Chapter 11: His Children
Gotham
Year 2010
August 27th
Jason is 11
Cass is 9
Tim is 8
Robin is 13
Batgirl is 14
Batman is 30
Robin knew this wasn't going to be good. Once they were inside the sewers the tracking went wrong. They only found the creature just after four in the morning. When they'd immediately been found by that thing and gotten clobbered with no warning or anything and left on the side of the sewers it had been bad. M'gann had called the bioship to them.
They pulled on clean costumes, all except Superboy who didn't have an extra stored. Standing in the main area now they were talking. Wally was complaining. Again. Robin really didn't see why he and Jason hated each other when they were so much alike sometimes. "Man, I need a shower, I mean what's the point of putting on a clean costume when I'm not… fresh."
Robin held back a laugh at M'gann's answer. "Oh, Wally. You're always fresh."
"At least you have a clean costume," Superboy grunted.
"An old back-up! No stealth mode! It stinks!"
Robin smirked at that. Who needed stealth mode? Not like it did much. He looked at Wally. "Actually I think the stink is you, freshness. But what about the creature? Batman wanted us to track it."
He'd lost the tracker and the signal in the fight. Now they were back at the beginning and he knew Barbara and Tim hadn't been able to do anymore on it. Hopefully Bruce was working on a real solution now.
Why settle for that? Okay, sure, it got the drop on us. But now we know it's tricks!"
Robin's eyes widened. He'd fought this thing three times already. That wasn't the solution. They needed to wait for Batman and follow his order until then. "I say that we splitup! Then whoever finds old 'Clayface' radios the team. But we have to—"
"Converge and kick some clay-butt!" Superboy growled. Robin frowned. That wasn't what he was going to say. He was going to suggest they stay hidden and observe just let the team know about the location. M'gann turned to Aqualad and asked what he thought. Aqualad agreed.
In the Batcave it was just before six AM. None of the kids were awake yet and Alfred was bringing Bruce another cup of coffee. "Have you found a solution for Master Dick and friends yet?"
"No. Barbara and Tim were right about the morphic field. Zatara told them it wasn't magic but the morphic field is how it keeps it's cohesion. I need to find the right frequency to disrupt it. Until then Aqualad will keep the team out of trouble. And I know Dick will do just as well. He knows to be careful fighting this thing." Bruce turned back to his work having no way of knowing that the team was in fact going in and splitting up.
Robin knew this was going to be a bad idea he was sure of that as he walked into the sewers. The idea was reaffirmed when he ran into two Wally's. This really wasn't good.
Something beeped. Bruce pulled on his cowl adjusting his taser to the frequency which had just worked on several samples. Robin was unconscious. The team had run into trouble and Aqualad hadn't stopped them. He drove as fast as he could to the other side of the Batmobile. And got to the top of a building flying through the warehouse roof before the creature could bring it's hand down like a hammer on Aqualad. Two small bombs exploded as they fell on the creatures chest. It turned to slam down near Batman who dodged and pulled out the taser. The creature shook and collapsed leaving him with four unconscious teens, an exhausted Aqualad a mass of clay.
Slowly he turned to look at Aqualad. "Help me wake them. Then I'm taking you back to the Mountain."
Slowly they were all revived. Robin opened his mouth to say something when he saw Batman but Batman turned away. He walked through the zeta tube and the kids followed. He looked at them all. "I need to talk to Aqualad. The rest of you hit the showers and head home."
"Head home? I am home!" Superboy gestured to the cave and stomped off. The others followed him to the showers.
Robin stayed looking at Batman. Batman looked at him for a second. "Just Aqualad."
Robin looked at Kaldur who looked back at him. He lowered his eyes and stomped off leaving Batman and Aqualad alone. Batman didn't seem to notice because he was focused on Kaldur.
"I am sorry you had to intervene. I know the team performed poorly."
"The team performed adequately. The problem was you. You're their leader, and you head wasn't in the game."
"No you are-" Aqualad started to interrupt but sighed. "Correct. Of late, I am not even convinced I belong on the surface world. For so many years it filled my every though. But now that I am here my dreams are all of Atlantis."
Batman looked at him seriously. He was dreading having this problem with Dick, he already had. This team was his responsibility, much like his own children and he needed to advise them as was necessary. "Atlantis or someone you left behind? You can split your time between the surface and the sea. But not your mind. Either you're here 100% or you need to walk away. Make a decisions Kaldur and make it soon."
Batman left and went back home sighing. He needed to wake the kids now, meaning Jason and make sure Dick got a few hours of sleep when he returned. He just hoped Aqualad made the right decision, though he would hate to lose the boy on the team.
For a few hours the house was absolutely quiet. Bruce was able to finish arranging things and cleaning up the incident yesterday in work. He knew Dick had arrived not soon after him and had fallen straight to sleep. He went to talk to Alfred when the front door opened.
"Oh, hi Bruce."
Bruce turned to see Barbara. "Are you here to train? Did Cass need some more help?"
"No, none of that. Dick called me," Barbara said suddenly before her face grew dark. "Later."
She ran up the stairs and into Dick's room where he was sitting on the bed looking at pictures. The one he was opened on was an especially cute pictures from a few months ago. He was in a Superman tank top and sweat pants and she could see his muscled arms. Tucked under one arm was his stuffed elephant Zitka. His other arm was around Jason's shoulder. Jason had his batbear and was in a Green Lantern shirt with bat patterened pajama shorts. Cass and Tim were in front of them both, one in Wonder Woman holding a batdog the other in a Robin shirt with flash pants. Though there were blue beetle stickers too. The picture couldn't have been from too long ago. Barbara's best guess was right after they welcomed Cass to the family.
"Just Aqualad," Dick muttered in a strangled voice. She was surprised to see tears on his cheeks.
"Dick?"
"Oh, hey Babs."
"What's wrong? Did you and the team get that thing?"
Dick shook his head. "We're calling it Clayface. Wally proposed splitting up after it got to us once and Superboy and the others agreed. Then so did Aqualad. I was outvoted while I tried to remind them of Batman's orders. He can become people too, he became two versions of KF and surrounded me. He probably did something similar to the others. Bruce had to come save us."
Barbara frowned. Dick barely called Bruce by his first name anymore. Not very often at least. "Why are you calling him that?"
"Calling who what?"
"You know what I'm talking about."
"Because I can't call him my dad," Dick said angrily. "Can I? Not like the others can!"
"Of course you can."
"No," Dick said. "I can't. Not when he doesn't think of me as a son. Let's face it, I'm not as important to Bruce as anyone else."
Barbara looked at him in shock then she looked at him with a strange expression. "Don't you dare say that! Bruce loves you so much more that I've thought possible for the Batman. Dad says you changed his life. You're the reason all the others are here, the reason I'm here too. So don't you dare say that. Bruce loves you and I won't except any answer for why you think this because there's no good one."
"Really?" Dick asked. "What about telling me I can't stay? He wants to only talk to Aqualad. Or what about not saying I love you more than a few times, like when I've been kidnapped or nearly died? Or that I'm just his ward? I can legally be taken away from him by the state at any time, you know that right? He's not my parent, at least not really."
"Dick…."
"We took this picture after Cass was adopted," Dick said. "Because he made sure to do that right away. The same with Tim and Jason. But he's never once mentioned it to me. Tell me now that Bruce loves me, because he doesn't."
Barbara reached out to put her arm around his shoulder seeing he was crying now. He shoved it off and walked out of his room storming downstairs into the gym and where she knew the trapeze was. That's where he always went to think, and to feel close to his first family. She tried opening the door but it was locked. "Dick! Dick! Open up!"
Dick climbed up to the trapeze and grabbed it letting the tears fly away behind him as he swung through the air, blocking out Barbara's pleads and all the heartache. She collapsed against the door.
"What's going on?" Jason asked her minutes later as she came into the kitchen as sat down. "I heard you yelling Dick's name. And not for the reason I ever thought you'd be."
Barbara glared at him. She didn't appreciate that joke. "I was trying to get him to open the door to the gym. I waited outside for a half hour."
"So he's brooding," Jason noted. "Why would golden boy ever need to brood? He got his mission and his team and everything he wants."
"Dick's not like that Jason."
Cass pulled a cookie and handed half to Barbara making some quick signs. "Scared and hurt."
"What's he scared about?" Tim asked curiously. "Dick isn't scared of anything, like Bruce. Or at least not most things. Only stuff like bad guys and fear gas."
"He's scared of something else. The team had to be rescued by Bruce and then he wouldn't let Dick talk with him and Aqualad. He's upset. Really upset. He thinks Bruce doesn't trust him or care about him."
"What?" Jason squawked. "But Dickie Bird is the favorite! He's the original! THe golden boy, the League's protégée!"
"But he's not Bruce's son."
"But he's my brother! And he's our dad! Dick always says that," Tim said worriedly.
"Not officially though. You guys are all adopted, all of you. Cassandara Cain-Wayne, Jason Todd-Wayne, Timothy Drake-Wayne. He's just Dick Grayson."
"That's ridiculous! Just because it's not official doesn't mean he's not part of our family!" Jason scoffed.
"I know that and Dick does too. He just need a reminder."
"Let's go in and show him then!"
"The doors locked," Tim reminded him. "And it's unpickable."
Cass shook her head sadly agreeing they couldn't get in.
"We'll just wait for him then," Barbara said. "I'll stay until then."
"Help him," Cass told Barbara.
"She's right," Tim said. "We need to do something to cheer him up when he's ready."
"Not tonight," Alfred said coming in. "It's time for bed and baths for Cassandra and Tim."
"Don't worry," Barbara told them. "We'll take care of him. C'mon Jay."
She and Jason went back to the gym where the door was wide open. There was a new dent in the wall and no sign of Dick. Barbara looked at Jason. "Where is he?"
Jason looked around and nudged Barbara. She turned to see something through the window. Dick was catching a basketball surprised that was thrown at him by Bruce. His face was stretching into a grin.
Barbara smiled. "I guess that's taken care of. I can go home now before Dad kills me."
Jason nodded still watching. He knew this whole thing had been ridiculous. Bruce loved Dick and all of them. Dick saw him from outside smiling and gestured for him to come out. Jason walked out.
"Come on. It's hand-eye coordination, training!"
Jason grinned. "Thin you could beat us old man?"
"I know it," Bruce told them grabbing the ball as the two boys ran after him.
Moments later Tim, Cassandra and Alfred came out. "I thought bed time could wait for a while."
"Help us beat Dad!" Dick shouted to them.
Bruce shook his head. "Are all of my kids teaming up against me now?"
"Training," Dick said. "Right?"
Bruce laughed as he took the shot and Tim caught it. He looked around surprised and threw it to Cass. She caught it deftly and dodged capture from Bruce in a massive bear hug letting Dick shoot the basket with a flying leap. He fist pumped scoring and catching the ball. Bruce tried to catch it but Jason took off. He grabbed his son instead and soon Dick was in the other arm. Then Cass and Tim jumped on his back sending him back on the ground. He was under all four of his kids laughing as he put his arms around them. Dick laughed everything forgotten. This was his family.