A Meeting of Kings
(rough draft)
A DreamWorks' How to Train Your Dragon / Batman crossover fanfic by Raberba girl
Summary: The great Bewilderbeast seeks help from the closest thing Gotham City has to an alpha.
A/N: Takes place before Duke starts Bat training.
o.o.o
Sometimes, he felt like he was good with humans. They could be a little strange, to be sure, but in the end, they were people, too, capable of great love and extraordinary feats, capable even of taking part in the life of the flock as if they were no different than their scaled, winged flockmates.
Other times, however, Alpha felt like he would never, ever understand humans, that they were hopelessly alien and the world would be a better place without them. Or maybe just Valka and Hiccup were people, dragon souls born into the wrong bodies, as alien from ordinary humans as humans were from dragons.
"There aren't even any hatchlings here."
"It's very compartmentalized," Valka explained. Then, when she noticed that the concept failed to translate adequately, "Like when an insect nest is divided into chambers for different purposes, such as food storage or caring for larvae. This is the 'chamber' where resources are initially collected. There's a different 'chamber' to sort out those resources, and another where the children actually are to receive the final fruits."
They were outside, on a balcony in the cool night air, because Alpha needed a break. As much of one as he could get, anyway - it was impossible to truly relax in this territory, this 'city' called Gotham, because it seemed...almost alive. Alpha was certain that the true alpha of Gotham was not the 'mayor,' because he'd been introduced to the human called Hady and had felt no trace of connection that he would have sensed with even a human brother-alpha.
No...it was almost as if the territory itself was its own alpha. There were invisible lines of power here of a kind that Alpha had never felt before, almost but not quite malevolent. Or perhaps tightly controlled darkness, like it submitted and obeyed only when its alpha's teeth were in its neck. 'Yet if the territory is its own alpha...'
No, that wasn't quite right. The nest had a powerful heart greatly prone to darkness, but there was someone, not quite an alpha but a Someone, who kept their teeth in Gotham's neck. That Someone would be the closest thing to an alpha that this hell-territory had, and Alpha felt apprehension at the thought of meeting the Someone would could keep such great darkness at bay. They would have to have a darkness of their own to do so without destroying it.
"We shouldn't have come," Alpha murmured.
"Are we going to try the next one on the list?" Valka asked at once. The Wayne Foundation, in and of itself, had looked the most promising, but the fact that it was based in the crime capital of the world had put her off. She had, of course, agreed to help Alpha investigate rather than eliminating it immediately, but she'd never been happy about the idea.
Alpha considered. "We will finish enduring this 'charity gala,'" he decided. "I wish to speak to Bruce Wayne even if his Foundation cannot help us."
"About the cubs," Cloudjumper said knowingly. The little suffering humans Valka had seen during her investigation - mistreated little ones must be cared for even if they were in a different flock on unfriendly terms.
"Yes."
They went back indoors, and Alpha drew in a breath to steady himself when he found himself immersed again. So many, many ugly and alien bonds here. Tight human 'parent/child' bonds, but nothing like the love between Valka and Hiccup - most of them were poisoned by resentment and greed and deep-buried pain and other things that Alpha couldn't even articulate. Among the rest, there was something like troopmate bonds, perhaps 'ally' was a better description, except that they also bore a strong resemblance to hunting and stalking.
So many of them, all of them tangled up together, all these humans clinging to each other and tearing at each other and cleaving to one another to better damage others and then turning around to cleave to different ones in order to damage the first ones... And over it all, greatly adding to Alpha's disorientation, sparkle and laughter and shared food and gently bared teeth, signs of human affection and pleasure. 'Deception.' It was so thick here, sometimes Alpha felt like he couldn't breathe deeply.
"Are you all right?" Valka murmured.
He was Alpha. It wasn't right to feel himself at such a loss. "I will be better when we find Bruce Wayne." 'Someone is approaching. I can feel it.' Closer and closer, he could almost sense Gotham taking pride in the passage of its favored one, almost sense the territory's glee at how all these poisoned bonds roiled and re-arranged themselves around Someone. Gotham was proud of its flock's deception and discord. The only reason Alpha didn't have to fight the urge to rise up into his true form and blast out an icy challenge was that Someone was so calm, not rebuking the darkness but not encouraging it, either.
"Oh, look, his highness finally deigns to grace us with his presence," Valka remarked in disgust.
Alpha was distracted by the great presence growing ever nearer. It was uncomfortably akin to meeting a brother-alpha. "What?"
"Bruce Wayne just walked in, two hours late. Look at him, he's got three women in tow, what does he need with three?!"
Alpha looked down to the great entrance doors below, his eyes immediately moving to Someone. Someone was disconcertingly small, a human in a black and white suit just like the coverings of all the other males here, doing the same happy!-deception everyone else was. 'How can this insignificant creature be Someone?!'
Then their eyes met. Someone's - Bruce Wayne's - narrowed slightly. "Threat."
Alpha was startled. "No, I'm not-!" he called silently, but Bruce Wayne moved on as if he hadn't even heard, pretending to be dismissive, doing the happy!-deception with everyone who came flocking up to greet him. They were a mix of submissives paying tribute and predators circling for an opening, but he glided through them all in a very impressive, almost Hiccup-like display of non-submissive avoidance. He acknowledged without engaging, ignored the threats as if they were meaningless to him, did not allow himself to be provoked. None of his hungry flockmates seemed to pick up on the disgust he held for them, but it was so clear to Alpha, and almost a breath of fresh air - it was almost a righteous disgust, not a poisoned one.
"Valka. How am I expected to approach?"
"Wander, get some food. Work your way toward him like you're both grazing."
"That is very indirect."
"I know. I hate it, too; the humans here are not my kind of humans."
Even so, she knew her own species better than he did, so Alpha took her advice. He wandered and grazed, and spoke and gently bared his teeth when he was spoken to and 'smiled' at.
Bruce was grazing toward him, too. His eyes and voice, even his body (a human who wasn't Valka knew how to consciously speak with his body?!) were casual and careless, but that part of him that only Bewilderbeasts could sense was gathering, focused, angry. It was difficult for Alpha to resist reacting to what essentially amounted to a threat display. 'Act human. You can't confront him here, like this. He might not even realize he's doing it. He will probably stop doing it when he stops feeling threatened.'
And then suddenly Bruce was right there, saying "Curious happy stupid!" with half of himself and "DON'T THREATEN ME I DON'T LIKE YOU WHO ARE YOU I'LL BITE YOU; GUARDING MY TERRITORY" with the other. "Now here's a new face! Bruce Wayne, of Wayne Enterprises." He smiled and extended his forepaw- his hand.
Valka nudged him, and Alpha remembered that he was supposed to grasp the paw with his own and shake it in a very particular way, so he did so. "Hello. I am Alfred Wilder."
"Oh, Brucie!" one of the females giggled, "Haven't you heard? This is that foreign king who's come to visit Gotham!"
"A king, eh? That is impressive!" Bruce's eyes were sizing up Alpha and still projecting the threat display.
Perhaps he was open to negotiation. "I will not harm your flock," Alpha projected silently. "I-"
"Dismay fear ANGER!" and then something changed. Alpha wasn't sure what it was, since he could still sense most of the things he had before, but it felt like a part of Bruce Wayne had suddenly been tightly shut away.
At least he'd moved to defend rather than attack, so perhaps Alpha would have another chance at negotiation when they were alone and he could stop pretending so much. "Thank you," he said, since that was the stock human phrase that seemed most appropriate after the last spoken communication. Most humans only ever seemed to notice communication via sound, it was as if they did not consciously process the rest.
Then other humans called Bruce's attention away, but that was all right. Alpha knew who and how to hunt now.
o.o.o.o.o
Having to be Brucie with a mind-reading meta four feet away was incredibly unpleasant, but Bruce endured it. He chatted and flirted and pretended he'd forgotten about the man he'd just wandered away from, except to carefully probe for information whenever he saw a chance. "So that Wilder fellow, what's he king of, anyway?"
"Oh, some little Scandinavian country no one's ever heard of, something like that."
"His bodyguards are pretty mismatched." The meta was accompanied by a man and a woman. The latter didn't look anything out of the ordinary, except that her expression was too honest to belong at one of these parties, but the former had the same odd eyes, not-quite-right body language, and undefinable quality to his skin and hair that his master had. Bruce would be willing to bet that those two were only disguised as human.
"Oh, I know! They look rather silly together, don't they?"
About thirty minutes later, Bruce found himself stumbling outside with a woman, not even any of the three he'd come in with. As she gasped and clutched at him and sucked at his mouth like she was a young animal getting old enough to be weaned, he went through the motions of making out with her, wishing he was still closer to the party. He'd lost track of that meta and wanted to find him again, just to keep an eye on him. Genevieve Porter had ambushed him instead and he hadn't been able to get rid of her without breaking his Brucie cover, so now here he was, wasting time.
"I don't understand."
Genevieve gasped and Bruce looked back to find that the strange trio were out here on the balcony, too. The woman looked uncomfortable and had her face turned away, but the two men were staring with open curiosity. It was the male bodyguard who had spoken, and now continued complaining.
"You say they like to mate even when they don't want babies, but this one doesn't even want to mate at all-"
"Do you mind?!" Genevieve exclaimed.
The leader seemed to come to a decision, and stood up. "I challenge you for your mating target," he said to Genevieve, seeming to get bigger and more threatening as he approached.
Bruce did not think highly of Genevieve, but he still instinctively moved to shield her. "Brucie?" she said, frightened as she clutched at him.
"Go back inside, Vivi, I need to set the record straight."
The woman disappeared inside without a word, and Bruce geared up to fend off unwanted advances. However, the minute Genevieve was gone, the meta stopped, deflated like a bird lowering its feathers, and glanced at his female companion. "How was that?"
"Terrible!" she burst out in what seemed to be amused exasperation. "Humans don't court like that, and you can't threaten directly, I told you."
"Ah."
"What is this all about?" Bruce asked warily.
The meta turned back to him. "I am glad to meet you alone, brother. I wish to speak with you."
"Regarding?" There was a pause, then Bruce felt it again, another mental attack, something like "soothing no-harm" but it was HUGE and it was an INVASION, he was already shielded but he immediately reinforced his repelling techniques-
The meta gasped and rocked back a little, and his male companion narrowed those unsettling golden eyes and growled.
"It's all right- It's just self-defense, stand down..."
"Who are you?" Bruce growled, abandoning Brucie. "This is not a good city for metas."
The meta looked questioningly at the woman, who said, "'Metahumans.' It's what they call people with abilities normal humans aren't physically capable of."
"We are not-"
"I know, but they might count non-human entities, too." She turned to Bruce. "We're not from this country. Do dragons count as 'metahuman'?"
Bruce stared. 'Dragons.' It seemed to fit. "Shapeshifters?"
"Yes."
"Then, yes, they fall under the legal definition."
"I see."
There was a pause.
"Bruce Wayne," the meta - the dragon - finally said, "I have come to this place to seek you out and ask for your assistance."
"Regarding...?" Bruce said again, even more warily this time.
"My flock, and your cubs."
Bruce stiffened.
"Not your own children," the dragon - what was his name? Alfred Wilder - clarified. "Ones from a different troop."
Now Bruce was angry again. "How are you reading my mind?" He knew he was still blocking.
Wilder looked like he wasn't sure what Bruce was asking, but his human(?) companion spoke up again. "He doesn't read minds. All dragons pick up on emotions, and Alpha is an alpha, so he also senses bonds between people, emotional ones. If you have children, he'll know."
"Five of them," Wilder murmured. "You love them all so dearly, but some of them are troubled... If you were a dragon, I'd tell you to lick and nuzzle them better, but I don't know how it works for humans. 'Hug' them and tell them how much you love them, I think."
"It's not our business to interfere with human families, anyway," the woman said gently.
"What's your name?" Bruce asked straight out. "And yours." He nodded at the other male.
"I am Valka. He is my companion; among humans, he is called Claude."
"And among dragons?"
"One Who Leaps Over Clouds," the second dragon supplied.
"Cloudjumper," the woman simplified with a fond smile.
Their leader must have seen Bruce's eyes move to him demandingly. "I am Alpha."
The way he said the word seemed to vibrate Bruce's very bones, and he just barely managed not to shudder. "You said you came to talk to me about children?"
"Yes. Your 'Wayne Foundation' - it is a thing you made to take care of children who are orphaned, yes?"
"Any families in need, not just orphans. Children who have been abused or neglected, families in poverty or suffering other trauma - it's the charitable division of my company, focused on social work."
"Yes...well. My family, my flock, has suffered trauma, so we now seek a new home. We do not know the ways of humans well enough, therefore I now reach out."
"I'm not good with human people," Valka said. "My son, Hiccup, does better, but he is young, and it wasn't right to rest such a great responsibility on him alone. We are from a foreign land, only my son and I have legal documentation, and our flock is falling apart without a territory. We need help resettling in this country."
"I'll think about it," Bruce said warily, already itching to go home and research.
"You need time to think about helping us," Cloudjumper said, his eyes full of disapproval. "Do you also need time to think about helping cubs of your own kind?"
If he hadn't had Bruce's attention before, he would certainly have it now. "What are you talking about?"
Valka told him of the Wayne Foundation facilities they had visited. Most had seemed clean and well-kept, the occupants often sad and damaged, but not in active distress. There were a few exceptions, tangible clues that Valka had noticed and emotional disturbances that the dragons had picked up on, but the police had done nothing when their suspicions were reported, citing a lack of evidence.
"You are alpha here, I think," Wilder said. "This territory is yours, these nests and aeries with your scent- Your name, I mean; this name 'Wayne' marked on them. What will you do with the monsters in your territory, preying on your flock's little ones?"
"I'll look into it," Bruce said shortly, and marched away, too preoccupied to realize that he hadn't bothered to tell anyone goodbye.
o.o.o.o.o
They waited. They had to huddle in their 'hotel room' as if hibernating during winter. Valka and Cloudjumper had tried to explore when they first arrived in this city, but it was so awful that they no longer had any wish to interact with the people of this place. Alpha, feeling ill from the tangible and intangible poisons saturating the city, spent most of his time in bed.
He reached out to his distant flock, who were restless and anxious at his absence and their precarious situation, but often pleasantly distracted by whatever Hiccup was up to. He reached out, also, to Someone - to Bruce - out of curiosity.
First it was hunting, or perhaps foraging, with a such a great intensity that Alpha could sense Bruce easily despite the distance. Then a grim uneasiness, and then nightfall, and there. Like a hunting bird rising out of its nest. Bruce was after his prey.
"Alpha?"
Alpha realized he had risen from his bed. "Bruce..."
"Are you going out to join him?"
"Yes." Alpha shifted to the shape of an owl and glided out the window.
Ah. Ah. Bruce looked very, very different now. Alpha knew that the empty smile and the 'dress suit' had been wrong. This was Someone in his true form, as if Bruce was a shapeshifter as well; this black creature with pointed ears and full armor and a 'cape' like wings. Bat Man, as he was called on 'TV.' (At last, a foreign human with a sensible name!) It was true and right that Someone, Bruce, was the shadow who guarded Gotham in the darkness.
He could fly, too. Alpha watched admiringly as he followed. Hiccup had been the only human Alpha had seen personally who learned how to fly without a dragon's wings, but now here Batman had as well. Where Hiccup glided, Batman soared. Hiccup was a creature of the day, laughing in the sun; Batman was of the night, invisible in the shadows. His 'wings' were really a human vine that he cast from one building to another, but he handled it with such ease and grace that he might as well have been born flying.
'He makes this terrible place look beautiful.' Perhaps because Batman loved it so, because it was beautiful in his eyes, he made others see it as beautiful, too.
They made their way across the city, and Alpha recognized that they were heading toward the 'orphanage' with the threatened cubs. When they drew close, he had to wince and land at a distance - something terrible was happening in that building, an evil bond was being tightened and strengthened, and if Bat Man did not put a stop to it soon, Alpha himself would. No one should be made to endure such suffering.
Batman perched on a ledge across the way and stared hard. Then horror and fury spiked so strongly in him that Alpha gasped to sense it. Batman dove at a window, crashing through it. There were screams and shouts from within; Alpha had to take to the skies again and circle, desperately searching for purer bonds to focus on, distracting himself until it was over. Batman's fight with the darkness was too rough and chaotic and human.
When Alpha finally alit on a rooftop again, things had settled. The darkness had been contained; of course there was pain and devastation left in its wake, but the source of the evil had been captured by Gotham's guardians and was being cornered in a 'police car.' He would not be allowed to hurt cubs anymore.
Alpha shifted to human form and approached his brother-alpha, who was perched on the edge of the roof like a brooding bird of prey. "Bat Man."
Batman's body spoke nothing but efficient calm, but Alpha could tell how alarmed and displeased he was to be approached by someone he hadn't sensed. He made a grunting sound that was difficult to interpret.
"Thank you. We went to the guardians, the police, but nothing was done until now. Why are you the only one in this flock who cares about its children, Bruce Wayne?"
Another spike of displeasure that only Alpha would have been able to sense. "Don't call me that when my face is hidden. I'm Batman."
"Ah." Alpha could understand that. His flock all had their real names for home, and human names for when they were pretending to be human. Batman was the same.
"I am not the only one who wishes to protect the children of Gotham. The problem is that those with ill intentions usually prey on the most vulnerable."
Alpha closed his eyes, trying to keep his anger in check. Only the most depraved dragons would harm little ones of their own kind. He had to think hard of Valka and Hiccup to remind himself that humans were not monsters by default.
"I'll help you, Wilder."
Alpha opened his eyes.
"But I want to see your dragons first."
o.o.o.o.o
Bruce Wayne brought his own children with him. Not all of them - alpha could sense other children still distant, other troopmates still in Gotham. There were a few of them, though: a young adult whose heart shone like the sun, a fledgling whose soul reminded Alpha of Hiccup's, a child with a heart that was like a flower rising up out of ashes.
"Your children are beautiful," Alpha murmured to Bruce Wayne. They stood on the balcony of one of the dilapidated apartments in the tenement the dragons had taken over. In the courtyard below, Dick Grayson was playing with a group of hatchlings, Damian Wayne was unsuccessfully trying to drive off curious dragons in human form while admiring a couple who had chosen to reveal their scales, and Tim Drake was leaning over a contraption with Hiccup, the two of them making each other very excited while a bored Toothless sprawled beside them.
"These are really awful living conditions," Bruce fussed, filming the cracked walls and moldy corners and leaking appliances with his phone. "All the apartments are like this?"
"More or less. I have money, but only Valka and Hiccup have...'papers.'" He couldn't remember the correct word. "It makes things so difficult here."
"I'll take care of it."
And he did. This Bat Man might hold great darkness in his heart, but his love was even greater. Not even two weeks later, the flock was descending on their new home, a vast estate in Montana with room to hunt and play and fight and fly.
"Bat Man," Alpha said earnestly, looking deeply into the other alpha's eyes, "you have my gratitude."
Bruce looked uncomfortable, for some reason. "I'm a businessman. I make allies. I might ask you to return the favor someday."
"You are my brother-alpha, my ally. All you need do is call."
o.o.o
A/N: This is technically a prequel.