The Birds Who Smile
(rough draft; 2nd edition)
A Batman fanfic by Raberba girl
Summary: "Dark Nights: Metal" AU where Bruce adopts three of the Robins who once belonged to the Batman Who Laughs.
A/N: This fic contains numerous potential triggers, only some of which are warned about. Three of the major characters are survivors of horrific abuse and therefore have a lot of painful memories and baggage to work through. If you still want to read the story but are worried about specific triggers, you can ask me and I'll tell you if this fic has them or not.
This fic is not canon-compliant. Before actually reading "Metal," I got hit hard with this fic idea when I saw a couple of out-of-context panels of the Batman Who Laughs and his pet Robins. I am using Rebirth as my baseline, but am also borrowing elements from pre-Flashpoint, New 52, and other DC media.
PLEASE READ THIS FANFIC ON AO3. I had to censor parts of it on FFN (and even, to a lesser extent, on DA) because FFN's rules are ridiculously uptight. I also just really hate FFN and only continue posting there for redundancy.
Chapter 1
It was over. The multiverse had been raised back into the light, the Dark Knights were gone for good, and now it was time to focus on the long, painful task of rebuilding Earth's ravaged cities-
-as well as figuring out what to do with the three surviving dark Robins who had been left behind.
They were crouched around their dead brother, crowing softly. Only one of them, the smallest, was watching the heroes. The largest Robin was patting the dead one's face, his claw-like nails nicking skin, as the third Robin gnawed on the dead one's limp fingers.
Batman felt too sick to even look at them. It was Nightwing who finally approached, crouching a few feet away from the creatures and holding out his hand. "Dickie," he called.
The biggest Robin jerked his head up and fixed his eyes on Nightwing.
Now Batman really felt like he was going to throw up. If these things, these perversions, truly were his sons from an incredibly broken world, he wanted to die.
Nightwing swallowed, but his voice was as gentle and encouraging as ever. "Come here. C'mere, Dickiebird~"
The Robin took two cautious, cat-like steps toward him, then paused.
"Jason?" Nightwing tried.
The gnawing Robin dropped his dead brother's hand and hissed.
"...Jay. It's okay, Jaybird. Timmy, come here. It's okay."
The little one's eyes brightened. He started to approach, but glanced back at his hesitating brothers and stopped, then crouched low, as if waiting for orders.
Nightwing edged closer and started to reach for the handle of the leashes that had been staked to the ground, but the smallest Robin screeched, and the other two snarled and lunged at Nightwing, forcing him to leap back.
Both groups stared at each other for a moment, at a standoff.
Nightwing finally moved close to Batman and murmured, "I think it needs to be you."
"No."
"Bruce, please. How are we going to get them out of here otherwise?"
"There are ways."
"Please. If it works the way I think it will, this will be safest."
He knew Nightwing was right. Still, he was fighting nausea as he straightened up and moved, step by reluctant step, toward the handles. Two of the Robins remained completely still, their eyes fixed on him; the other one - Jason's counterpart - shrieked and backed away, jerked when he hit the leash's limit, and started clawing at the collar around his neck, heedless of the blood this produced. "CROW! CROW! CROW! CROW!"
Batman couldn't bear the sound anymore; he seized the leather handle with its four chains and ripped it free of the earth. The terrified Robin instantly went as still, silent, and glassy-eyed as a doll. The chains clinked as the oldest and youngest Robins crept close and clung to their new master's legs, cooing like doves.
"Get off me," Batman ground out through clenched teeth, but nothing happened.
"crow"
"crow"
Nightwing cautiously approached, and this time, none of the Robins attacked or threatened him. He reached down to the dead boy and carefully unfastened the collar from his neck. "What do you want to do with this one?"
'Burn it,' Batman wanted to say, but he knew the ravaged little corpse was far more valuable for study, and deserved a proper burial after that. No matter what monstrosity its dark master had twisted it into, it was still a child who had been unspeakably victimized. "Put it- him, in the preservation chamber in the Batwing." He turned away and tugged on the chains. "Come."
The two at his feet followed like obedient puppies; the distant one dragged himself after them like a zombie.
When they joined the others by the plane, the true Robin looked at the chained ones with open revulsion, Red Robin with horror. Red Hood's expression was hidden by his helmet, but his voice contained a mix of incredulity and resignation. "Seriously, B? Your pathological need to adopt half the stray brats you find is that bad?"
"crow"
"They're my responsibility," Batman ground out.
"crow"
"crow"
"I refuse to accept these vile specimens as brothers," Robin snapped.
"I'm not asking you to, Robin. Someone just get these things contained while I ready the plane for takeoff."
When Batman tried to pass the leather handle over to Red Robin, all hell broke loose. The second Robin leapt straight for Batman's throat, snarling savagely; the oldest one lunged, fang-like teeth snapping as if he meant to bite off Red Robin's hand; and the youngest one shrieked a frenzied chorus of "CROW!"s as he was dragged across the ground by the neck in the wake of his brothers' aggressive movements.
Everyone was shouting, Red Hood was trying to knock back the dark Robins with strikes they didn't seem to even feel, Robin was beating the one trying to kill his father, and Nightwing and Red Robin were scrambling for tranquilizers.
The sedatives took longer than usual to do their work, but Batman and his sons were all more or less in one piece by the time the second dark Robin, the last to succumb, finally lost his grip and collapsed to the ground beside the other two.
There was a long pause.
"Batman," Nightwing finally said, "don't let go of that handle again."
"They're unconscious now-"
"NO," Red Robin interrupted. "We can fly the plane home, just stay with your little hellspawn and make sure they don't try to kill us again!"
"I'm not the demon child of the family anymore," Robin said, and smiled in satisfaction when both Red Robin and Red Hood ruffled his hair as they passed him.
Two of the dark Robins stayed asleep for most of the flight, but the second one woke up when they'd traveled three quarters of the way. Though he was contained in a cell, he pressed his hands and face against the transparent wall and hissed at Batman.
"Nightwing," Batman called, and only his family would have recognized the tiny note of panic in his voice, "Jason's awake, I need you here."
"I'm not-" Then Red Hood realized his mistake and exploded. "No, NO, we cannot call them after us!"
"But they are us," Nightwing pointed out, joining Batman by the dark Robins' cells.
"I do not accept that without thorough DNA testing," Red Robin said tightly.
"They answer to our names," Nightwing continued. He crouched. "Hey there, little Robin. My Jay over there doesn't like sharing his name, so you think maybe we could come up with a different one for you? How about Matthew? Or maybe Danny? André? Octavian?"
"crow"
"Peter?" Batman suggested hesitantly, glancing at his second son.
"Tch. Whatever," Red Hood mumbled.
"Red Robin? Nightwing?"
Red Robin sighed loudly. "I suppose they can use our middle names. Or just Jack, to make it simple."
"Peter~" Nightwing cooed at the imprisoned Robin. "Are you okay with that being your new name, Petey?"
"crow"
"I guess I'm gonna have to learn how to speak Bird, huh."
The newly dubbed Peter raked his nails down the inside of his cell, carving long, thin lines into the transparent material.
"Crap."
Batman reached for the cell's command panel to gas Peter to sleep again before he could claw his way out.
After a while, Nightwing broke the silence. "Bruce...I think it was right to take them with us, but they're going to need...a lot of attention."
"Mm."
"It wouldn't be fair to saddle Alfred with them all by himself, and I doubt you'd want to bring in any outsiders. I'll try to help, but...Blüdhaven, the Titans...I don't know how long I'll be able to stay in Gotham. What do you have in mind for keeping an eye on these little guys 24/7?"
"That won't be a problem."
After waiting in vain for a more detailed explanation, "Care to expand on that? This will affect us, everyone in the family."
Bruce let out a long, quiet exhale. "They're my responsibility. I'll take care of them. I appreciate any help you're able to give, but they're my burden to bear."
"...Okay, so how are you going to raise a trio of psychotic, flesh-eating children and be Batman at the same time?"
"I'm not."
Red Robin and Robin, who had apparently been half-listening, whirled almost in unison and came to join Batman and Nightwing by the containment cells. "What do you mean?!" Robin demanded.
"You can't seriously expect us to believe you're not going to be Batman anymore," Red Robin said.
Bruce, silent but intense, lifted an arm and swept it through the air. "Out there, all that destruction, everything is my fault," that one gesture seemed to say.
"Bruce," Nightwing said helplessly, "you're not going to let him get into your head like that, are you?"
"You took the Bat and you made it yours," Red Robin said. "You're Batman. Don't let Barbatos taint all the good you've done."
Bruce ripped off his cowl and opened his mouth, his expression so thunderous that Red Robin flinched slightly and Robin shrank back a little. But the explosion didn't come, and after a long moment, Bruce swallowed whatever he had been going to say. Another moment passed. Then he said through clenched teeth, "The world doesn't need Batman right now. Those three children need me, and I'd rather dedicate myself to them and fail than take another step on a path that he carved out for me."
Red Robin started to speak, but then glanced into the cells and stopped. Robin said in a slightly wavering voice, "I'm your heir. What am I supposed to aspire to if you give up?"
Bruce laid a hand on his son's shoulder. "You will always be my heir. If you really want to keep fighting...crime, darkness, whatever mission you feel driven to...whether with Robin's mask or a different one, you still have my support. All of you do. I just..."
"He needs some time to think," Nightwing murmured. He smiled at the man who was a father to him. "Barbatos may have poisoned Batman for you for a while, but all the lost kids you took in and brooded over, that was all you, Bruce. If this is what you need, to remind yourself that there's something you really are good at, go for it. We get it, and we'll cover for you."
"Not much left to cover," Red Hood spoke up from the cockpit. "Gotham's practically a crater, and the Justice League's not gonna want any non-meta second-raters to fill their vacancy - except maybe you, Golden Boy. If the world will even tolerate anyone operating under a bat symbol anymore. What are we gonna do, set up shop in Blüdhaven and go back to business as usual?"
There was a pause.
"We don't have to decide now," Red Robin said wearily. "Let's just get home and take things one step at a time."
Gotham had been destroyed during what Jason had dubbed the 'Batpocalypse,' and Wayne Manor had been damaged, but the Batcave hadn't suffered much. According to Alfred, the cave was currently more livable than the mansion was, so for the time being, the Batcave was going to have to be the family's home in addition to their base of operations.
"Great," Jason said dryly, "constantly surrounded by darkness and bats. PTSD, here we come."
By the time the plane came to rest in the Batcave, two of the dark Robins were awake. Jack, the smallest, seemed sluggish and continued lying curled up on the floor, glancing up at Bruce with sleepy unconcern as the man opened the cell and re-attached the boy's chain to the leather handle. John, as soon as his cell was open, threw himself at Bruce to bite at him, but the minute his chain was fastened, his conditioning kicked in and he calmed down. His "crow"s now sounded almost curious as he wandered the length of his leash, inspecting whatever was within reach with minimal scratching from his deadly sharp nails.
Bruce, after assuring himself that Peter really was still unconscious, picked him up, careful not to lose his hold on the leather handle. "This is so messed up," Tim muttered as he helped Bruce exit the plane with his awkward load.
"They hurt you..." Bruce murmured, looking at how John had managed to draw blood even through the tough material of Tim's uniform.
"Don't get me wrong, these kids better stay on the damn leashes until they can learn to not claw people up as their default setting, but...it's still messed up."
Dick approached with a dismayed-looking Alfred and Duke following in his wake. Behind them, Jason and Damian were attacking a plate of sandwiches. "Whew, we've got a lot of work ahead of us! Alfred, Duke, this is John, Peter, and Jack, because it'd be too confusing if their first names stayed the same as ours."
Duke swore under his breath at the sight of more victims suffering similarly to how his parents did. "By heaven," Alfred said faintly, bending a little to get a closer look at the Jokerized children. "You did warn me, but seeing them firsthand is..." John, who had been inspecting his hesitantly reaching hand, suddenly snapped his jaws; Alfred managed to snatch his fingers away just in time. "Good Lord."
"HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!" John bellowed, the sound of toxin-fueled laughter making the whole family wince. Alfred the cat fled, and Titus started barking frantically, backing away with his tail between his legs.
"Antidote first," Bruce said firmly, laying Peter down on a table in the medbay and securing him with medical restraints. The boy stirred restlessly, apparently nearing consciousness again. "Tim, get blood samples."
"On it."
Drawing the unconscious boy's blood was easy enough, but the other two screeched at almost everyone who tried to come near them with a needle. They submitted only to Bruce, whimpering and crowing in distress, but not daring to attack him as long as he kept his grip on the leather handle. In the back of Bruce's mind, he prayed that he wouldn't have to constantly hold onto the horrible thing for long, that he would have a 100% match antidote in stock to magically cure the boys so they could be children again instead of monsters of his own creation...
'Focus, Bruce.' "Is there more food, Alfred?" The original plate of sandwiches was long gone by now, though Dick was rummaging around in the makeshift kitchen, probably in search of cereal.
"Yes, of course, Master Bruce." Alfred went to fetch a covered platter from the refrigerator. As he approached with it, John and Jack froze alertly, like hunting dogs that had caught the scent of prey.
Bruce hastily wound the chains around his fists and forearms, but it wasn't enough. When both boys lunged, shrieking, he was dragged after them as if they were the mass of muscle and he was the scrawny child. "NO!" he shouted, which stopped them for exactly two seconds.
Then Jack made an unholy, high-pitched hissing noise and threw himself toward Alfred again, gouging deep scratches in the floor as he fought to get closer; John screamed over and over again, tearing at his own scalp as if he was going even more insane than he already was.
"TRANQ THEM!" Bruce bellowed; then at Damian, who looked like he was about to run the Robins through with a sword, "GET BACK, DAMIAN." A minute later, John was unconscious on the floor, and Jack was breathing as noisily as a sick cow as he fought the effects of the tranquilizer and gradually lost. Bruce could still hear him even over Titus's renewed barking and the wild shrieks of Peter, who was now fully awake and writhing so violently in his bonds that it looked like he was about to hurt himself despite the protective padding.
"H-Him, too?" Tim asked shakily, and obeyed immediately when Bruce barked an affirmative.
Once Damian had ordered his dog to be quiet, silence fell at last. "...Dear God," Dick finally whispered. Duke covered his face with one hand, feeling sick.
"How are we supposed to share living space with those things?!" Damian cried, his voice underscored by Titus's frightened whining.
Even Bruce's voice was a bit unsteady. "Tie them down, too, until we can administer an antidote. I'm not going to risk anyone's safety again."
Once the unconscious boys were secured, Alfred went to work treating injuries. Jason and Damian went to bed in the sleeping nooks Alfred had prepared for them; Dick curled up in a chair to listen to music; Tim started sorting through the sea of e-mails regarding Wayne Enterprises, as Duke studied reports on victims of Joker toxin. Bruce tried working on various projects, but couldn't concentrate on any of them. The minute the main computer beeped to signal the completion of the blood tests, everyone dropped what they were doing to gather around it.
"They are us," Tim said in dismay. "Exact copies from that horrible world..."
Dick was more interested in the toxin analysis. "No full matches, but 24-A is close enough to help, at least."
Bruce turned, but Alfred was already on his way to retrieve that version of the antidote from cold storage.
"Do you," Tim said hesitantly, "honestly think those kids have a chance of really being cured? Pretty much all the victims in our world only suffered one dose of toxin, but these Robins...from the look of things, they've been poisoned for months at least, maybe even years."
"You don't have to help me with them if you don't want to," Bruce said shortly.
"Bruce, come on, that's not what I meant."
"We have to try," Dick said with a shrug. "Even if they're lost causes, we have to try. They're family."
Tim sighed deeply. "In a way, I guess..."
The sleeping boys were treated with the antidote, then hooked up to IV lines so they could get some nutrition before Bruce dared to try real food again. Then he sent Alfred and his remaining conscious sons to the makeshift sleeping quarters to get some rest, though Tim opted to keep working on the computer.
"It's late, Tim."
"I won't be able to sleep. Can you?"
Exhausted as Bruce was, the last thing he wanted to do was sleep. The nightmares loomed large enough in his mind even when he was awake. "Hnn." He brought a laptop to the medbay so he'd have something to do as he waited for the dark Robins to wake up.
TBC
A/N: Before I read any of "Dark Nights: Metal," I saw a sample page where the Dark Knights first appear. Those poor Jokerized Robins on leashes, fawning over the Batman Who Laughs, instantly seized my attention (similarly to how the dark Bewilderbeast did in HTTYD, when I discovered that he'd been raised by Drago since he was a hatchling). That's when I got the idea for this fic, combed through the Wikis and stuff for all the information about "Metal" that I could find, then finally gave in and just bought what had been published so far of "Metal" so I could read it, instead of waiting for the issues to be collected together like I prefer to do. Since I started writing this fic before "Metal" was completed, of course some of my assumptions about the dark Robins turned out to be wrong, but I wanted to write this fic, anyway. I wish that the dark Robins (evil Damian was the only exception) had been treated like people in canon, rather than props.
Although this fic touches on a few romantic relationships (all from canon), my aim is to keep this story as gen as possible. (As in, there is one couple I ship in the background and two extremely canon couples who insisted on shipping themselves in a couple of chapters, but romance has never been the focus. Now that I'm doing a round of edits, I'm also implementing my "Every Bat I care about is on the ace spectrum except Dick" headcanon.)
When I first started posting this fic, I had not had a good track record for finishing stories, and I thought this would get abandoned a few chapters in. I was hugely surprised when I managed to stick with it. It is now almost exactly one year later and I've written 63 chapters and almost 200,000 words, plus assorted alternate routes and side-stories. Even though there's still a long way to go, I hope very, very much that I am able to see this monster fic to the end!
