A Death in the Family: Redux

What started as one man's war on crime evolved into a small army's. And they, in turn, evolved into a family: Bruce, Dick, Barbara, her father...and Jason. Bonded together by the same cause. But what happens when one of their own goes missing? Joker's going too far this time and the consequences just might be too much to bear...

A retelling of the classic story of the same name—but told including numerous members of the Bat-family and others of the DCU and further inspired by the DCEU in which Harley Quinn was involved in Robin's death. (Suicide Squad (2016))

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

This is my first DC fan fic to come out, just not the first one I came up with. That honor is reserved A Baptism of Acid, a Harley and Bruce story which is still "in progress"...

Anyho, I know I just took a tiny step here with this short thing but even so, knowing what I'm trying for, I had fun and I'm excited at the prospect of writing the characters out of their costumes further, which to me, make up some of my favorite moments in the comics themselves.

A Death in the Family was so tragic, the only thing that could make it better as a story was if there were more characters involved like they became later on in A Lonely Place of Dying, to give even more heart to what was a pretty savage and even traumatic time in their history: the blatant murder of a kid, a partner. I like emotions, so I hope I will write them and the numerous characters who will be affected by Jason's death well. That is my goal.

We just have to put up with putting a bird in the refrigerator...Without further ado:

A DEATH IN THE FAMILY

Richard Grayson, Nightwing

"Dick."

A warm breath wafted into his ear pleasantly. Under the sheets, a long leg draped itself around him.

Richard Grayson, also known by Dick, Nightwing, formerly Robin: the Boy Wonder (Age 12), and, once upon a time, even as Batman, smiled as he was further roused from his comfortable slumber with a contented moan.

"I've missed this," Koriand'r whispered, cuddling closer to him, her orange shapely body pressing against his own skin.

I've missed this too, Star—

Dick blinked, nearly shooting up from his bed.

"K-Kori?" he stuttered stupidly.

Kori, who like him was once apart of the Teen Titans, grinned, her odd green eyes scanning him before lingering on his face. "Yes?" Her smile was open enough to expose her teeth as she stared into his blue eyes. Below her form, long hair glowed with life near its tip like a fire. "What is it?"]

Kori was always a sight to behold.

He shook his head. "It's nothing." He gave her a warm smile and maneuvered the side of the bed, quickly slipping a pair of boxers on. "I'ma get up, now, okay?"

"I'll get up as well," she said, humming. As she stood, the sheet fell from her and smirking at him for a moment she strutted to the side to stretch.

Once in the bathroom, Dick stood at the sink, rubbing his forehead.

What the heck am I doing? We can't keep doing this...

He stared at his reflection for a moment, contemplating what to do next. Ever since his teenage years, he and Kori had been off and on, off and on and at some point, they had come to terms with the fact that they just didn't belong together, as hard as it was to admit. But then they started up again. So had he and Barbara, Helena, Raya, and a lot more women than he cared to admit.

What was it that kept him from settling? There were times when he debated that it was his...night job.

Long had the days passed when he was a mere sidekick. Now he was his own hero, but that put him in a place where he was either utterly alone or with others who shared his same lifestyle of over the top suits and life threatening situations. It was as if there could be no middle ground.

But was that a bad thing? Any shrink would tell him it wasn't healthy, that he should let the vigilantism go and live the rest of his adulthood as a normal guy. Just look at Bruce, he thought. Sometimes the legend that was "the Batman" wasn't as collected as he or anyone else liked to think he was. He was prone to paranoia. Untrusting of others...

Although Dick felt the complete opposite of his adoptive mentor, he couldn't help wonder about his own future. He didn't want to end up as some reclusive figure, doomed to forever be alone, but at the same time, some part of him could never give this life up. But why was that?

Before he could muse on the answer, Kori's voice interrupted his train of thought.

"Dick!"

Throwing on the nearest T-Shirt and pair of jeans he could find in the pile of clothes that had accumulated on his floor, Dick rushed out to find Kori at the window, his phone in her hand.

"It was vibrating a lot," she said, still undressed. "So I picked it up and..." And held the device out to him. "It must be urgent."

Dick stepped forward, nudging her arm softly, trying to direct her to the side. "Honey, don't stand in front of the open window like that."

"Why?" she retorted with a snort. "It is your apartment, not theirs."

Dick smiled reluctantly before closing his curtains. "You'll drive my neighbors nuts. We can't have that, can we?"

She gave another confident smirk. "Fine. But I was enjoying the rising sun. It's just so beautiful this time of day, don't you think? And these casual clothes really damper taking it in."

"You'll survive."

"Yeah, yeah." She began dressing, slipping her sundress on that had been abandoned last night and thrown across the room. "I will get ready and get us some of that bean drink with lots of chocolate from Starbucks."

Shaking his head, Dick turned to the phone and unlocked the device. Almost instantly he was bombarded with missed messages. Texts and calls, all from Bruce and even a single email from Alfred.

Something in him froze up, immediately, sensing something was off, before even opening any of the texts or his voicebox. Bruce wasn't one to send more than one call if that. He was blunt and said what needed saying without mincing words. Had his new Robin, Jason Todd, gotten ahold of his phone? Was he playing some prank? No, Bruce wouldn't be so careless with his devices.

And while Jason was a little bit of a rascal, he wouldn't be the type to do something as obnoxious as this.

Taking a deep breath, he opened the first voice mail.

"Dick, it's Jason." It was undoubtedly Bruce's voice. He sounded worried, and if the great Batman was worried, then everyone else had reason to be terrified out of their minds. "He's gone missing. Have you seen him?"

The next message was practically the same, but with a greater sense of urgency.

Dick's heart slowed to a crawl. This could be really nothing worth even worrying about, perhaps they had had a fight or needed to get away from each other for a night. Dick himself had reached that point a few years ago and had broken off from Bruce as his sidekick altogether. But Jason wasn't like him. There was a thrill that came into the young teen's eyes when he went on patrol with Batman. He wasn't at the point of going on his own yet and goodness knows he still needed training, to help keep him reigned in. And God help anyone that boy went up against on his own.

Hurriedly, Dick called Bruce.

"Bruce, I just woke up and got your messages."

On the other end, his mentor breathed a sigh of relief. "Please tell me you've seen him."

"No, I haven't. What's going on?"

"He's been missing since yesterday evening and hasn't answered his phone or communicator since."

"Bruce, listen, maybe he just needed out for a bit."

"No." Bruce's voice suddenly became tight. "It's possible he sought Joker, the fiend was released from Arkham yesterday morning."

A chill ran through Dick. "What're you talking about? They released him?!"

This was news to him. Dick had just naturally figured that Joker's stay would be permanent this time around, unless he broke out and if that was the case there was no way he would have missed news like that, even all the way in Blüdhaven.

"Yes. They claimed he was sane but..."

None of them were going to buy that, not even Dick who liked to try to believe in the best in people.

Joker was just...Well, beyond hope. While Dick had been raised to treat the "no killing rule" like the Bible itself, Jason had often called it into question when it came to Joker. And sometimes Dick felt that the kid brought up good points in his attempts to convince Batman to off him. Joker was never going to change, and as long as he kept getting out of Arkham, people would continue to die in his sick game to get at Batman.

"Listen," Bruce said. "I'm out looking now but I'm going to need help. I need you on your bike, look around Blüdhaven, the slums, and gutters. Have Miss Koriand'r keep an eye from the sky."

He wasn't even going to ask how Bruce knew he was with Kori. Then again, a very attractive flying alien with long glowing hair like fire was hard to miss.

"Alright Bruce, we'll find him. Chances are he's nowhere near the Joker." Already he was shoving his suit into a pack. The suit was a sleek black thing with a bright blue shape on the front, mirror a long V-like bird, replacing the bright colors of his previous Robin suit that in hindsight struck him as something more fitting for an elf costume. "Do you want me to call the Titans?"

"No. But I do want you to get ahold of Barbara."

Dick stilled, his eyes frozen wide open. "Bruce...You know she's wanting to retire as Batgirl..."

"I know. But this is the last time."

To pull even her into this...

Again, Dick was filled with a sense of dread. Jason Todd disappearing could be a mere minor incident. Or it could mean something horrific that he really, really didn't even want to think about.

"Starfire, coffee will have to wait. We need to find Jason now."

_-xXx-_