Therapy Session
Chapter 1:
After another long night of fighting crime, Batman comes home with all of his current sidekicks and wards: Nightwing, Red Hood, Red Robin, Robin, and last but not least, Bat Girl. As they all arrive at the Bat Cave, the constant bickering went on.
"I HAD HIM!" Damian Wayne yelled at Tim Drake.
"It didn't look like it from where I was standing." Tim retorted.
"You got in my line of fire, Steph." Jason Todd reprimanded Stephanie Brown.
"Well, I'm sorry, I was seemingly able to take care of him more likely than you were." She talked back.
"WILL YOU ALL JUST SHUT UP?" Dick Grayson and Bruce Wayne harmonized. The whole room went quiet. Bruce then took off his cowl, revealing a not-so-kind look on his face. He went over to Damian and Tim and picked them both up by the back of their uniforms while Dick had done the same to Stephanie and Jason. They both carried them up the stairs and into an empty guest room in the manor.
Bruce and Dick dropped them all like rag dolls and began to walk outside. Bruce turned around and blocked the door so Dick wasn't able to go out either.
"But why?" Dick yelled.
"If I don't recall, you also had a quarrel with Jason as well today. You stay with them. Maybe you all could work together and figure out a way that you can work things out." The room was silent. "If i don't remember correctly, you all barely know each other…"
With that, the billionaire slammed the door shut and locked it. Dick turned around to four other faces, looking in different directions. Jason rolled his eyes as he exhaled. Stephanie looked at him and every other of the robins and realized what was actually happening.
"Look guy, maybe…Bruce is right. We always start bickering on a night when all of us are needed. I'm sure it creates more stress on Bruce."
"oh, WHO cares about Bruce," Jason retorted, "He's stressed even when he's NOT stressed."
"This doesn't mean you have to shit all over Steph's idea." Dick defended.
"See? Here we go again! And Bruce's right. We don't know each other very well; mainly because we never really like to talk about our past. Well, maybe we can change that….maybe we can let each other know why we are the way we are." Stephanie finished.
"Stephanie's right." Dick agreed. Stephanie smiled at him.
"Yeah, well may you'd like to go first!" Jason said with an attitude as he leaned up against the wall. Dick looked at him with a glare.
"alright, I will." Dick said, keeping his eyes on him. Dick took out a chair and sat down on it backwards. He rested his arms on the back rest and looked at the four staring faces.
"Before I was robin, I was…and acrobat with my parents." Dick started, remembering his tragic past. One night, I heard the Ring master, Haly, talking with some guy. He threatened him that he would do something to me and my parents if Haly didn't do what he wanted. At first, I didn't think anything of it, mainly because Haly dismissed the idea of hurting me and my family."
"Get to the point, Bird Man!" Jason said getting impatient with the story. Dick looked at Jason again.
"SHUSH!" Stephanie warned Jason. Jason looked at her giving the same death glare he was giving Dick. "Continue, Dick."
"The next show we had, Bruce had come to. When it was our turn to go on stage, I didn't have a good feeling about going on. When I told my mom, she said it was just nerves. Still, we continued to go out on the trapeze. Like always, my mom and dad swung on them first. As I looked at the ropes, I noticed the one was getting ready to break. As my mom had caught my dad on her trapeze…the rope…broke." A lump stood in the middle of Dick's throat as he relived his tragic moment. Jason's head turned towards him, not expecting that happening to Dick who was normally cheerful. Four sympathetic eyes looked at Dick, unable to comprehend what was happening.
"When I became the boy wonder, Bruce asked me what I was going to be called. The name 'Robin' came up because of how my mother always said I bobbed along. When I was partnered with Batman for the first time…I felt they were both with me. And still today, I feel that way, which is why I try to keep a smile on my face. I never wanted them to see me unhappy." Dick lowered his head as a single tear dropped on the chair. Stephanie put her hand on his back reassuringly.
"I'm so sorry, Dick." She said, sincerely. Dick nodded his head as he quickly wiped another tear falling down his face. Jason let out a small giggle. Dick stormed over to Jason who was still leaning up against the wall. Dick grabbed the front of his shirt.
"YOU THINK THIS IS FUNNY? DO YOU THINK IT'S FUNNY HOW I LOST MY PARENTS TO A FREAKING BASTARD WHO NEEDED SOMETHING FROM MY BOSS?" he yelled, "Well, I'd think TWICE about laughing about my parents' death knowing that you're still lucky to be here after Joker sent you to your grave by a crow bar and some explosives!" Dick exploded.
Damian, Tim and Stephanie ran over to Dick trying to calm him down. Stephanie and Tim unlatched his grip on Jason's shirt while Damian shouted at Dick trying to get him to calm down.
"Dick, please settle down! You saw Jason's face when you told him your parents died! We're all sorry, even if we don't show it right away!" Damian consoled. Damian looked at Jason with a face saying not to provoke him anymore. Tim and Stephanie sat Dick back down in the chair. When Stephanie took her hand off Dick, she also looked at Jason.
"Well, now that you find Dick's story so amusing, why don't you go next?" Stephanie retorted with her hands on her hips.
"Dick already told you, Joker shitted up my beautiful face and blew me up." Jason said not getting into detail.
"What else happened?" the child, Damian, asked. Jason looked at Damian and realized that no one really DID know what happened besides Dick and Bruce.
"You really don't know, do you?" Jason asked amazed. Everyone but Dick shook their head. Jason let out a sigh and began to tell his story.
"Well, like Grayson said, Joker killed me before I became Red Hood. Thanks to Damian's grandfather, I'm here now, and better than all of you put together."
"You kill people!" Dick said at Jason's remark.
"I take care of the job, don't I? Better than any of you have ever took care of it." Jason argued.
Dick got up off the chair and stared at Jason for a moment. Then he finally spoke.
"Killing is what keeps us apart from those who ARE criminals. Bruce never raised you to become one of them." Dick said trying to stay calm.
"Well, even from the beginning he failed. I was a juvenile delinquent from the start. He only took me in when I was taking his clown car's wheels." Jason retorted. Trying not to get into any more fights, Stephanie touched Dick's arm as he began to shake. She guided him back down to the seat and gently rubbed his back.
"who wants to go next?" Stephanie asked the other two. They looked at each other with tension.
"Tim?" Stephanie volunteered. He sighed and turned his body to tell the crowd what has happened in his life.
"Yeah, tell us, Drake!" Damian harassed. Tim looked at him, not wanting to gt into any sort of fight, as he has seen enough for the night.
"First, I have a confession to make. Bruce wasn't the ONLY one who has seen your parents die, Dick." He spoke to him. Dick raised his head and looked at Tim. "I was also there. I remembered seeing you do a quadruple somersault in midair right before your parents had…passed. That's how I was able to tell it was you and Bruce that were the first Dynamic Duo." Tim smiled at Dick trying not to start a fight with him either.
"You always WERE a good detective, kid." Dick said back to him.
"Aw, isn't this precious!" Damian bantered. "How about you get to the POINT, Drake?" Tim only glanced at him and began to tell his story.
"I always looked up to Bruce as I watched him and Dick take out the punks that think they own Gotham." Tim took out a batarang he had in his utility belt. "I picked this up after one of his fights and kept it ever since. I still remember trying to convince Dick to bring me to the bat cave to help out. An after my first fight with Batman, I became the next Robin." Tim looked at Damian who had rolled his eyes.
"Now why doesn't the baby bird tell his story next?" Tim retorted. Damian became angry with Tim.
"First, do NOT call me that!" Damian spat at Tim.
"Why not?" Tim said calmly, "You let Jason and Dick call you it, me NOW being one of your older siblings gives me the permission to do so as well." Damian stood up and began to walk over to Tim. Tim braced himself as he knew he might find him being beaten to a pulp once more. Stephanie got up and threw her arm across Damian's chest, stopping him from coming over. Damian glared at Stephanie. Stephanie challenged his glare and calmly spoke.
"Just tell your story." She said in a gentle voice. Damian exhaled and sat as far away as he could from Tim.
"As you all probably know, I am Bruce's biological son. For about ten years I was raised by my mom in the League of Shadows. She taught me how to defend myself and shipped me off to Gotham. As I was arriving, Bruce told me that I am not supposed to kill. So trying to do what I was told, was already difficult, but then he went to add on Drake as another son of his and an heir to Batman. He also made him Robin, when I, his SON, rightfully deserved it. The only way to become Robin was to kill the only thing that stood in my way."
Damian glared at Tim who did his best not to look at the envious child.
"So, now you're Robin…there's no need to hate me anymore…you got what you wanted." Tim retorted. Damian was silently fuming.
"And what about YOU, Blondie? You wanted us to get to know each other, now tell your story." Jason said towards Stephanie. Stephanie dreaded letting them know about her past. Especially because of Jason and Damian's anger issues. She took a deep breath before she began.
"I guess you should probably know that…my father…was Cluemaster...the third-rate villain of Gotham." Stephanie began. "I never knew him that well because most of my child hood, he was in prison. As he claimed to be 'rehabilitated', I became Spoiler to find out what was really going on. Not long after, Tim found out who I really was and he helped me defeat my father." She looked at Tim and smiled, not revealing the part about the kiss he gave her or their relationship afterwards.
Tim's face grew red as she looked at him. She continued. "Later, Batman let me be Robin…but…not for very long. I too, was 'dead' for a time. I was injured and on the point of death. However, I survived and helped Bruce's doctor, Leslie Thompkins, in her mission trip in Africa." She then looked at Jason, who also became deeply engrossed in her story.
"Later, I came back to Gotham, knowing Tim's secret identity. I took up a different name at the time for the sake of the people who thought I was dead. I then became the ward of Cassandra Cain, the last Batgirl before me. She became my successor and later, she gave me the Bat Girl title." Stephanie looked at the faces of the four boys, staring at her as she told them her story. Silence filled the room for a while.
"Wow…I made you all stop bickering for once…" Stephanie said sounding surprised. They all woke up from their daze after hearing Stephanie's story. They looked at each other not knowing what to say.
"I…I guess it was a little stupid for all of us to argue…I guess we never really realized that we all had lives we didn't expect." Dick finally said on behalf of everyone. Dick then turned to Jason who was finally standing up right.
"Dick…I guess I'm sorry for getting under your skin about your parents…I guess I went too far." Jason said, trying to keep his 'cool'. Dick looked at him showing no emotion.
"I don't have to forgive you…" Dick said as he sighed. "I just have to put up with you!" Dick smirked giving Jason a little nudge.
At the same time, Tim went up to Stephanie.
"I- it's cool how you were able to tell everyone about your past, Steph…without getting into 'detail…" Tim said awkwardly.
Stephanie giggled. "At least I got to know more about you than I had before, Tim Drake." she reminded him as she gave him a wink. At the same time, both Jason and Damian came over. Before they were able to part, Stephanie quickly pecked him on the cheek, making Tim's face grow redder than it was before. Jason had then pulled Steph over to apologize.
"Look…I'm sorry for getting mad at you…you're right…you had the guy."
"It's fine Jason…I was in your way." Stephanie replied.
"so…you apparently died too? Well, I guess we have a lot in common." Jason flirted. Stephanie rolled her eyes and looked at Tim who was still looking at her. he laughed at Jason and just walked away. Tim smiled as his former girlfriend walked away from his brother.
"DRAKE!" Damian called again, waking Tim from his daze. "Are you able to hear me?!" he yelled. Tim looked at him.
"I don't have time for fighting, Damian…" Tim addressed.
"I'm not HERE to fight you…maybe THAT will happen some other day." Damian retorted.
"Well, then, what is it?" Tim said as calmly as he could.
"I just wanted to say…you were right…there's still no reason for me to hold a grudge against you…I did become robin and you ARE NOT the next Batman…so…"
"You wanted to say you were sorry?" Tim said trying to finish for the boy.
"Hah! You make me laugh, Drake! I guess so…for now…" Damian said, playfully punching Tim in the arm. Damian walked over to Dick, who he had grown a bond with after being his partner for a while as Dick became Batman of r a short time.
A few moments later, Bruce came in the room with Barbara, also known as Oracle.
"Judging by the hour of silence, I can assume you all have gotten along?" Bruce said with a straight face. His eyes panned across the room as they all nodded.
"Good…suit up, then." Bruce ordered his team. They all filed out of the room and into the Bat Cave as they normally would. As they slipped on their suits, Barbara rolled her wheel chair up to the Bat Computer and began to track where there target was.
"What's going on, boss?" Dick asked Bruce.
"Oracle found multiple robberies happening simultaneously around the city. I'm going to need all of you to work together for this mission. Can you do that?" Bruce looked at his partners. They all nodded.
"Good. Damian, you come with me, Jason, you go with Tim, and Dick, you go with Steph." Batman said. "Barbara will send you all the schematics to where you are headed."
"Actually, Bruce? Would we be able to pick our own partner?" Stephanie asked. She looked at Tim and smiled. He smiled back.
"Well, as long as there won't be any fighting over the communicator, then sure." Bruce agreed. Before Stephanie could ask Tim, Damian ran up to him.
"Back off, Steph…Drake is mine!" he said to her. Tim shrugged his shoulders at her. simultaneously, Dick went up to Jason.
"Hey…Partners?" he asked.
"Well, I guess I have to put up with you, then…" Jason retorted with a wink at him. Stephanie smiled knowing at that her plan to get the team to get along better had worked. Bruce then went up to Stephanie with his costume on.
"I guess that leaves you and me." he said.
"Yeah, I guess so." She smiled.
"You're not going to disobey my rules again like last time as Robin, are you?" Bruce asked.
"I think I've been through enough already to disobey you again." She replied. Bruce nodded as he put his cowl on.
"It was a good idea to get everyone to know each other a little more. Something I never have thought of doing. I commend you, Stephanie." The mask billionaire congratulated her. she grinned knowing that she did well.
"But don't let that get to your head…" he said, finally smiling back. He gave her a small nudge.
"Alright, you're all good to go. I sent the schematics to each of you through each of your transportation vehicles." Barbara informed.
"Then let's get going." Bruce ordered. Each of the team members hopped on a bike and filed out of the Bat Cave one by one, out to find out what their next mission is an affect of.
A/N: ok! So that was a story suggestion from Spoiler1001! After they gave me this idea, the story kept morphing in my head as I found out more and more about who I was dealing with. I love the little romance that Batgirl/ Spoiler and Red Robin had as they were younger, so I made sure to include a little bit of that and a little bit of Damian and Tim bonding since they pretty much hate each other! Haha! Well, I hoped you like it and if you have a story idea for me as well, I'd love to hear about it! Thanks for reading and have a great day! :)