So... this is most certainly not what was expected. I mean, you were expecting another story, right? Well, instead, there's going to be a bit of bonding time between Jake and Mari, because I'm personally curious about what they could get up to.

Dick: and how much trouble they can get in.

Jason: why is that your first thought?
Dick: it's fun to get into trouble.

Damian: right, because you never do that.

Dick: I just said it was fun, didn't I?

Tim: and that's why we're all concerned...

But I'm being greedy with this chapter and wanted to explore their relationship a bit.


The batkids all, once again, tensed up in preparation for this story. It was always the ones that they DIDN'T know that Dick trolled them hardest on.

Once upon a time, it was eleven o'clock at night, and a bunch of kids went to bed, except for a storyteller and his two children. And his youngest brother.

It took a second for anyone to get it. Honestly, Dick felt a little disappointed in that. But once it occurred to them, Barbara facepalmed, Jason and Tim groaned, and everyone else laughed.

"It's currently eleven at night, isn't it?" Damian asked. Dick nodded.

"Yep. That means it's time to hit the hay," he said. Everyone jumped when Alfred suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

"Master Dick, you asked for Miss Mary and Master Jake to join you tonight?" he asked, clearly confused. Dick nodded.

"Yeah. Jake's been training with his powers the past couple years, and we just found out that Mari has powers, so I wanna bring them into the field, see what they can do."

The blank and shocked faces of everyone (except Dick, Damian, and, of course, Alfred) were quite the sight to see. It only then occurred to Dick that he never told Jake that Mari has powers, Jake never told Mari that HE had powers, and they completely forgot to tell almost EVERYONE present that the two children have Tamaranean powers. This realization caused Dick to burst into hysterical laughter.

"You don't think that would have been useful information?!" Barbara shouted. Dick continued laughing. Jake and Mari looked at each other in shock. They BOTH had powers?!

"So… you weren't accepted into a prestigious school?" she asked. Jake shook his head.

"No… aunt Mandy was teaching me how to use and control my powers," he said. "Mom and dad didn't want you to know about them if you didn't have any. But you DO."

Mari blushed a little bit.

"I only found out a little while ago," she said. "And dad said that they planned ahead and they have a suit for me and everything."

"We have a suit for both of you," Dick said, waving his hand nonchalantly. Mari and Jake's eyes widened. Dick smirked at them. "I'll tell you more downstairs."


Everyone who was going to bed went to bed. Dick led them downstairs, into the Batcave, which Jake studied with wide eyes. Even Mari wandered around for a bit, exploring everything, looking in awe and excitement with her brother.

And when Dick and Damian came back, they were dressed as Batman and Robin, respectively. Mari frowned in confusion.

"I thought you were Nightwing?" she asked. Jake turned to her incredulously.

"Dad is NIGHTWING?!" he exclaimed. Batman laughed, quite the odd sight to see.

"Well, usually, I am," he said. "When Bruce is out of the picture, I put on the cowl and pretend to be Batman."

"Grandpa Bruce is BATMAN?!" Jake exclaimed again. Damian rolled his eyes beneath his mask.

"I thought you spent two years 'studying'," he said. Dick nudged his arm.

"Gotham may have all of us to protect it, but the second there is no Batman, criminals will go nuts," he explained. "So at least one of us has to be Batman."

"And your father is the only other person I will tolerate," Robin cut in. Batman smirked at him.

"I feel honored," he said. Robin crossed his arms and huffed. Mari and Jake shared a look.

"I always thought Robin was the happy one," Jake said. Mari nodded.

"Me too," she said. Batman shrugged, leading them over to one of the walls.

"For some reason, everyone always thinks that it's the same Robin under the mask," he said. "I mean, no one can stay thirteen forever. Anyway, yeah, I was the happy one."

He pushed a button on the wall, and the wall opened to reveal two suits. One of them was like the Nightwing suit: black, form-fitting, symbol on the chest. Except the symbol was purple instead of blue, and the top revealed the stomach.

The second one was basically the Nightwing suit, except there were no sleeves and there was a hood attached to the back. The Nightwing symbol was red. Both suits had utility belts.

Both kids reached for the suits instantly, wide grins on their faces.

"Awesome!" they exclaimed. Batman put a hand on Jake's shoulder.

"Mari has it easy," he said. "Her name in Tamaranean means 'Nightstar'. It also means 'Starshine', but I get the feeling you wouldn't wanna go by that."

Jake made a face and shook his head. Mari flew off to change into the suit. Jake looked at Robin, then down at the suit again.

"Didn't mom have a brother?" he asked. Batman and Robin shared a surprised look.

"If she did, she never told me," Batman said. Jake frowned at the suit in thought.

"His name was Ryan'dr," he said. "Doesn't that mean 'Wildfire'?"

"You know Tamaranean?" Mari asked, coming back down. She was wearing her suit, which fit her perfectly. Jake smiled nervously.

"I mean, I've been with Aunt Mandy since I was nine," he said. "She frequently spoke in Tamaranean, just so we could have private conversations."

"What she failed to mention was that Kory also taught me Tamaranean," Batman said. "So I can clarify that, yes, Ryan'dr is the equivalent of 'Wildfire'."

"Can I use that?" Jake asked. Batman smiled and nodded.

"Sure, why not?" Jake also flew close to the ceiling to change. When he came back down, Batman was smirking.

"Now, to the Batmobile!" he shouted. "We're doing patrol tonight, and I never get to drive!"

Nightstar and Wildfire cheered and Robin sighed. Great, there were three of them now.


Before they set out, Batman had handed them domino masks like the rest of the family had. They got into the Batmobile (with Robin calling shotgun.) Batman was quick to explain that if Kory found out he was bringing them out into Gotham, she would have his head.

Thankfully, the night was relatively peaceful. There were only two bank robberies and a drug deal (which he told Mari and Jake to stay out of… he wasn't ready to toss them into THAT rabbit hole.)

And by the time patrol was done, he had decided to make sure never to pair up Robin and Wildfire ever again. Next time, he would try Robin and Nightstar.

They got back to the manor without a scratch and undressed quickly. Mari let out a huge yawn.

"Alright, it's currently five in the morning," Dick said, hanging up the cowl. "We have four hours to get some- "

He was interrupted by snoring. He turned around quickly and saw Mari already sleeping on the floor, curled up into a little ball. How she managed to change her clothes so fast was beyond him, but clearly, she had done it with this end goal in mind.

With a small smile, Dick picked her up and led the way to the staircase. He was still in his Batman costume (mostly) so he was hoping to avoid running into Alfred. He didn't like it when they went up in their costumes.

He set Mari down in her bed, Jake laid down beside her, and Damian ran off to his room to get in his four hours. Dick turned around and was about to close the door.

"Goodnight, dad," Jake called softly. Dick smiled at him.

"Night, Jake."

And he closed the door.


The next morning was filled with the usual chaos. Jason, Tim, and Damian were all yelling at each other, Dick was pouring himself a cup of coffee, Barbara, Cass, and Steph walked into the kitchen with Barbara turning around immediately, still too tired and thinking it was too early in the morning to be putting up with this, and Alfred standing off to the side, making sure things didn't stray from the usual path.

Mari and Jake chose to eat their breakfast at the top of the stairs. They hadn't seen each other for a while and wanted to catch up a little bit.

"Then mom said that she had three stomachs," Mari said. She took another bite of pancake while Jake giggled. "She said that she was joking, but she wasn't, was she?"

Jake shook his head.

"Tamaraneans have three stomachs," he said. "I don't think we do, though."

"Because we're half-human?" Mari asked. Jake nodded.

"Yeah, that's most likely," he said. Mari nodded her head. Yeah, that made sense. They were silent for a moment.

"So… what do you think is going on between dad and aunt Mandy?" Mari asked. Jake shrugged.

"Every time aunt Mandy started talking about dad, she had to cut herself off," he said. "She always said that her sister would get on her case if she said anything about him."

"What would she have said?" Mari wondered to herself. An idea struck her. She grinned wide, an evil smile that she definitely inherited from their dad. Jake felt a little uncomfortable with that smile.

"What are you thinking?" he asked her. Mari turned her smile into a smirk, looking so much like their dad that it was uncanny.

"I'm thinking we have a way of finding out the professional tension between dad and aunt Mandy," she said. Jake frowned in the direction of the main room with the grandfather clock.

"You aren't saying…?"

"Oh, I'm saying," Mari said. "We should go check it out."

Jake sighed.

"Why am I not putting up a better fight?" he asked himself. Mari stood up, plate of pancakes in one hand and the other outstretched to him.

"Because," she said, "You want to know, too."

Jake frowned at her hand before taking it with a smirk on his face.

"I think you inherited dad's bad traits," he said. Mari winked at him.

"Not all of them, but I'm having fun with the ones I have," she said. They raced down the stairs, snuck past the kitchen with no one seeing them, and made a beeline for the grandfather clock.


Dick sat down in the story chair, ready for their next story. He looked around vaguely for Mari and Jake before shrugging to himself. Maybe they were still asleep. He would give them until midday before barging up there.

"Alright, ready for the actual story?" he asked. Everyone made themselves comfortable while Alfred dusted off the bust beside the couch.

Before he started telling the story, one more thought struck Dick about where his kids may be: the Batcave. If they were, then kudos to them for getting there without anybody noticing. He would let them do what they were going to do. It wasn't like they were going to destroy anything, right?

Yeah… that's right…


So, the actual story is going to be in the next chapter. And I know Wildfire is Kory's brother and Jake was supposed to be Robin, and that isn't the outfit he wears because, you know, Robin, but I don't plan on including Star's brother in this story because I'm not even sure if he's canon or not, so I used that name and took some creative liberties.

But, all honestly, if anyone out there likes to draw or enjoys it or something, could you draw me a picture of Jake and Mari in these outfits? You don't have to, but it would be neat to see. The reason I don't draw it myself is because 1) I suck at drawing and 2) I'm still practicing drawing Mari in general.

Ok bye.