Summary: Dick and Donna: best friends, confidants, brother/sister…and more?
Love, Fate, and the Multiverse
By Syl Francis
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The JL Watchtower
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Robin screamed the first time he met Wonder Girl.
He was only eight years old at the time, and while she was probably closer to about a gazillion (he later realized), she looked to be around eight because she was an Amazon and immortal. Still, she was a girl, and girls—according to his friend Jimmy—had cooties. And she had just kissed him!
On the lips!
Bleah! Robin spat immediately. Jimmy had warned him that if a girl kissed you on the lips, you needed to spit right away.
"It's the only surefire way to get rid of cooties before they infect you," Jimmy told him solemnly. At Dick's skeptical look, Jimmy continued. "If you don't, before you know it…you'll be kissing them back."
Dick suddenly remembered all the grownup ladies at a recent gala held at Wayne Manor. They had been swarming around Bruce like sharks, and his usually undemonstrative guardian had kissed each one on the lips as a way of saying hello. Dick grimaced. Although the young acrobat wasn't entirely sure about the existence of cooties, Bruce's out of character behavior around women—he actually smiled and laughed out loud—seemed to support the argument that he was infected with them…
Robin shot a decel line to the Watchtower's high ceiling rafters, and flew up to get away from Wonder Girl. Unfortunately for him, she was every bit an Amazon as her sister and easily followed him up under her own power.
They reached the rafters at the same time, and Robin glared at her across the short distance. "Dumb girl! Stop following me," he growled in his best Bat-voice imitation.
Wonder Girl stood with her fists on her hips, glaring at him through narrowed eyes. "Who are you calling a dumb girl? You…you, boy!" Standing tall, she pointed her thumb at herself and spoke imperiously. "I am Princess Donna of Themyscira. My mother Hippolyta is the Queen of the Amazons, and my sister, Princess Diana, is Wonder Woman, the greatest heroine in the world!"
"Oh, yeah? Well, my mom and dad and me were the Flying Graysons—the greatest aerialist act in Haly's Circus. We were the only flyers that could perform the quadruple somersault, and we did it without a net! Now, I'm Robin the Boy Wonder, and my partner is Batman, the World's Greatest Detective! And I don't play with girls!"
"Humph! Well, who needs boys anyway?" Wonder Girl said haughtily. "We don't have any on Themyscira, and we get along just fine."
"Well, good for you!" Robin said disdainfully. "Why don't you go on and play with your dolls then?"
"That shows how much you know," Wonder Girl replied. "Amazons don't play with dolls. We play bullets and bracelets."
That caught the Boy Wonder's attention. "What's 'bullets and bracelets'?" he asked, curious despite himself.
At his honest question, Wonder Girl forgot she was supposed to be annoyed with him. Instead, she regaled him with stories of the Paradise Island Games to win the title of Amazon Champion, and of how her sister, Diana, was able to deflect several different types of munitions with only her bracelets and shear guts.
"So, they shoot at you? Real bullets? Not rubber bullets?" Robin asked impressed.
"Silly, what good would training with rubber bullets accomplish? Mother always says that you fight the way you train. If you train with rubber bullets, you may not take it seriously. And what happens the first time someone fires real ones at you? All it takes is one careless mistake..." She shrugged.
"Batman doesn't like guns," Robin admitted. "He would never point one at me and actually pull the trigger." Then just a bit enviously, he added, "Boy, you sure are lucky!"
Seeing that Robin was finally talking civilly to her, Wonder Girl's expression softened, and smiling, she looked directly into his eyes.
Bright, sapphire blue eyes captured his dark blue ones. Robin momentarily forgot how to breathe, so caught up was he with how her dark eyelashes framed her wide eyes. In the back of his mind, he unconsciously took note of her perfect nose, damask cheeks, and heart-shaped face. Stepping toward him until she was standing less than an arms length away, she smiled shyly and leaned in. As her rose-petal lips were but a mere breath away, Robin suddenly snapped out of his daze, and he did the only thing any self-respecting boy knew how to do: He gave her ponytail a hard yank.
Purely in self-defense, of course.
This time, it was Wonder Girl's turn to scream. As she did, Robin pulled a disappearing act, leaving only a taunting giggle in his wake.
"Robin!" Batman called sternly.
"Wonder Girl!" Wonder Woman's voice reflected her disapproval.
The children's mentors had been in a last minute, closed-door session with the Justice League. They were each forced to bring their young charges because neither could find a suitable babysitter at such short notice.
Donna was visiting "Man's World," her first time away from Themyscira, and her sister Diana was tasked with the important job of protecting the young Amazon princess—the second in line to the throne.
As for Dick Grayson, he and his guardian Bruce Wayne were supposed to spend an entire weekend alone doing "guy stuff," while Alfred visited an old friend on Prince Edward Island, Canada. Therefore, since Dick's primary caregiver was absent and his usual babysitter, Barbara Gordon was away at gymnastics camp, Bruce had little choice but to bring his ward along with him.
The two children ran or flew to their respective adult and threw their arms around them. Wonder Girl sobbed into her sister's arms, while Robin hid inside Batman's cape. Before long, the two mentors got the story from the children. Over Wonder Girl's sobs and Robin's indignant accusations, Wonder Woman was able to discern that her baby sister had a crush on the young hero, while Batman understood that Robin defended himself—against cooties—just as the Dark Knight had taught him.
As they headed toward the zeta-tubes, Robin gave Wonder Girl his best imitation Bat-glare. Her azure eyes flashing fire, the youngest Amazon retaliated by making a face and sticking her tongue out at him. Narrowing his eyes at her transgression, Robin responded in kind.
The adult superheroes shared amused glances as they led the children away, oblivious to the silent, waist-high war being fought right under their noses. As the computer announced Batman and Robin's departure, Robin thumbed his nose from behind the protective folds of Batman's cape. He disappeared in the brilliant white light of the transporter beam before Wonder Girl could retaliate.
The children couldn't wait to meet again.
End of Part 1
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Acknowledgements: Some dialogue and story ideas borrowed from the following: The New Teen Titans #38; Tales of the Teen Titans #50; Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day #1-3; The Return of Donna Troy #1-4; Blackest Night: Batman #1-3; Justice League of America #41; Flashpoint: Deadman and the Flying Graysons #1-3; The New 52: Batman and Robin #10
Copyright: February 2013