Very strange.”

“Downright bizarre.”

“What about you, Tim?” Darla asked. “Are you abandoning our lovely city as well or are you going to attend GU?”

An explosion echoed over the rooftops and Tim brought a hand up to rub his face. “No. To both maybe. I’m not sure I want to go to college, no matter how much Jason’s nagging me about it.”

“Jason, not Bruce?”

“Bruce and Dick got into a really big fight when Dick decided not to go to college so now he’s paranoid about pressuring the rest of us into anything.”

“You’re, like, a genius though,” Bernard pointed out. “Why wouldn’t you go to college?”

Tim shrugged. “I don’t like school. It’s all just boring busywork. I could learn things faster on my own. Lucius Fox -- he helps Bruce run WE -- said I could intern at the company over the summer to start learning how it works. If I do well, he said he might be able to get me in on a more full-time job and I can start working up the ranks.”

“And you don’t need a degree for that?” Darla asked.

“Nah. That was one of the inclusivity projects Bruce put forward. I only need to prove that I have the knowledge and capability to do the job. Bruce hated that capable people were being turned away just because they didn’t have the time, money, or desire to go to school.”

“Nice. How come Jason and Dick didn’t take Fox up on the offer then?”

“I don’t think he ever offered it to them. He likes me best. Probably because I do Bruce’s work for him sometimes when Bruce gets caught up in other things.”

“Seriously?”

“You’re kidding.”

“Nope. I think Lucius wants to groom me as the next CEO so he can kick Bruce out as soon as possible. Bruce would probably like that too… Actually, maybe that’s why he hasn’t argued over me not going to school.”

“You’ll be CEO before I graduate, I’m calling it now,” Bernard proclaimed.

“He’ll be CEO by this time next year,” Darla countered.

“True.”

Tim shook his head and stole Bernard’s fairy wine.

Chapter 13: YA Vampire Love Story: Part 5

Chapter Text

Tim fidgeted with his jacket (correction: Dick’s jacket. Shoot, he must have grabbed one from his stolen stash without thinking) as he looked around Bincy’s Bar and Grill. He shoved the feeling that he should be out there working as far down as it could go. Nightwing and Batgirl could handle the case on their own for a few hours. It was fine. Bernard had finally gotten some free time between moving back into his parents’ house, setting up his gear in the office space he was renting, and catching up on the work he’d missed during the move so Tim was looking forward to seeing him. Since Bernard’s parents had flown out to National City for the winter holidays, Tim hadn’t seen him in person in nearly a year.

They were supposed to do something for Spring Break with Darla, but then Scarecrow had broken out and Amethyst had asked Darla for help with some territory dispute and time in Gemworld had gone funny again. They’d both apologized, but Bernard had just laughed it off and told them it was fine.

Now they were both in the same city with nothing else to do (Nightwing and Batgirl didn’t need him!) and Bernard had asked him if he wanted to get dinner together. It was fine.

Why was he so nervous?

“Tim!”

Tim spun around when he felt a hand on his shoulder, smiling at the familiar blond connected to it.

“Bernard! There you are.” The two hugged then Tim gestured towards the tables. “Wanna go sit down? I hear this place has good burgers.

“They sure do.” Bernard wrapped his arm around him and they started to walk. “But just to be clear, we’re not splitting the bill, Mr. CEO.”

Tim placed his hand on his chest dramatically. “I see how it is. You only like me for my money.”

“Since the beginning, Wayne. Keep up.”

The two laughed as they took their seats.

“So how’s the channel doing?” Tim asked.

“What, you haven’t been keeping up with it?”

“Bernard, you know I care about you and want to support you, but I’ve been listening to your crazy conspiracy theories since junior year. I don’t need to watch you make a fool of yourself on the internet.”

“They’re not crazy!”

He gave Bernard a blank look. “Last week you tried to convince me Lois Lane was Wonder Woman.”

“You don’t know she isn’t. Why else do you think she and Superman are so close when she’s already married with kids? It’s because they’re teammates!”

“It’s because she has no self-preservation when it comes to a scoop and, as a result, Superman’s learned to keep an ear out for her.”

“Why would he put in so much effort for one random reporter?”

“Why would he if she was Wonder Woman? Wouldn’t she be able to get out of trouble on her own?”

“That’s what she and Superman want us to think.”

“Oh my God. Why did I miss you again?”

Bernard smirked and leaned over the table. “It’s because I’m amazing.”

“Sure.”

He pouted at Tim’s dismissive tone.

“So really, the channel’s looking good. You’ve got some really good points on your current event and pop culture stuff, when you’re not going off on crazy tangents. Are you working on something big for your anniversary? You’ve been in Gotham for over a month and this is the first chance I’ve gotten to see you. It must be keeping you busy.”

Bernard smiled, but there was something off about it and one of his hands drifted to the other wrist. “I -”

CRASH!

Tim spun around as screams filled the air.

A horned figure was crouched on a planter with a waiter bleeding out on the floor below them.

“So ordered. So mannered. Disgusting!” the figure said, their voice a warped croak.

“The waiter! He’s dead!” someone yelled.

“It’s time for Gotham to experience a little chaos.”

What was going on? Was that the chaos monster he and the others had been looking for? The one who’d been spiriting teens and young adults away without anyone spotting them? Why would they show themselves now? Unless they were getting bolder, which meant this could get very dangerous very fast.

“Bernard, get under the table,” Tim said, grabbing Bernard’s arm and tugging him down as he hit the hidden distress beacon on his watch.

Unfortunately, the monster headed right for them.

Tim pushed Bernard back when they grabbed the table and tossed it aside. He kicked them, then tried to follow up with a punch, but they caught his arm.

“You dare fight chaos?” They slammed against the floor, knocking the breath out of him. A device on their wrist released a plume of power into his face and his eyes widened as he recognized the scent of chloroform. “Embrace me.”

He tried to hold his breath, but his lungs weren’t cooperating after hitting the ground so hard. His vision blurred, then went dark.

Tim shifted in faux-fear as the two masked monsters dragged him down a hallway. “What’s going on? Where are you taking me?”

“Hush. You will have all the answers you seek soon.”

Tim considered where to go from there.

He, Nightwing, and Batgirl had deduced that there was a connection between the Chaos Monsters and a new cult called the Children of Dionysus. They were a cult that believed the answers to all of life’s questions could be found through pain. They’d turned up evidence that most, if not all, of the kidnapped kids were initiates or members of the cult.

Including Bernard, who’d been spotted with welts on his arms and legs by some of the guys who worked at the same office building he used.

Tim had infiltrated the cult as an initiate, and the cult had taken the bait that was Tim Wayne. He’d let the Chaos Monsters take him when the cult practically delivered him to them on a silver platter and Batgirl followed using the tracker he’d hidden in his shoes. Nightwing was supposed to be with them, but they hadn’t anticipated Tim would be taken on his first day so he had taken the night off to spend time with his partners. Thankfully Batwoman and Red Hood were close by if Batgirl saw something that made her think they needed backup and Tim had a distress beacon on him if something went wrong on his end.

Since no one had given him a sign or intervened yet, he figured it was better to just play along. But in what way? Should he play the fearful kidnappee that frets quietly, the too-used-to-this Tim Wayne that starts offering rewards for letting him go, the stereotypical rich boy that threatens retribution, or the cult brainwashed fanatic who obeys without question?

He didn’t have a chance to decide before both monsters released him, collapsing with quiet grunts. He pulled his hands free from the cuffs he’d already picked and pulled the bag off his head.

“The prisoners are just ahead, but six of them are missing, Bernard included. The others said they were taken away,” Batgirl said and held out his backpack.

He nodded and slipped into a nearby closet. A few moments later, Corvid stepped out. “Get those ones out, I’ll find the others.”

“Corvid.”

“Go.”

She huffed and ran off down the hall, disappearing from sight after two steps.

Corvid climbed up onto the ceiling and crawled down an adjoining hall. He searched the building until he came to a large room with a cell to one side and an altar in the center. Chaos monsters surrounded the altar with one lifting a large knife above it.

Bernard was tied to the altar.

Before Corvid could react, the knife went down.

He screeched and launched himself at the monsters. He slashed at them, dropping them quickly with his poisoned talons. Batgirl joined him at some point, but he didn’t notice as he sliced his way to the altar.

He cut Bernard loose and pressed his hand against the wound. He patted Bernard’s cheek with the other. “Hey, can you hear me?”

Bernard stared blankly up at him with glassy eyes.

“No, no, no.”

“Corvid.”

He turned to see Batgirl standing in the middle of downed monsters. “I-I need to get him out of here.”

She looked Bernard over and her body drooped. When she trilled, her voice was apologetic. “Tim.”

“I’m getting him out.”

“… Okay. Go.”

He carefully picked Bernard up and carried him out as Batgirl checked all the monsters to make sure they’d stay down until the police arrived.

When he got to Batgirl’s bike, he laid Bernard down and grabbed her medkit. He started applying first aid, but from this close, he could hear Bernard’s heart failing.

“Come on, Bernard. You need to be okay,” he whispered as he thought over what he could do. He didn’t have the tools or experience needed to patch up a wound like this. He had blood, but he didn’t think a transfusion would do much good when he could smell the blood pouring straight out of his heart and into the air. He activated his comm. “Oracle, ETA on first responders?”

“Five minutes.”

Bernard didn’t have five minutes.

Corvid turned off his comm, then cupped his friend’s face. “Bernard, please, I need you to focus on me. Please.”

“C-vid,” he slurred, blinking slowly.

“Yes, it’s me. I can save you, but… it’s going to change you. You won’t be the same if I do this, and you won’t be able to go back. Okay?”

There was a moment of nothing before Bernard smiled. “Knew you were an angel. Voice is so pretty.”

“Bernard, please.”

“Like Tim. So pretty. ‘Is face is pretty too. Wish could’a finished ‘r date.”

Corvid’s face flushed under his white face paint.

Oh.

No, that wasn’t important right now. “Focus, please. Can I help you?”

Bernard closed his eyes. “Pl-s.”

Corvid didn’t waste a moment before sinking his fangs into Bernard’s neck.

Being turned couldn’t fix everything, but there were some things it would heal if you acted fast enough. Patching up punctured organs was one of those things. As important as it was, the heart was still just an organ.

Corvid grabbed a bag of blood from the hidden compartment on Batgirl’s bike and cut it open with the scissors from the medkit. He brought it to Bernard’s lips and urged him to, “Drink.”

Bernard didn’t respond.

He poured some blood into Bernard’s mouth and massaged his throat until he swallowed. He fed him the whole bag like this then checked his status.

No change.

“Come on.”

He grabbed a second bag then bit him and fed him again. When Bernard just continued to get worse, he did it a third time.

When he checked after, his heart had stopped.

“No, no, no!” he sobbed and started CPR. “Why isn’t it working? Come on, Dowd! Don’t give up on me like this!”

Tears gathered behind his cowl and his vision blurred.

Short blond hair was replaced by long black hair. White, but tanned skin turned a warm olive. Glassy dark blue eyes took the place of empty gray-green ones.

“I can’t do this again!” he hissed between sobs and rescue breaths. “Do you hear me? If you make me do this again I’ll-I’ll…”

He broke down, ducking his head.

Thump.

He froze, listening, and sobbed with relief when he heard Bernard’s heart beat again, then again. It slowly gained strength with the tell-tale sounds of a turning as Bernard took gasping breaths.

“It’s working,” Corvid sighed, pressing his face into Bernard’s collarbone. “It’s finally working.”

He called his bike to him and turned his comm back on.

“Corvid?” Oracle said immediately.

“Corvid, I swear -” Batgirl started.

“I’m leaving. Call in the reds to watch your back on cleanup.”

“Cor-”

Tim cut his comm again.

“Then Cyborg called up the big guy and -”

“With a thousand lies and a good disguise,” sounded Dick’s phone, interrupting Wally’s story to tell everyone Tim was calling. “Hit ‘em right between the eyes! Hit ‘em right between the eyes!”

Dick dug the phone out of his pocket, giving his partners an apologetic smile.

“When you walk aw-”

“What’s up, Tim? You know I’m off ton-”

“Dick! I need your help!”

Frowning, Dick stood up and started heading for the secret panel that hid his Nightwing gear. “What’s wrong? Are you hurt? I thought BG was watching you back tonight. Is she okay?”

“She’s fine. I’m fine. It’s… I’m sorry! But he was bleeding so much and I just… I wasn’t thinking, Dick. And now it’s finally sinking in and I don’t know what to do. I wasn’t thinking. sh*t! sh*t! sh*t! B is going to kill me!”

“Hey, hey, hey! Take a deep breath, Tiny Jay. Where are you?”

“My apartment. I didn’t know where else to take him.”

Him? Dick turned back to his partners, putting his phone on mute. “I’m sorry, but I need to go. Something’s wrong with Tim. He said he’s okay, but he’s panicking.”

“It’s fine. We can have date night another time,” Artemis said and Wally nodded.

“Want me to run you over?”

“Please. His apartment,” Dick said and unmuted his phone. “I’ll be there in a second.”

Suddenly Dick and Wally were standing on Tim’s balcony.

“Literally.” He pressed a kiss to his fiancé’s cheek before the man sped off.

Tim was at the door to the balcony a moment later, looking pale but thankfully unharmed.

Not counting the fact he was covered in blood, since Dick could smell that none of it was his little brother’s.

“What happened?”

“He-I could hear him dying. The first responders weren’t going to get there in time and I couldn’t…”

“Tim?” Dick set his hands on his shoulders. “I need you to breathe. Can you match my breathing?”

Tim shook his head and dragged Dick into the apartment, tugging him into the guest bedroom where a young man was unconscious on the bed.

He was blond, fair, and seemed familiar, though Dick couldn’t place a name to the face. Bandages were wrapped around his chest with a lump of gauze over his left breast and a blood bag was connected to his arm. There were three bites on his neck, just two pricks each that had already closed up and were left open to the air.

The pieces coming together, Dick knelt next to the bedside so he could hear the blond’s heartbeat.

Two slushing flumps then one too fast thump. Two slushing flumps then one too fast thump. Three slushing flumps then one too fast thump.

Tim knew Bruce would be mad. Tim was still in his Corvid suit. The first responders weren’t going to get there in time.

“You turned him,” Dick said, standing back up. “Tim -”

“I know.”

“You can’t just turn people.” They’d all thought about it. They could save lives that would otherwise be lost with just a bite and some blood, but turning random people raised all sorts of issues. That was how you got newborn vampires with god complexes or vendettas, mobs running around with silvered mirrors and wooden steaks, innocent people dying in witch hunts, and canine populations getting mercilessly cut down by hunters with silver bullets. Countless people, human and vampire alike, had been killed by reckless turning.

“I know! But they stabbed Bernard in the heart and the first responders weren’t going to be there for twenty minutes and I couldn’t just let him die!”

Bernard. Dick sighed as the familiarity clicked into place.

They were going to need to have a talk about this, likely one about informed consent (this was starting to look like a pattern so Dick made a note to either include Bernard in the conversation or have one with him separately). However, that could wait.

His little brother had just had his friend dying in his arms.

“It’s okay,” he said softly, pulling Tim into his arms. “Bernard’s going to be okay. We’ll talk about the how later. Did you get him all patched up?”

Tim nodded. “The bite did most of the work.”

“Then let’s just let him rest. Come on.” He lead Tim back out to the living room and they curled up on the couch.

“I asked him. Before. I wouldn’t have done it if he didn’t agree.”

“I know, bud.” He knew Tim would ask, but he also knew that Bernard bleeding out meant any conversation they could have had would have had a time limit on it. There was no way Tim could have told Bernard everything he needed to know and given him the time he needed to properly consider everything he was agreeing to. “How about I make you some coffee and we’ll play a video game or something until you’ve calmed down a little more? He won’t be awake until morning so we have time.”

“You don’t need to baby me,” Tim huffed.

Dick pressed a kiss to the top of his head, then stood. “I’m not babying you. And even if I was, it’d be my job as your big brother.”

When he woke, Bernard’s chest stung and his head felt like it was floating. He tried to roll over, then paused when he felt something tug at his arm. He only realized it was an IV after he’d tugged it out and brought it up to his face. Inside was… It looked like blood, but it smelled like nothing he’d ever smelled before. It smelled good, though, and something told him to stick the end in his mouth and drink.

He dropped it and pushed himself up on shaky arms as he tried to figure out where he was.

He’d… been on a date… with Tim. He’d finally gotten up the courage to ask and Tim had said yes. They’d gone out… for burgers. It had been nice then… There was an attack. A supervillain or something had shown up and killed someone. They’d hidden, but… the villain had gone after them and Tim… Tim…

He had to be okay. He’d gone down hard and hadn’t gotten up, but he had to be okay. He couldn’t be dead. He couldn’t.

But Bernard hadn’t been able to check because the villain had grabbed him and dragged him off. He’d tried to fight, but then he’d suddenly felt tired. Then he was in a van. Then a building, trapped with about a dozen others. Then they’d been separated and there’d been something about a sacrifice and Bernard had been tied to an altar and…

Then Corvid had been there, with his heavenly eyes focused just on Bernard. He’d offered to save him and Bernard had agreed because he’d been right. Corvid was an angel. Corvid was an angel and he’d come to see Bernard off to heaven. That was why Bernard could understand him now and it was what Corvid meant when he said he’d be changed.

Or maybe it wasn’t what he meant, a smaller part of him had suggested. It was possible the Colony’s influence was too strong and the change was going to be Corvid planting demonic or angelic energy within him like Batman had done to Catwoman and Johnny Warlock’s demon had done to Darla. That would be okay, though. Tim and Darla would help him through it the same way he and Tim had helped Darla.

At least he’d be alive, if that was the case.

He didn’t want to die, eternal damnation or not.

Jesus probably wouldn’t mind, the same way he knew Jesus wouldn’t mind him being gay.

His parents would probably kill him if they found out.

And blame Tim.

God, Tim was pretty. Like Corvid was pretty. They were both pretty.

And Bernard was dying.

Corvid had seemed pretty worried about that despite saying he’d save him.

And then…

Bernard rubbed his forehead, but it didn’t help make his thoughts any less jumbled.

Corvid must have managed to save him, and not by taking him to heaven since he didn’t think there was supposed to be pain in heaven.

A sharp pain sliced through his chest as he turned to hang his legs over the edge of the bed and look around the room he was in. It was a bedroom, a guest one given the lack of anything more personal than a couple of signed movie posters hanging in thick frames on the walls. The view of the night skyline outside the window was almost the same as the one from Tim’s office in Wayne Tower, which told him he was probably in some Diamond District penthouse apartment.

Did Corvid have an apartment? Had he left Bernard in some random guy’s upscale apartment? Had he left him in Tim’s upscale apartment? That was going to be awkward to explain.

Slowly, he pushed himself onto his feet and shuffled out of the room. He went down the hall to a familiar living room. Tim and Dick were on the couch playing video games. Both were covered in blood, Tim more so than his brother. Dick was wearing bright yellow leggings and a Flash hoodie while Tim was… was…

“Corvid!?”

Chapter 14: YA Vampire Love Story: Part 6

Chapter Text

“Corvid!?”

Tim and Dick dropped their controllers as they looked up at Bernard in shock. Tim jumped off the couch and raced towards him while Dick looked him up and down with a frown.

“He shouldn’t have woken up this quickly,” Dick said to himself.

“How are you feeling? Does anything hurt?” Tim asked, checking Bernard over for a moment before slipping under his arm to help support him. “Let me help you.”

“You’re Corvid.”

Tim looked away. “What are the chances I could convince you it’s cosplay?”

Bernard stared at him.

“Yeah, I figured.” He helped Bernard over to the couch and Dick got up so Bernard could lay down.

“You’re an angel.”

Tim flushed.

Dick snorted and turned towards the kitchen. “I’m going to grab him something to drink.”

“I’m not an angel,” Tim said, sitting next to Bernard’s hip.

“A demon then,” he sighed. It sucked that his theory was wrong, but they couldn’t all be right. “Wait, you’ve listened to me talk about my theories for years and never said anything!”

Tim opened his mouth.

“Hold on, I’d known you for years before Corvid showed up. How does that work?”

Tim closed his mouth and put his face in his hands.

“And what’s the deal with Wayne? Does he know you’re a demon? Is he a demon? Are all your siblings demons? Oh my God! Your whole family’s the Colony! But how can Wayne be a demon? He had parents. Well-known parents from a well-known family. Was he possessed? Are you possessed? Should I call Darla?”

“I thought you explained it to him before you turned him,” Dick said, coming out with a steaming mug.

Flinching, Tim moved his hands from holding his face to tugging on his hair. “I might have just told him he was going to change, but not what he was, you know, going to change into, exactly.”

“Tim!”

“I told you I wasn’t thinking straight. He was dying and I had to move fast.”

Dick pinched the bridge of his nose and passed Bernard the mug, which looked and smelled exactly like what had been in the IV.

“What is this?”

Dick gave Tim a pointed look.

“Blood,” Tim said, face blank.

Bernard tried to pass the cup back to Dick. “I’m good.”

“It’ll help you feel better,” Tim insisted.

“I know you grew up with stuff like blood pudding and old British home remedies, but -”

“Actually, Tim grew up almost entirely on human blood and coffee,” Dick snorted and Tim jabbed him in the side.

“Oh. Uh, yeah, that makes sense.” Right, Tim was a demon. Demons would eat… yeah.

Tim sighed. “Bernard, I’m not-My family aren’t demons. Or angels or anything like that. Bruce just played it up when people started saying Batman was a demon because of the fear it inspired. We can’t do all the stuff people seem to think we can, like traveling through shadows or ripping our heads off and putting them back on. It’s just a lot of training and makeup.”

“Robin can move so fast it’s like he’s in two places.”

“Carrie and Damian are both Robin. Robin has mostly been two people ever since Jay and I shared the role after I joined the family.”

“Batgirl can turn invisible.”

“Cloaking device.”

“You can fly.

“Jetpack.”

“Nightwing has no bones.”

“Dick’s just like that.”

“Lark can see the future.”

“Oh, Duke actually can do that. He’s a meta with photokinetic abilities,” Dick chimed in. “He’s the light sheep of the family, if you will.”

Tim jabbed him again.

“So most of the Colony are just normal humans.” That was certainly not an idea he’d ever considered or heard of. It explained how fit Tim’s family was, though, and quite a few other things too. “But then what did you mean about changing me? And what’s with the blood?”

“I didn’t say we were human,” Tim argued. “We’re just a lot lower on the power scale and we don’t really use what little powers we do have in the field.”

“So you’re metas?” But then why act like Duke was the exception.

“No, we’re, uh… vampires.”

Bernard stared at Tim for a moment, then looked up at Dick.

He gave a comforting smile, which showed off a pair of fangs.

“Tim, I’ve seen you out during the day before,” Bernard said slowly. Then the blood left his face. “Wait, was Stephenie Meyer right?”

Dick burst out laughing.

“Please don’t ever say that in Jason’s presence,” Tim begged, pushing his brother away when he tried to use him as a crutch. “Sunlight doesn’t affect us at all. We do lose our powers during the day, though, which is where the idea of us being creatures of the night came from.

“No sparkles,” Dick cackled with a nod.

“Jason’s going to fill your bed with glitter again,” Tim hissed.

“And I’ll rock it again.”

“But will Artemis?”

Dick flinched as he sobered up.

Bernard looked between them with a frown. He still had so many questions, but first, “So that explains the blood, but not the saving me thing.”

“I turned you,” Tim said. “It was the only way to save you.”

“But I can’t be turned.”

The brothers stared at him.

“What do you mean?” Tim asked.

“Remember how you bailed on Easter horror night?”

“You guys celebrate Easter with horror movies?” Dick muttered.

“Jesus rose from the grave so I suggested we watch zombie movies to celebrate. You know, in respect to their religions,” Tim explained to his brother quickly before turning back to his friend. “In my defense, Joker had hidden egg bombs all over the city so it was all hands on deck. I didn’t want to ditch you guys.”

“Okay, but since you weren’t there we decided to play a drinking game. Then we were watching Zombienie and I just-I was really drunk so I started getting upset and worrying about getting bit by a zombie. I was freaking out and Darla, in her infinite drunk wisdom, said she could place an enchantment on me that would protect me against any kind of minor contagious magic. Like zombies and vampires and werewolves and stuff. Then she did it.”

“You-She-Why didn’t you tell me?” Tim asked.

“I did. I called you while we were doing it. Remember?”

Tim raised an eyebrow. “I remember getting a call from you about how you’d never have to eat my brains now. And when I tried to get you to clarify, you just said something about my brains being big and tasty before hanging up.”

Blushing, Bernard bit his lip. Had he said that? “Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“So, wait, if you were enchanted, how did Tim turn you?” Dick asked.

“He couldn’t have,” Bernard argued.

Tim stared into the distance for a moment before jumping to his feet. He raced over to the laptop on the dining room table and started typing on it. A moment later Bernard heard a call being placed.

“Hey, Tim,” Darla answered. “Have you heard anything about Bernard? I should be able to get to Gotham by lunch tomorrow, then I’ll tear that Chaos Monster to shreds.”

“It’s okay. Bernard’s here. But, uh, hypothetically, would the enchantment you placed on Bernard to protect him from contagious magic end when he died?”

Bernard frowned when Dick stiffened, but stayed quiet.

“… What happened?”

“I said hypothetically.” When she didn’t respond, Tim said, “Long story. I promise I’ll tell you later if you just answer the question.”

“… I can’t believe you two. Bernard finally asks you out and you two pull this. Yes, it would end the moment he died. I expect a full explanation when I get there, Wayne.”

“Yep, got it. Thanks, Darla.” Tim hung up.

“You two were on a date?” Dick asked, voice blank.

“Is that really what you want to talk about right now?” Tim groaned and pressed his face into the table.

Dick threw his hands in the air. “You’d rather talk about how you made a strigoi.”

“I didn’t mean to!”

“What’s a strigoi?” Bernard asked.

“It’s a zombie vampire.”

The three spun around to see Red Hood leaning against the door to the balcony, his muzzle hanging from his hip and his voice distinctly Jason’s.

“How long have you been there?”

“Just got here. Oracle sent me over to see how you’re doing, but I’m guessing blondy asking about strigoi means the answer is not well.”

Dick started for the door. “I’ll catch the others up with what I know while you talk to Bernard.”

Tim didn’t respond. He didn’t even move until the balcony door shut behind his brothers. He came back over to the couch and sat down next to it. He grabbed the mug off the coffee table and fiddled with it for a second before handing it to Bernard.

The blond stared down at the blood. “I’m a zombie vampire?” Did that mean he only ate zombie brains?

“No, ignore Jason.”

“Then what’s a strigoi?”

“It’s-If a human dies after getting bitten by a vampire, there’s a very, very small chance they can come back as a strigoi. It doesn’t happen if that person had started turning or more than five hours had passed since the bite, and the chances are one in fifty, but it can happen. Strigoi don’t have anything in common with zombies except the coming back to life thing, but plenty of other things also involve coming back to life so Jason was just being a jerk.”

“So strigoi are just undead vampires? But aren’t all vampires undead?”

Tim shook his head. “Another misconception. Mostly because strigoi and vampires often get combined or are considered two of a kind, even by people who know about all this stuff.”

“So what’s the difference then?”

“Strigoi drink blood like vampires, but they -- you -- don’t need as much. It’s because we need to get nutrients from the blood while you're only supplementing your life energy. So if you’re injured, you’ll need more to heal yourself. You’ll also need normal food daily like a human, unlike us. We're both able to transform into an animal from a group that’s natural to our kind, but only we can influence our sister animals. Our strength, speed, and senses are slightly better than a human’s, but yours will be the same as they’ve ever been. In return, you can heal faster than we can and you have the ability to turn invisible. Something to do with manipulating life energy as light, I think. Alfred would be able to explain it better.”

“Ok.” That was… a lot. He took a sip without thinking and was surprised when he didn’t taste blood. The taste was as indescribable as the smell, but it was good. He took a few more sips, remembering what Tim had said about feeling better. The pain in his chest did start to lighten and he felt more awake, energized, his thoughts ordering out some. “I’ve got a lot of questions.”

“I figured.”

“But first, is there something wrong with me being a strigoi? Dick looked kind of freaked.”

“No, it’s not you. Being a strigoi is fine. It’s making a strigoi that has a bit of a stigma. A strigoi’s death isn’t always an accident.”

Bernard had grown up in Gotham. He knew there were messed-up people out there. “Vampires have killed people trying to make a strigoi.”

“People have killed a lot of people trying to make a strigoi. It’s not always the vampire’s fault and it’s not the only way strigoi come about, but there’s always this worry whenever one pops up. Dick’s just worried I could get into trouble. It should be fine, though. Jason Blood’s the resident overseer and he’s friends with Bruce so he’ll hear us out. The Kanes might kick up a fuss, but they don’t like us at the best of times so there’s nothing new there.”

“There’s a vampire called Jason Blood?”

“Oh, he’s not a vampire. Let’s just say he’s got more in common with Darla and leave it at that. Not my story to tell.”

Bernard nodded and took another sip from the mug. Then he realized something. “Have you guys ever taken a bite of the guys you fight?”

“Excluding B’s whole thing with Selina?” Tim deadpanned and it hit Bernard that Selina Kyle-Wayne was Catwoman. Either that or Bruce was cheating, but he was guessing the former considering just how many cats she and Damian had. “Would you want to put your mouth on any of them?”

“Well, Deadshot’s kind of a DIL-”

“Bernard!”

“And I’m straight, but Poison Ivy -”

“No! The answer’s no! Please stop talking!” Tim groaned and Bernard snickered into his mug. He was so cute when he got flustered. “We don’t feed on any of them! It’s unhygienic and who knows what they’ve got flowing in their veins! We stick to the blood we buy from a bank!”

“So you’ve never fed on a person, then?”

“Not any more than what gets in my mouth during a quick bite, no. Dick has and I think Bruce and Kate might have too during their travels, but I don’t think any of the rest have.”

Bernard hummed. “So you guys are proper, civilized vampires then?”

“Yeah,” Tim snorted.

“But you guys only drink human blood? Are you not able to drink animal blood?”

Tim made a so-so motion. “For both vampires and strigoi, it works similar to how xenotransfusion works for humans. There are only a few kinds of animals we can drink from, mostly apes and pigs. Anything else would make us sick. Drinking too much animal blood can also have adverse reactions and there isn’t a need. Blood shortages happen, but not often thanks to modern medicine and we’ve got the benefit of not having to worry about things like blood types.”

Bernard nodded.

“I’m sorry,” Tim said, staring at his lap. “I should have talked to you about all this before I turned you.”

“Hey, no. Tim, I was dying. I did die.” That was also something he’d have to think about, later. “You saved me. That’s what matters. Besides, I knew you were going to do something to change me and this -” he shook his mug a little “- is weird, but not anywhere as bad as Darla’s heart almost being taken over by demonic magic. It’s all good, Tim. Promise.”

Tim gave him a shaky smile and Bernard returned it with a more genuine one.

He grabbed Tim’s hand and brought it to his lips, fighting back a smile at the blush that took over Tim’s face.

Darla pushed past Tim when he let her into his apartment.

Bernard was sitting on the couch with a steaming mug and looked up with a smile when she came in.

“How was your guys’ date?”

Tim choked and Bernard’s grin grew.

“Is that really the first thing you want to know?” Tim asked.

“You’re both alive and in one piece, so yes. We can discuss Tim’s concerning call and who I need to kill later.”

“You don’t need to kill -”

“How’d the date go?” she cut across Tim and he gave up with a sigh.

“I got kidnapped,” Bernard pointed out.

“I meant before you got kidnapped, obviously,” she huffed and dropped into an armchair. “How was it going?”

Bernard opened up his mouth, but Tim spoke first.

“I didn’t know it was a date.”

The two stared at him blankly.

He shrugged. “Sorry?”

She pulled her phone out. “I need to text Stephanie.”

“Don’t you dare!”

“Tim, I asked you to dinner,” Bernard said, watching as Tim stole Darla’s phone.

“I thought it was just us going out as friends.”

“If I wanted to go out as friends, I would have suggested Batburguer, not an upscale bar.”

She shook her head. “You two. I should have known you’d mess this up without me. Did you even bring Tim flowers, Bernard?”

“What? Me? Why do I have to be the one to bring flowers?”

“Because you asked him out! I guess that answers my question, though.” She tried to get her phone back, but Tim kept it out of her reach and dodged when she tried to grab it with magic. “Wayne! Give me back my phone!”

“Not if you’re going to text Steph about this!”

“She’s going to find out eventually!”

“Only if you tell her!”

She crossed her arms. “And why shouldn’t I?”

Tim sighed and sat down on the arm of the couch. “What do you want?”

“I want Metropolis’s number.”

“Metropolis?”

“Tall, pale, and handsome in the leather jacket.”

“Superboy?” Tim teased.

She rolled her eyes.

“Wait, do you know Superboy?” She turned to see Bernard staring off into space. “Oh my God! How many superheroes do you know?”

Tim rubbed a hand down his face. “Bernard joined a cult and got stabbed in the heart, and we’re discussing my connections? Seriously?”

“You what!?” She rushed to Bernard’s side and started checking him over.

“You’ll pay for this, Wayne,” he hissed over her shoulder before smiling at her. “I’m fine, really.”

“You got stabbed. In the heart. ”

“Yeah, but I got better.”

She turned to Tim.

“He’s a strigoi.”

“Dying is not getting better!” she snapped, turning back to Bernard.

“That’s rich coming from a fellow zombie.”

“I was not fine after coming back. I was the opposite of fine. I nearly tried to kill Robin, remember?”

His eyes widened and darted to Tim. “Oh my God! She-That was…”

“Bette and I at the time,” Tim finished.

“And she was head over heels for you. That must have been-Wait, Bette? But she’s a girl.”

“So’s Steph and Carrie.”

“I completely forgot you said Carrie was working with Damian. And Steph too? Isn’t that weird?”

“Probably would have been if it’d been Jason and it got a little weird during Duke’s year for multiple reasons, but we make it work.”

“What are you guys talking about?” Darla asked, looking between the two.

“Tim’s a vampire.”

“Tim’s whole family are vampires, what’s your point? Wait,” she turned to Tim, “you’re the one who turned him? Why would bite him knowing he couldn’t be turned? I’d think it was a kink but you didn’t know you guys were on a date.”

“I didn’t know he couldn’t be turned,” Tim groaned.

“Bernard told me he was going to tell you about the enchantment.”

“He was drunk.”

She nodded. “That explains it.”

“Rude,” Bernard muttered. He poked Tim in the side. “How come you told her you were a vampire?”

“I didn’t, and that’s a good point,” Tim said. “Since when did you know we were vampires?”

“Zatanna told me.”

“That snitch!”

“So what exactly happened? Why’d you get stabbed and why were you close enough to help?”

Bernard bit his lip and looked up at Tim. “How much can we tell her?”

“All of it, actually. Something happened this winter while B and Selina were on their honeymoon and, well, I’ve been meaning to tell you both. I didn’t want to do it over the phone, though, and getting us all in the same place has been difficult. And there was no way I was going to deal with one of you guys getting mad if the other found out first.”

“Are you sure Zatanna didn’t snitch about this too?”

“Considering she doesn’t know? Yeah, I’m pretty sure.”

“What are you guys talking about?” Darla asked, narrowing her eyes.