Prologue

Life is miserable at best or at least that's how it is in Lindsay's life. She's only two and wants to die. A lab rat is what most people could call her. A science experiment is what they really call her. She's never had parents or friends. All her life she's lived in this lab. Her life started as a test tube baby her they twisted her DNA around to make it so she had wings. Their were only seven people who were nice to her so they were the ones to take care of her until she was one. That was when they left the organization, leaving her, and bring the start of the experiments. They first tested how well she can use her wings by brutally training her. Every time she bobbed up and down she was punished. Their punishment happened to deal with Tasers, matches, and buckets full of cold water. They zapped, burned, and drowned her.

Once she could finally make it six whole hours in flight without passing out from exhaustion they moved on. Moving on was just a nice way to say injecting her with different serums to see what would happen. She was sick for weeks. There were only four that actually worked. One gave her the gift of premonitions, the next empathy, the next telepathy, and the last telekinesis. So now instead of just being a mutant with wings she also had to deal with powers. They also felt the need to train her with those too. It was as if they were building a human weapon, Cadmus' first project. Project Wing is what they call her. A bad name at best but it's all they came up with. Cadmus isn't the most creative of psychotic scientists that's for sure. After all the injections they wanted to test the limits of her abilities. Each day the strength of her powers grew. Every time she didn't use them as strong as she could she was punished. They didn't want to burn her or drown her anymore in fear of her using it against them so instead they beat her with a crowbar and still used the Taser.

By the time her second birthday rolled around the poor girl was hoping for an end to her terrifyingly short life. Every time they trained her she would mess up on purpose just so they could punish her so many she could die. For two months it almost worked until they caught on and actually stopped punishing her which was actually a worse punishment to the suicidal toddler.

The more time went on the more abilities showed up. She had the power to retract her wings into her back which although incredibly painful was equally as useful. She could also see auras if she blinked and let her vision fade. The auras were like a color spectrum and somehow she automatically knew what which color meant. She didn't tell the scientist about either one of these things so they couldn't use them against her.

On her third birthday things started to look up. It was a dark night from what she could see huddled in her crate. They kept her locked in a small cat-sized crate in a tiny room with one small window. She was just starting to doze off when the sounds of a fight entered her consciousness. Lindsay blearily sat up as much as the small containment would allow and looked to the locked door as if that would answer her questions. It didn't until the door was busted open by a huge man in a black costume with a giant cape and bat symbol on his chest. She could see other people behind him engaged in fights with the scientists. They were using all sorts of strange weapons and even powers. She looked on in awe until remembering the dark man and focused on him. She noticed that he had spotted her and was approaching her. She pressed her tiny body as far back as it could go in fear as her crate door swung open. She wrapped her wings around her body tight as they could go and waited for his next move.

Batman knew he was awful at comforting people let alone children but this was just a toddler. She couldn't have been more than three and had what appeared to be black wings wrapped around her body. Batman felt a murderess rage enter his body as he peered down at her. Her whole abdomen was coated in scar after scar with new open cuts lining her arms and bruises littering every other patch of unblemished skin. He kept his features neutral and let his voice change to a more friendly and caring pitch. This was the tone he used when talking to his four boys, 17-year-old Damian, 15-year-old Timothy, 13-year-old Jason, and 10-year-old Richard.

"Hey little one, I'm Batman. We're here to help you. Can you come out so we can take you home?"
****

Lindsay observed him carefully, letting her sight shift so she could read his aura. It was different from any of the other auras she's ever seen. It had lots of black in it which meant he's been hurt a lot. It also had some gold which meant he was caring and kind, red from rage, and the purest white ever which meant trust. It also had a powder blue color which meant confidence. Lindsay crawled out and reached for him instantly. For some reason she trusted the strange dark man.

Batman was shocked when the little girl opened her arms and clenched and unclenched her hands, the universal sign to be picked up. He wordlessly complied and let the small child clad in only a diaper snuggle into his arms. He grabbed a file next to where her crate was placed and read it quickly but thoroughly. It listed all the experiments inflicted on her and her many impressive abilities. It also showed she's a test tube baby and actually had no family.

He heard people enter the room and spun around grabbing a bat-a-rang from his utility belt. He saw the Blue Boy Scout along with every other hero that had come on this mission. That included Flash, Black Canary, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, and Green Lantern. He scowled at them all, daring them to say anything about the fact he was holding a small winged child who at the moment was hiding her face in his chest. His glare turned deadly into what most call the Daddy-Bats glare. He moved his giant cape so it covered her tiny frame. Batman grabbed the box of diapers and threw them at Superman, brushed by everyone leaving Cadmus with this small mystery girl. The other heroes looked at each other, confused by the Dark Knight's actions before leaving in his wake.

Lindsay felt safe with this man. She could talk, they taught her how, but had a very small voice and was normally beaten for using it so chose not to. Instead she communicated in the best way and toddler knew how. She wrapped her small arms around his neck and rested her head in the crook where it met his shoulders. The dark man gave a tiny smile and adjusted her body so it was better covered by the monstrous cape. She stayed there hidden in the darkness while listening to his deep voice talk to the other people. His voice was soothing and the rumbles his chest made lulled her to sleep.

Batman could hear soft snores emitting from the small girl and almost grinned. He would have if it weren't for the fact that he was the Dark Knight. Superman kept trying to take the little girl from his arms which thoroughly pissed of the big bat. He's the one with four children already not Superman. Somehow this tiny meta-human had managed to latch onto his heart in the span of thirty minutes and he wasn't about to let her go.

They zetaed back to the Watch-Tower and instantly ten or so heroes surrounded Batman, trying to catch a glimpse of the toddler. He gave them his fiercest Daddy-Bats glare and they parted like the Red Sea. Robin came bouncing up to his mentor/father figure and silently followed him to the med-bay. He was smart enough to know Batman would inform him in time.

Batman gently lowered the girl onto one of the beds and started an IV in her. She looked dangerously dehydrated along with other things. He hooked her up to a heart monitor and all those other basic hospital things. Batman covered her with his cape and turned to his protégé. "We infiltrated Cadmus and destroyed the new formula they had created. I went into a room and found her in a dog crate. Her name was Project Wing. I got her out of the crate and found her file, she's a test-tube baby. No parents and had never left Cadmus, until now."

"What are you going to do with her tati?" The Little Bird asked his second father.

"I'm not sure micul meu pasare but I won't let her go into the foster system. Not after what happened to you and your brothers." Robin shuddered at the mention of that dreaded place and unconsciously moved closer to the girl. "Robin could you go into your room and grab one of your old pajama shirts and socks?" Robin nodded and quickly left after tearing his attention from the girl. She looked so angelic, almost like a broken doll. Batman moved a few curly locks out of her face and sighed. What was he going to do with her?

Robin, soundless as his mentor, entered the room and handed Batman the shirt and socks before sitting at the edge of her bed. With Robin's help they dressed the small girl carefully maneuvering her wings though the silts cut in the back. She grumbled a bit, rolling onto her side and wrapping her arms around Robin as if he were a teddy bear. Robin muttered under his breath about this new development but Batman could tell he was in fact quite pleased. Batman chuckled mutely and tucked them both under the sheets.

He left the room forlornly to go to the mission debriefing. Batman arrived and sat in his chair, eager for this to end so he could go back to his children. Well shit. He should not be thinking of this girl as one of his. Technically only Damian was his son. Sure he was also had three wards, Timothy Drake, Jason Todd, and of course Richard Grayson, but they weren't his. They all had their own families before joining his. Batman was snapped away from his inner musings by a quick breeze as the Flash arrived.

Everyone took their turns explaining what they saw and where to go from here. Batman's depiction of events was of course the briefest but most thorough. Everything was going well until the girl came into conversation. "She could be on the other side, working for an undercover operative!" Superman exclaimed while Batman growled under his breath. Normally it would be Superman on the defense and Batman on offence. It royally pissed off Batman that he could even insinuate she was working for Cadmus. If he had seen her in that crate he'd know.

"She's not a spy or anything of that matter. They kept her locked in a dog crate. She's decorated in bruises," he growled menacingly. Some of the other heroes flinched or slouched down in their seats. Superman and Batman were locked in a stare down.

"If you don't think she's a threat Bats, then you take her because there is nowhere else to keep her," Superman deadpanned. Batman bit back an angry retort and nodded once, a crisp and sharp jerk of his head. Batman stood up and with the snap of his cape he was gone.

He headed back to the medbay where his little ones slept. He got caught up in his musings once again and was snapped out of them by an ear shattering scream. His legs sped down the hall and into the med-bay. The door slid open as he approached and the piercing wails of a little girl, his little girl, met his ears. A heartwarming sight greeted him as he entered. The Little Bird was cradling the girl in his arms while whispering soothing things to her. The girl had her arms wrapped around his neck and her face buried in his chest. Robin was rubbing her back and Batman heard the door swish closed behind him. "Robin, Dickie, the league has come to a decision about her. We won't go through with it if you, your brothers, and her aren't okay with it. We've decided that I should take her in like I did with you and your brothers."

"So she'd be like my little sister? I'd finally get to be a big brother?" At Batman's nod he continued. "That would be awesome!" Batman shhed him and Robin quieted down. Her eyes fluttered open and she rubbed them tiredly. "Hi, I'm Dick or Robin, both really but you can only call me Robin here. That's my adoptive dad, Bruce or Batman, but only call him Batman here. What's your name?"

She just stared at him. Batman could tell she understood him, saw it in her eyes, but she wouldn't speak. "Can you write?" Batman asked her. She nodded so he handed her a pen and paper. "What's your name or what would you like it to be?" Batman began questioning. I don't have a name but I've always liked the one Lindsay. "Lindsay huh. That's really pretty. Well as my ward already explained I'm Bruce and he's Dick. I was wondering if you'd be interested in living with me and my sons. I have a huge house with too much room for just us. I know you don't have anywhere else to go. Would you like to live with me and my boys? At least for the time being." Lindsay thought about it for a while. He could tell. She was so very wise, calculating each and every option she had. After a while she finally answered. Chu won't hurt me? Like they did? "No sweetie. None of us will ever hurt you." Then I'd love to live with chu Mr. Batman.