A Week with the Batkids
GalayaChapter One: Mt. Justice
(^o^)
Dick Grayson sat in the kitchen working on math homework while softly singing along to a random song in Romani. His adoptive brothers, Jason Todd and Timothy Drake, ate breakfast, helping their sister, Cassandra Cain, work on her speech. The youngest sibling, Damian Wayne, was attempting to reach one of the butter knives. His hand was absentmindedly swatted away by Dick.
It was an unusually quite morning. There had hardly been any crimes in Gotham for the last week. Dick had barely had any missions to do with the Young Justice Team for nearly a month. It was already November and Thanksgiving break would start that afternoon, meaning everything would get even quieter. The comfortable air in the kitchen was broken when the door was thrown open. Bruce walked in, talking angrily into the phone held in his right hand.
"Clark, it will be utter chaos here if I go. Dick has his duties in the Team… yes, I know it's been quiet, but that doesn't mean nothing will happen! The kids will destroy the Manor and kill each other without someone to watch them and Dick can't be here full time. And Alfred's sick, so I can't ask him," the billionaire shouted.
Dick pulled his headphones out to look up at their father. "Bruce, sorry to interrupt, but if you have a mission, I could bring them to Mount Justice with me."
Tim brightened up. "Please, Bruce? Can we go to Mount Justice? It'd be awesome!"
"Hold on one moment, Clark," Bruce said into the phone, turning to glare at his sons. "You'd run the risk of revealing your identity, Dick."
The eldest son just shrugged. "Is that more important than a mission for the league? Besides, all of the original League Members know your secret identity. Why can't the Team know mine? It could come in handy at some point. Like if I ever get in trouble as Dick Grayson and my identity's at risk, they could help me protect it. And in such a small team, secrets like that could destroy any trust eventually. Sometimes it's best to have some faith. You took faith in Jay, Tim, Cass, Dami, and I when you took us in. I know that's a bit different, since we're family, but the concept's the same. And it'd be asterous to finally tell them who I am. It's annoying not being able to. It makes me feel distant."
Bruce hesitated, considering his son's argument. "I'll think about it," he sighed, going back to his conversation with Clark as he grabbed some breakfast and left the room.
"Did… did he just…?" Tim gaped.
"Yeah," Dick agreed, equally as stunned.
"Yes!" Jason exclaimed, knocking over his bowl of cereal. "We get to see Mount Justice! Finally!"
"Maybe, Jason. He didn't actually say yes," the eldest reminded him firmly.
"So what? He still said he'd think about it. That's a win in my book. Alfred will probably force him to agree, anyways."
"Does anyone else find it funny that there is actually someone who can boss Batman around?" Tim grinned.
"Oh, yes," the older two boys agreed in sync.
Jason smirked at Dick. "Jinx. You owe me a soda."
Dick rolled his eyes, hiding a smile.
"D…Di-Dick?" asked Cass. "Co-could you- Could you he-lp me w-wi-th my ho-me wor-rk?"
He smiled gently at her. "What do you need help with. Math?"
"Ye-s."
"I'd love to. I'm totally asterous at math."
"Yeah, but not at English, Gypsy Boy," teased Jason.
"What? It's fun to play around with words. Well, English words. And technically, I'm only half gypsy. Okay, Cass, what's the problem say?"
She pulled out a sheet of paper from her backpack, which was hung over the back of her chair and moved her chair closer to Dick's. Laying the homework out on the table, the two sibling began working on it. An hour later, the five siblings packed their bags and waited to leave for school. Bruce gestured for them to follow him out the door and into the car.
"Alfred's sick, so I'm driving you to school. After school, you are to go directly to Mount Justice," Bruce directed, glaring at Tim and Jason as they cheered to silence them. "And, yes, Dick, you re allowed to tell the Team your real name. but only your first name. Damian, do not call any of them by their last names while your at Mount Justice for secrecy's sake. I'll be off world for two to three weeks and Barbara is at a gymnastics tournament for the week, so the Team will be responsible for Gotham."
The four year old nodded reluctantly, looking a little sour at the order. They climbed into the car. Dick was dropped off at his high school first, then Jason at the middle school, and the remaining three at the elementary school. He then returned the car to the Manor and left for his League Mission.
Hours crawled by for Dick. He was finally getting to tell the Team his real name! Well, Wally already knew, but he didn't count. Of course, his siblings would probably cause a disaster during the week at Mount Justice, but that was only to be expected with those four. He could handle it. So long as knives were kept out of Dami's reach, things should go rather smoothly.
When the school day was finally over, he jogged to the other two schools to pick up his siblings. They were all equally excited. This was a big step for all of them into the superhero world. Jason would probably expect to join the Team on a mission, and Dick couldn't say he'd entirely refuse the younger boy. After all, Jason and Cass were extraordinary fighters already, Tim was coming along, and Dami was just too young.
As soon as they reached the "out of order" telephone booth, Dick slid on his customary sunglasses and called Black Canary. "Hey, Dinah, did Bruce already give you the alert?"
"That your siblings are staying for the week? Yes. I will inform the Team."
"Thanks," he said into the communicator before turning to his siblings. "Okay, Jason's first, the Tim, then Cass, and Then Dami and I. And no arguing. You'll all be here for a week, so it doesn't matter who sees the Cave first."
Dami pouted but didn't argue. Dick walked in and typed in a code. He stepped out and waved for Jason to enter. The former street rat was grinning as he complied eagerly. Being allowed into Mount Justice was just too exciting for all of them. The computer recognized Jason as zeta beams concealed him from view.
The room was empty as the Bat Siblings entered. The younger ones gaped in appreciation. Even Damian couldn't contain his awe fully. Robin shrugged, figuring the Team was in the debriefing room. He held onto Cass's hand as he lead his siblings through the cave. As he had expected, Black Canary and the Team were in the debriefing room, the former explaining that they were having guests for the week.
"So, who are the guests and when do they get here?" M'gann was asking.
"Right now," Robin said as he came into the room.
The Team turned to face him, eyes widening upon the sight of the four kids around him. Tim, ever the shy one, ducked behind Robin. Jason just snickered at him. Dami unconsciously clung a little tighter to Robin's shirt. Cass simply stared back at the Team, eyes like dinner plates. Wally groaned.
"Dude, your siblings?" he whined. The other members of the Team looked surprised at the knowledge Robin had siblings.
Robin shrugged. "A's sick, Batman's off world, and the only other person who could watch them is at a gymnastics tournament for a week. Besides, I don't mind keeping an eye on them. And I finally got permission to reveal my identity because of it."
"Whoa, seriously? Bats got over his paranoia?"
"No, I just gave a good enough argument. Anyways, I think everyone should be introduced. Except Wally, since he's already met them."
M'gann immediately flew over, holding out her hand to the kids. "Hello, I'm Miss Martian. My real name's M'gann, but you can call me Megan."
"I'm Conner- Superboy," Conner spoke, unusually gentle.
"Artemis."
"Aqualad, or Kaldur."
Jason was the first of the Batkids to speak. "I'm Jason."
"Tim."
"Cass."
"Damian."
"So, what about your parents? Or is Batman you father?" Artemis queried, crossing her arms.
The Batkids all glanced at each other, unsure of how to explain it. They managed to come to a silent decision that Robin would give the story.
"Technically, only Dami is Batman's son, since none of the rest of us are actually related in any way. We all have our various stories of how we got into the 'Batfamily'," he supplied.
M'gann looked perplexed. "So, you're siblings, but completely unrelated? That doesn't make sense."
Jason shrugged in reply. "All of us but Damian are adopted. And all of us have some kind of bad past, though Tim and Dami's are the tamest, Dami only because he's so young that he hardly remembers any of it."
"Wait, Robin, you're adopted?" Artemis raised an eyebrow at the team hacker.
"Yeah… I don't really like talking about it much. So not a whelming story," Robin winced. Tim nodded in agreement, having been there personally for the start of Dick's bad past. "Well, I should go get these four settled. That'll take a while, knowing them. Oh, and don't be surprised if this next week is chaotic."
With that, he and his siblings left. Black Canary dismissed the Team, who all departed to entertain themselves for the rest of the evening. Jason, Tim, and Cass all were given separate rooms, but Dami for some odd reason felt like sticking with Dick like glue, so Robin decided to share his room with the youngest. It was a bit abnormal for Dami to be so sociable, but Dick was secretly happy that he was opening up a little more to him.
The only incident of the evening was an argument between Jason and Tim over who would get which room. Strangely, Cass broke up that argument simply by taking the room the boys were fighting over. That got a laugh out of everyone, even Conner and Dami. Their faces were priceless in Dick's opinion.
After all the excitement of the day, Dick was relieved to finally collapse into bed. He drifted off listening to Dami who'd already fallen asleep on a spare bed Dick had moved into his room for the week. It was nice having his brother in there. It gave him reassurance that the youngest was safe. Just that comforting thought was enough to hold the normal nightmares of his past at bay.
It was going to be a long week. But it would be worth it.
(^o^)
I know I really should be updating my other stories, but I have so completely lost interest in the Merlin fandom that I have read only two Merlin stories in the past six months or so and both were crossovers. I also recently got really into Danny Phantom, then Teen Titans from there, then The Batman from there, and the Young Justice from there. So… yeah. And I've been reading some stories where the Young Justice Team or the Teen Titans meet Robin's younger siblings and thought that it would be awesome. I think he would be a really good older brother. And I have a feeling that if the Team or the Titans met his siblings, his identity would come out somehow.
I don't know how often I'll update this (it'll have seven or so more chapters, one for each day), since, like always, I'm way more into my original stories. So don't expect regular updates. Though reviews will certainly keep my interest in this story… And, yes, that was a blatant hint.