Silence In Battle

On a rooftop in Metropolis, seven people waited. Three girls and four boys. They had names, of course they did. But the ones they were known for were the ones they called each other now. If they ever called each other anything. Nightwing, dressed in gray and dark blue. Spoiler, in pale purple. Robin and Red Robin, dressed similarly, in red and black, with a touch of yellow. Red Hood, like a biker. Oracle, in all black, Orphan in a similar uniform.

Oracle drew her grappling gun.

She glanced around, and aimed her gun, firing it. Then, she leapt from the rooftop, swinging. Orphan was the first to follow her, aiming across the street, and swinging. Spoiler followed Oracle, and Red Robin took after Orphan. Red Hood jumped before firing his gun, and followed the four, along the street. Robin glanced up at Nightwing, who smiled reassuringly at his brother.

The younger boy rolled his eyes, and stepped up to the edge of the rooftop. He fired his grapple, swinging after his relatives, and Nightwing jumped after him, flipping through the air as the grapple retracted at the height of his swing, completely silent.

They didn't speak anymore.

They swung through the streets, high above, barely pausing on their landings, and if they did, they ran across the rooftops, or along the sides of buildings, before jumping into empty air again, and firing their grapple, tempting fate, but yet not at all.

Nightwing fell through the air, as if he were a skydiver.

They had a saying (more of an idea, considering it had never been voiced aloud). Never drop a Bird from the top floor. If you gave them enough time, they'd save themselves.

Almost lazily, he released the grapple, and kicked both legs out, swinging up high into the air, the line detaching from the building he'd grabbed onto. He'd cut it early, and barely made it to the rooftop that was their destination. He grinned at Oracle, who rolled her eyes, while Red Robin focused on the holo-computer they'd made for him a month or so before. The screen blinked out, and he turned his head to Red Hood, who crouched, starting to pick the locks. A minute later, there was a soft click, and he stepped back, gesturing theatrically towards the entrance.

Nightwing stepped forwards, pushing the door open. He held it open for the others, and they darted into the stairwell, silent. He dropped the door shut, then caught it before it could slam, closing it gently.

He vaulted over the railing, and pushed off the wall, following his siblings down the stairs.

Orphan stopped more than halfway down the building, crouching on the landing, beside the doorway, and lifting her cloak, to cover her nose and mouth. Red Robin crouched behind her, activating his computer, and Red Hood, knelt by the door, studying the lock. Oracle crouched beside Spoiler, both of them lifting their cloaks, Nightwing behind them with Robin.

Red Robin turned the computer off, and nodded to his brother, who set a small charge on the door, then hid behind Orphan.

The charge's sound was loud, amid the Bird's silence, and Orphan darted forwards, whipping open the door, as smoke filled the small space. Red Hood entered first, followed by Red Robin. Oracle and Spoiler slipped inside, Nightwing taking the rear, with Robin, Orphan letting the door stay open.

They gathered around Red Robin, who activated his computer again, showing them an image of a small object. He glanced at them, and they nodded, all darting off the moment the blue glow was gone.

Spoiler crept through the rows of metal shelves, her wrist's flashlight coming in handy. She knew exactly what she was looking for, and she searched quickly and efficiently as she scanned the shelves.

Silence was a friend, for them. She had learned how to move quietly a long time ago, before all of this. During a time that she didn't like to remember. She'd perfected it among her siblings however.

She felt the weight of her costume, comforting. Not tight on her, but firm around her. Her cloak swished around her, and her footsteps were noticeable, but just barely. Satisfying little taps, only just noticeable to her ears, comforting. The faint smell of sweat coming from her uniform, her breaths slow and even, hot as they reflected, bouncing off the inside of her face mask.

She'd lost all hearing once. She still couldn't hear without help, but her hearing aids had fixed her problem. She used to enjoy sound, but no longer. Sound was loud, annoying, and painful. Silence was far better. (1)

The Birds were silent. To most people.

There were other ways to communicate. Not that the Birds used the usual silent ways, unless speaking to those who couldn't understand, and even then, very little.

She heard a quiet whistle, and drew away from her shelf, darting towards the source of the sound. She found Orphan, standing by a black cube. Along the middle, was an indented border, the corners of the box smooth and curved.

It wasn't a real cube. It was smaller in height than in length. But it was close enough. Orphan glanced to Red Robin, who had appeared soundlessly, and he raised his wrist. His computer activated, and he compared the image to the object.

They all knew it was the object they needed. They didn't make mistakes, but it was their habit to double check. A good habit.

The holo vanished, and Orphan offered the box to Spoiler, who took the small object, and Orphan turned around. Spoiler pulled the cloak away, and opened the small backpack on Orphan's back, sliding the box inside, then closing the bag securely, dropping the cloth.

They glanced at Oracle, all of them, and her body language was all they needed, not even. They knew the plan.

Oracle led them back out the way they'd come, and they stood on the roof, while Red Robin turned the security back on, erasing all signs of his back door. Then, Red Hood led the way off the rooftop, while Oracle took the back, Orphan in the middle, protecting their latest snatch. Their mission was completed.

Cass spun to the music, abandoning all of her self-taught ballet training, and letting go. The song playing quietly from the laptop, 'The Times They Are A-Changin'' was pretty catchy, in her opinion. Probably why Barbara had it on the playlist.

Dick was dancing with her, and she halted her twirl, grabbing his hand again. They switched into a sort of waltz, although not really. Less confined. He lifted her into the air, and turned in a circle. She beamed, and spread her arms wide, legs straight, back slightly curved, head up, like some kind of bird.

Dick set her back down, and lifted one of her hands. Cass twirled, ponytail fluttering, and then he released her. She spun freely for a moment, perfectly controlled, before stopping. She ended in a sort of curtsy-bow, one arm across her chest, the other spread wide, head bowed.

Dick clapped for her, and himself, and the sound startled Barbara, who fumbled with her laptop, the one playing the song, narrowly keeping it from crashing onto the floor. She glared at them, and pointedly turned the volume up, so she didn't have to pay attention to them. Damian snickered, and she ignored him too.

Cass giggled, as Dick bowed to her, then backed out of the empty space of the main room, allowing her to dance alone, movements smooth and elegant, quick and slow. He perched on the couch armrest, beside Barbara, while Jason mostly ignored everyone. Or pretended to.

The Birds got changed late at night, before they headed out. Not one of them, except perhaps Stephanie and Tim, had any problem with changing in the same room.

Dick and Barbara had been raised to be immortal assassins. Damian had been raised as the perfect weapon, Jason had died, and Cass had never learned how to speak properly.

Besides, after nearly dying and having to bring each other back from the brink of death, changing together seemed almost mundane, which it sort of was. It wasn't like they didn't have underclothes. In any case, they changed, and slipped outside again, onto the rooftop. One by one, they left from the edge, following Red Robin, the nights leader.

Robin landed beside Nightwing, on the edge of the rooftop. They were waiting for a crime to occur. It wouldn't be long. Nightwing smiled at him, and he simply stared back, before he leaned back, and fell from the building, arms spread, cloak rippling around him, snapping in the wind. He watched Nightwing peek over the edge, smiling down at him.

Robin thrust his right hand out, and the line fired, anchoring itself in a building. Robin swung from the line, kicking his legs up, and detaching the cord. He rolled the moment his feet hit the ground, and sprinted across the rooftop, leaping into the air, and firing his gun off to his left, swooping through the streets.

Oracle watched as Robin flew through the air, falling towards the ground. She was watching from across the street, and smiled faintly as the boy swung, landing on a roof. He barely hesitated, swinging from that building to land on her roof.

She turned to him, as he jogged up, and then pointed across the street to Nightwing, who had his back to them, heels right up against the edge of the roof.

He jumped, flipping backwards slowly, plummeting. Robin stepped closer to Oracle, barely touching her, watching. She knew he'd never admit it, but he was worried, however slight the fear was. She said nothing, of course she didn't. But silently, she moved, assuring him that their brother would be fine.

Nightwing fired his line, swinging fast and low, then up, and high, pushing off of a nearby building. He rolled over his shoulder, stopping beside the pair, and flicking his wrists, up above his head, like a gymnasts finish. Robin snorted. Nightwing's smile only grew, then he darted forward, grabbing Robin, and jumping off the roof.

He fired his line, holding his brother close, and then at the height of his swoop, released the boy, throwing him out into empty air. A shocked laugh escaped Robin, and he twisted in the air, aiming his grapple, and releasing it. Nightwing might have laughed too, if he'd grown up with another person's life.

He hadn't.

To the public, Bruce Wayne only had three children. Dick Wayne, Barbara Wayne, and Damian Wayne. To the public, Dick and Barbara were adopted, and Damian was Bruce's blood son. As far as they knew, the elder pair were simply quiet, and had completed their education with private tutors. And that Damian simply didn't like people.

Not many people liked them though. The rich of Gotham whispered rumors about them. The children Damian attended school with gossiped about his speech patterns, his appearance, his history. They spread lies.

Most of the time, the three of them did not attend Bruce's parties and gala's. Damian did on occasion, when it was needed, but rarely. It was simply a bad idea.

Well, they did attend, if it was at the Mansion, but they mostly watched from the shadows, or security cameras. Paranoia was a b*tch.

But right now, they were spying not on the latest gala, but on the Justice League.

The League wasn't exactly aware that they existed, per say. Bruce had never told any of them his real name, and they didn't know that the Birds existed. Not really. It had come up once. Superman had asked Batman about Nightwing, who had been operating in Blüdhaven at the time. Batman had simply said he knew of him, and Superman hadn't pressed. Mostly because he'd been glared at.

"They want to start a team." Green Arrow was saying, voice coming from the computer they were watching. "I think it's a good idea."

"What about the clone?" Superman said. "Would we put him on this team?"

"Do you have a better idea?" Green Arrow retorted, and Superman fell silent.

Cass glanced up, and Dick shrugged, not knowing the answer.

"What kind of team?" Aquaman asked.

"Covert would be the best." Black Canary said thoughtfully. This statement made Damian bite his lip in order not to cause damage to the space around them, or sound. There was a gala below them, and they were in the space between floors, dubbed the 'Hideout' by absolutely no one. Well, Bruce called it that. He didn't actually know where it was though. Alfred probably did, as did Alfred the Cat. Who was sitting on Damian's head, asleep.

The 'Hideout' wasn't big enough for them to sit up in, unless they were Damian, or Cass, but it was their little secret spot. It was in the old vents, that weren't actually used anymore, and the group had built a little home there. Technically, their spot was made up of where two different vents converged, then went up, so they could sit up straight there, but most of the time they just laid around, in doggy piles of blankets and each other.

Playing on Tim's computer, they had the footage from the ballroom below playing, muted. Barbara's computer was playing the security footage from the Watchtower.

Technically, the gala below wasn't hosted by Bruce, it was Kate Kane who was doing it, since 'officially' Bruce was overseas, working. Bette Kane was with them as well, watching a movie on her phone, wrapped in a blanket covered with cats. She'd fallen asleep a while ago, and considering that she was with them because she was on concussion watch or something, Cass had a hand on the girl's wrist, tracking her pulse. Although you could sleep with a concussion; the staying awake thing was a myth.

"They are not experienced in covert operations." Batman said, and Stephanie nudged Tim's shoulder. He moaned softly, not wanting to be awake any longer, and peeked out from under his blanket, eyes droopy, but still following the situation.

"How will they learn if we don't let them?" Black Canary demanded.

"I never said it was a bad idea." Batman soothed. "Just that they will need training to excel at this task."

"I can train them." Black Canary said, sounding defensive.

"I never said you couldn't. They would also need a den mother."

"I would be willing to do so." Red Tornado offered in a monotone. "I do not eat. I do not sleep. I do not have a second life. I would be the logical choice."

"What about mission deployments?" Aquaman asked. "Batman, would you be willing?"

"I would."

Damian growled, deep in his throat, and Dick distractedly put a hand over his mouth, quieting him, while Jason sneered. They're the covert team. They're the ones who feed the League copious amounts of information, check over reports, fine tune files, upgrade security. They create training simulations, plan the structure of board meetings, monitor those on monitor duty half the time.

Really, the only thing they don't do is meet with the Leaguers, and clean.

Unless you count programming the cleaner robots. Which they often had fights with.

Jason tugged the computer towards himself, ignoring his sisters glare, and clicked away from the live feed, onto the live transcript of the meeting instead. Nobody argued in any way, other than Barbara swatting her brother's shoulder for touching her stuff.

"What's happenin'?" Bette mumbled, as Cass tapped the back of her hand, trying to wake her up. "Is it over?"

Of course, not one of the others said anything. All the answers that she got were Cass pointing to the screen, and Damian rolling his eyes. It took a little while for her to skim the page, but she gritted her teeth once she had. Yes, she was the only person who the League knew of, other than Batwoman, who worked with Batman, and yes, she'd been one of the people to bust Superboy out, but she hadn't pushed the team thing. She didn't need to be on another team; she already had one. She'd actually shut up about it and more or less ignored the idea. (2)

"So, the partners are getting their team." she said thoughtfully. "What we think 'bout that?"

Dick shrugged, tilting his head where it rested, propped up on his hand. Cass set her forehead down on her arms, and Damian tutted. Barbara, Jason, and Stephanie stayed silent. Tim clucked his tongue twice, before pulling a weird face.

"Fantastic." she groaned, closing her eyes again. "Just let me sleep, would you?"

"Okay." Dick said quietly, voice hoarse from disuse. He turned, and shuffled over, pressing his back to hers. Jason closed the computer, pushing it away, then closed Tim's, setting it on top of Barbara's. He then curled up between Tim and Cass. Damian sighed, and crawled on top of Stephanie's shoulders, setting his head near the top of her spine.

Alfred the Cat yawned, tongue flicking out of his mouth, and he lept from Damian's shoulder, to Cassandra's arms, purring softly.

They didn't all sleep.

They'd meet a long time ago, most of them. Tim had met Stephanie, who was with Cass at the time, and the three of them had joined up with Barbara, Jason, Dick and Damian, who had been together for maybe a year and a half at that point. Bette had run into them, and convinced them to join up.

But when it was just them seven, they'd been worried about getting attacked, and thanks to their training, had slipped fairly easily into a monitor schedule. Half hour shifts, and like with everything, they didn't need to speak to slide into it.

They just did it.

"What is this?" Bette asked, lifting the small box that they'd retrieved four days earlier. Stephanie shrugged, from where she was in a handstand, while Dick tried to place Cass on her feet, so they could make a handstand tower. They kept failing, falling into a pile, but kept going at it. Duke slid over from where he'd been watching Tim work on a communicator.

"No idea. Damian?"

The boy looked up from his katana, and made a few signs with his hands and expressions. Duke nodded, and translated for Bette, who'd been turning the box over in her hands. "Some kind of EMP virus. Lexcorp."

"Because of course."

"Is this the only one?"

Damian glared at them, and then nodded. Duke shut up. Spending time around the others had the habit of causing him, Bette, Claire, and even Kate to become quieter and quieter. He'd actually found himself trying to talk to people at school using the silent language they had, which was different from the hand signs, which were only really used in the field. Needless to say, nobody had noticed, but it had been embarrassing all the less.

"Why in the world would someone make that?" Bette asked, trying to pry the box open by her fingertips.

"Lex is insane." Claire pointed out, from where she was trying to traverse the rope course with one hand. She'd refused to use her abilities since Hank's death, her hair shaved down to her scalp. It'd only just started to grow back as stubble, since she hadn't reshaved it recently, unlike her usual weekly cut.

Now she just had to adapt to working without them.

"True." Barbara rasped, causing everyone to look at her. Cass slipped, and both she and Stephanie crashed to the ground, causing Dick to land on both of them. Cass squawked, and batted at his back with her fists, although it was playful. Not that that meant much against the boy who'd almost become a Talon. He rolled off, tugging her off with him.

There was a noise of metal on metal, a faint one, and they all turned to look at where the Batmobile (they couldn't actually blame Dick for that one, like Duke had wanted to, since a random little kid had named it instead) drove in.

Claire gave up on her one-armed mission, and started to wrap the rope around herself in such a way that it supported her weight without her effort, but was still loose, like a belt or harness. She then swung herself upside down, and wrapped her leg and ankle around the rope, supporting herself upside down. (3)

The three on the ground scrambled to their feet, staring at the car as it came to a stop, and Barbara leaned back in her chair, looking past the array of computers. Tim didn't look up, and Damian only gave the car a glance, before going back to his katana. Out of the car came Jason, who had half his helmet missing, exposing his mask and upper cheek.

From the other side of the car, came Kate, dressed in her armoured black uniform, bright red bat and hair. She tugged her cowl off, exposing her jet black faux hawk style, which was slightly squashed from the form fitting cowl. "We are talking about this."

"What happened?" Bette asked, setting the box down on the desk and moving towards her aunt. Duke gave the box a glance, and then followed her.

Jason shook his head, trying to pry his helmet off. He must have been hit, or hit something around the release, otherwise he wouldn't be trying to break the metal off with a screwdriver. Silently, Cass slid over to him, and using one hand, guided him to a seat, while her other tugged the object from his hand.

"Jason was trying to find the Joker." Kate said, greeting her niece with a small elbow bump, before continuing to walk. "And instead he found Black Mask."

Cass swatted her brother, then with a popping sound, broke a chunk of metal as long as a pencil, and as wide as the handle of the screwdriver off. It clattered onto the ground, and she absently nudged it away with her foot, still working on the helmet.

Barbara spun her chair around, rising to her feet, and Claire fumbled with the knot she was trying to do, and it fell to pieces. She was stretched out, one knee brought up, the other straight, ankle locked, while her arms reached down. "Say what?"

Barbara stormed over to Jason, just as Cass wrenched a massive chunk, exposing the majority of his left side. As it came free, a few smaller bits were bent to the outside, like tiny spikes, still clinging to the helmet. She pushed Cass out of her way, a silent order for the younger, twelve-year-old to find a better tool to work with. And then she took Jason's head in her hands, and forced him to look up at her.

A thumb ran across his cheek, and Jason tried to pull away. Barbara didn't let him, even as Stephanie appeared with a crowbar, which was promptly pulled away by Duke, before she could try and use it. She glared at him, but then went to put it away. A moment after, she darted after Kate as she went into the changing rooms.

Cass came back up with a small throwing dagger, and Barbara stepped away, letting her sister trace several paths on Jason's head, and then slash at the helmet with the dagger. She had enough force behind it to crack the metal, since it was far weaker once compromised, and after three hits, on three separate locations on the helmet, the entire thing shattered, falling to the ground. Jason made a few gestures at them, and sighed without noise, then Barbara kicked him out, and into the change rooms.

Cass gathered the helmet bits in her hands, and held them out to her sister, who selected one chunk, then Cass vanished to dispose of the rest. Barbara pried a small square sticker-like object from between the two layers of the helm, and carefully placed it on a scanner, sliding it into the computer. She threw out the rest of it, and pulled up the GPS tracker on it.

Of course it'd been disabled. F*cking Jason.

By the time Barbara had finished her viewing session of the chip, Jason had been herded upstairs by Cass and Stephanie, who'd also dragged a sleep-deprived Tim away. Kate had gotten Claire down before she'd fallen on her head, and Damian had been lured upstairs by his cat, Alfred the cat.

Barbara tapped Dick on the shoulder, and when he turned, she threw a punch. He narrowly avoided it, and the two started to spy.

Dick flipped over Barbara, and she jumped away as he swept his leg, throwing herself backwards, into a handspring. She landed, adopting a fighting position, and he darted forwards. His first punch was blocked, and she ducked the second, throwing her own. He grabbed her arm, and turned, throwing her over his shoulder.

Her feet hit the ground, and she grunted, using the momentum to throw him. Dick rolled, back up onto his feet, and dodged her first kick, blocking the second, before slamming a flat palm into her shoulder, pushing her to the ground, and falling after her, pinning her. She grunted, and twisted, rolling them over, so she was on top.

Dick pulled his legs up, wrapping them around her neck, and locking his ankles. He slammed her on the training mats, then easily pulled himself up, and transitioned into an armbar. When she didn't surrender, he pulled it a bit harder, testing the limits of her arm.

She tapped his leg twice, and he released, standing up, and offering her his hand. She took it with the arm he hadn't tried to break, and he pulled her up. She smiled, rubbing her arm, and he winced sheepishly, before she pushed him playfully away, towards the change rooms, and wrinkled her expression. He snorted, pointing to her, and mimicking her expression. She changed her expression to a glare, before he quickly escaped into the change room. Soon followed by his sister.

(1) Stephanie lost her hearing at one point, and now wears a set of hearing aids. I know a couple people with hearing aids, and they're kind of annoying. You can't wear them in water, you can't have earbuds in, you have to have headphones on. The batteries die, there's a lot. That's something we're probably going to get into a some point, but it's not going to be massive.

(2) Bette essentially takes over Robin's general role in Young Justice S1. She's not Batman's partner, she's Batwoman's, as Hawkfire. I did originally write her as Flamebird, but self-corrected halfway through, so yeah, that's wrong.

(3) As for Claire's bit in the ropes, that's something you can actually do. I'm not someone who specialises in silks, so I've never done anything like that, but I've watched people do it and learned some things and done some things. Mostly given myself silk burns from falling or losing my grip. You can do this in ropes as well, but I've never seen that done in person, or done it. I do not, in any way suggest doing this without proper instruction and a professional, for it can be very dangerous.

For the record, all the kids, other than Claire, Duke, and Bette are mute in some way. The idea is that Dick and Barbara speak very little because they were taught to remain silent by the Court of Owls. (No healing factor) Tim because when Jason came back, he tried to kill Tim, and slashed his throat, resulting in damaged vocal cords. He can speak, but he doesn't like it, and does so sparingly, and quietly. Jason's verbal memory muscles (I need a better description) were damaged when he was brought back to life. Cass has her usual reason, and Damian speaks very little, not wanting to. Stephanie became deaf at one point, and stopped speaking, since she struggled to regulate her volume. By the time she got her hearing back, she had either developed a mental block, and was unable to speak, or simply forgot how to, it's unclear.

Any further chapters can take weeks, or even months. If you want to put this story on alert, and just forget about it, that's probably going to work best, if you want to know what happens next.

Chapter Written: 2020-03-10