A/n: This is a repost from my tumblr account, I'm putting it here because I'm rather proud of this and I'm trying to organize my writing better.
If you cannot tell, this is a DC Comics AU where Jean is Red Hood/Jason Todd, Erwin is Batman/Bruce Wayne, Eren is Nightwing/Dick Grayson, Mikasa is Batgirl/Cassandra Cain, and Armin is Robin/Tim Drake.
If you're a nerd like me this will either make you very happy or very sad.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the fic. If you did, feel free to leave a review, because I want to know what you think.
If Erwin looked back on his years of crime fighting, he would judge every single sidekick and protege he had with perception.
Eren had passion. Erwin could see it in every flip he performed, every kick he made, and every judgement he thought up. Eren simply had drive; that drive to become the Boy Wonder was what impressed Erwin the most, and it was possibly the reason Erwin let him be Robin in the first place. Even after Eren left his side, Erwin still noticed the passion in his old protege, even with the Nightwing symbol on his chest.
Mikasa had power. She was a nearly mute girl when she met the Bat-Clan. She couldn't speak, couldn't read, but lord know she could fight. When the city fell and Mikasa Ackerman stumbled upon the ruins, on the run from a life she wished would stay in the past, Erwin saw the power she held behind her serenity. She could read a person through a single twitch, predict their next move, and could battle like a true warrior. He knew that not allowing her to wear Batgirl's cowl would have been a vital mistake, and Erwin was proud to have her by his side.
Armin had intelligence. He lacked Mikasa's ability to flip a man twice her size, or Eren's sheer passion to do anything he put his mind to, but lord knew that Armin Arlert was one of the brightest boys of his age. Had he not been that smart, he would've never deduced Erwin's secret. He would've ended up like the average 15 year old boy, chasing girls at the mall and melting his brain cells on his Playstation. But he didn't, he ended up as the third holder of the title of Robin. He ended up as a Robin with a perfect balance of body and mind, able fight back with both his thoughts and his punches.
And then there was Jean. Looking back on the one fateful night, where a little punk kid named Jean Kirschtein chose the damn Batmobile to jack tires from, Erwin could never remember thinking that Jean had passion, power, or intelligence. But he wasn't going to deny that Jean couldn't have those traits at all, as he was determined, strong, and rather clever.
But Erwin never saw those traits in Jean at first. Jean was a boy living on the streets of Crime Alley when Erwin met him, a boy willing to steal, a boy who liked to smoke, and a boy with a temper.
Erwin knew it wasn't fair to Jean, he never wanted to think so lowly of someone he considered his family.
But no matter what, as much as Erwin denied it, he knew it was the truth.
Eren had passion, Mikasa had power, Armin had intelligence, but Jean…
All Jean had was rage.
Rage so strong that it never left the veins of the boy as he grew up. Sure, Jean grew out of his recklessness and impulsive nature, but with every punch placed on a criminal's skull, every kicked aimed at a punk's face, Jean would always attack like an animal.
Rage flowed through him when he faced off with Eren, who managed to escape the roof top before Jean could carve him completely. Rage controlled him completely when he beat Armin into a pulp, causing the third Boy Wonder to spend weeks healing under the watchful care of Hannes. Rage was what made him fight with Mikasa. But somehow, Erwin couldn't help notice that Mikasa refused to fight him, even after Jean had pursued her over the Gotham Skyline.
Perhaps she could read through his anger, or simply refused to fight someone who wasn't in their right mind.
Every time Erwin watched his old protege from afar, Jean would fight in a frenzy. He would do much worse than what the crooks would deserve, always breaking arms and bloodying noses. Perhaps on purpose, or perhaps not.
Erwin knew exactly why Jean was angry, even after all these years. After everything that ever happened to Batman's second protege, Erwin understood Jean's pain.
He understood Jean's feeling of abandonment, he understood that Jean was under the impression that Erwin didn't give a damn about him, he knew Jean wanted Erwin to avenge his death, and he knew that Jean believed that Erwin let him die.
But even as he understood, he knew that what Jean wanted couldn't be reasoned that easily. There was no choice, he still had to fight. He had to fight Jean Kirschtein, atop of a building, in the darkness of night, as the rain poured down on the Gotham Skyline.
Erwin kept his cowl on, concealing himself while Jean opted to remove the red hood on his head that became his namesake, a domino mask being the protector of his true identity.
His eyes were still the same; they could either be bright, hazel, calculating, arrogant, cocky, or angry.
And tonight, the only thing that seemed to flow through Jean's system was his hatred.
Jean was out for Erwin tonight, knife in his hands, loaded guns in his holsters, and jacket filled to the brim with hidden goodies and toys for him to deploy at will.
But Erwin wasn't out for Jean, he could never hurt him. He had yelled at his protege in the past, for things like messing up plans, breaking the bones of innocents, and much much more. But his punishments would never progress into violence.
The fact was, Erwin couldn't bring himself to harm him. Jean may have been an angry and arrogant punk in his past, and perhaps in his present, but Jean was still Jean.
Jean was still that boy who spent half an hour looking at himself in the mirror after he put on the Robin costume for the first time.
Jean was still that boy who was so determined to become Robin that he pushed himself through 6-months of intense training for the job.
Jean was still that boy who could eat chilli dogs by the handful and still ask for more.
And Jean was still that boy that Erwin searched for, the boy Erwin fought for, and the boy that Erwin had failed to save.
Tonight, as the rain fell from the sky and the thunder behind the clouds boomed like a gunshot, Erwin knew what he had to do.
Jean pulled out his knife, raising it up, the anger in his hazel eyes intensifying, "Fight me, Old Man. Fight me."
Erwin had no choice but to comply.
Disclaimer: I do not own DC Comics or Shingeki No Kyojin.