I would like to state upfront that the Zatanna in this is NOT the Zatanna from Young Justice. Because imagining her as Dick's age knowing she's been with both Bruce and Constantine is just… No. She's mostly based on Zatanna from BTAS.
"Stupid sprained wrist," Tim muttered as he shuffled towards his room. Thanks to his wrist, Robin was off the roster for the next couple of days. Bette had taken the news better than him, especially when Bruce decided Tim should take the time to destress and banned him from doing any casework at all. He'd tried to sneak down to the cave once he was sure the others had all left for the night, but someone must have counted on that because Harper was down there to shoo him back out.
He was just going to work out a little and do some research, nothing that would aggravate his wrist. It wasn't fair!
"Master Tim," Alfred called and Tim turned to see him standing at the end of the hall. "Bernard Dowd is here for you. He's coming up the drive now."
"Bernard?" It had been around a year since he'd seen any of his old GHS friends. Why would Bernard come looking for him now?
"Yes. Should I turn him away after all?"
"No. It's fine. Can you show him up to my room? I need to change."
"Very well. He also mentioned a Laura will be arriving as well," he said, sounding unconvinced, before turning towards the foyer.
Laura? Tim tried to remember who Laura was as he continued towards his room. He couldn't remember a Laura. There was Mac from the photo club and Liza from English. There was also Sabine, but she'd more been Dar-a friend of a friend. Had Tyrone's sister's name been Laura? No, her name had started with a K.
Still thinking about it, he pushed open his door and came face-to-face with a ghost. "Darla?"
"Tim! It's you!" she cheered, throwing herself at him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. "Finally!"
"But you're -"
She shushed him, pressing her face into his shoulder. "We have plenty to talk about, but first I just want you to know that I'm back. I'm back for you, Tim. All I have to do is work off a debt, by killing the Bloody Robin. And then I'll be free to be with you forever, Tim."
"What!?"
"Tim? You okay in there?"
He pushed her away and leaned out the door to see Cullen standing in the hall. "Yeah, just got some old friends over. Nothing to worry about."
"If you say so," the other boy shrugged before slipping back into Jason's room.
Tim considered questioning that for half a second before deciding he both wanted plausible deniability and had other things to worry about. He closed his door and pressed the button near the door to activate his room's soundproofing.
Cullen was awfully nosy for someone who didn't want to be a vigilante.
"What's that?" Darla asked.
"Nothing. Let's just start talking. Who knows how long everyone will stay away. A lot of people live here and none of them know how to mind their own business. I don't want to risk any of them walking in right in the middle of something."
She smiled and leaned up against him, eyes half-lidded. One of her fingers traced the edge of his athletic tank top as she said, "Oh? Okay, Tim. That's not exactly what I had in mind in coming here today, but if you're in the mood…"
"No!" He choked out, voice breaking and face heating up. "No, that's not what I meant!"
Smirking, she raised an eyebrow and backed off. "I know. I'm messing with you." She stepped back to sit down on the chest at the end of his bed. "I'm sorry, Tim, but you're always so serious. I thought a little humor might break the tension a bit."
"Fair enough," he sighed, running a hand over his face. "But we need to talk about some serious things. First thing: You're supposed to be dead. No, strike that. You were dead. I was there, and the medical reports only confirmed it. You died!"
"I know," she said, voice soft. "By all means, let's talk about this. We have to talk about it. But we should probably wait for Bernard."
Bernard. Right. "You're Laura."
"Laura Fell. Nice to meet you."
He nodded and turned towards his closet. "Right, well, I'm going to go get changed while we wait."
She faux-pouted, looking him over. "Aw, but you look so good in that." Her eyes caught on his arms. More accurately, they caught on his scars. "What happened?"
"Long story. Don't worry about it?"
She studied his face for a moment. "They look old." They were a few weeks old. He'd gotten into a tussle with some of Ivy's sharper vines. "Is that why you live with Wayne?"
He shook his head and went into his closet, leaving the door cracked so they could talk. "My parents… weren't the best, but they never raised a hand against me."
"And Wayne?"
"Bruce would never forgive himself if he hurt any of us," he said with certainty. They all had experience dragging their dad out of the guilt-fueled spirals he always went into whenever he got mind-controlled or accidentally went a little too hard during training. "I just got into an accident. They look worse than they are, promise."
"Alright."
They fell into a comfortable, if loaded, silence as he finished changing. When he came out, she was sitting at his desk and looking at the pictures he had hanging over it. She was looking at one of him and Stephanie before she turned back to him. "How's Steph doing?"
"Good. I'd invite her over, but she agreed to help Dick out with something tonight." That something being a drug bust. Stephanie had taken to Batgirl and her partnership with Nightwing far better than she had playing one half of Robin. Those two were a force to be reckoned with.
"You should still probably give her a call. Wouldn't want her finding out you've got a girl in your room from someone else," she said with a teasing wink.
"Oh, no, we're not-Steph and I broke up last Spring."
"Sorry."
"No, it's okay. It was mutual," he said honestly. "Nothing happened, we were just… stagnant. We both love each other, but neither of us could say it was anything more than that. Like, if we're in love, you know. There were a few other things, but yeah."
She hummed, drawing circles on his desk. "So is there someone else now or…"
Tim sat down on his bed. "Darla, I think any possibility of romance between us will have to wait until I get over the fact that you're alive somehow." He ran his fingers through his hair. "I don't know how it affected you, but I-I mourned you for a long time, it still hurts a little when I think about that day. You practically died in my arms."
"Fair enough," she said, ducking her head. She rolled her chair over to the bed and took his hand, squeezing it. "Take all the time you need. I'm not going anywhere."
He stared at their hands for a moment. "Unless you get in trouble for trying to kill Robin."
She pulled her hand back.
"Darla -"
His bedroom door cracked open. "Mr. Dowd has arrived, Master Tim."
"Thanks, Alfred. You can let him in."
Alfred didn't bat an eye at Darla when he opened the door fully to let Bernard in. "Can I get you three some refreshments?"
"Strawberry latte?" he requested with pleading eyes. He had technically already had his blood for the day, but this felt like it was going to be a lot and a little extra blood and caffeine always made his head run a little smoother.
"Very well. And your guests? Miss Aquista, I seem to remember you quite liked my homemade blueberry tea the last time you were here."
She frowned and met his eyes. "My name is Laura Fell."
"My apologies, Miss Fell. Did you want the blueberry tea again or would you like to try something else?"
She stared at him blankly. "Uh, the tea would be nice."
"Wonderful. And for you, Mr. Dowd?"
"Oh, uh, can I get one of those lattes too?"
"Of course," he answered with perfect grace.
Tim hoped Bernard wouldn't notice that his strawberry latte was darker and thicker than the actual strawberry one. "Thanks, Alfred."
"Yeah, thanks."
"Thank you."
The butler nodded and took his leave.
"I swear that guy isn't real," Bernard said once the door was shut, coming over to sit next to Tim. "He's just too perfect. A full-blown stereotype. And the way he talks, it makes me think he's something out of an Eighteenth-century novel."
Early nineteenth-century, but very close. "He's just a really good butler."
"One hell of a butler," Darla muttered under her breath, only just loud enough for Tim to catch.
"What?"
She blushed and waved it off. "Nothing."
"So, where are we at?" Bernard asked.
"Darla's alive and wants to kill Robin?"
"Wait, what? You only told me you needed help balancing out the dark magic influence. You didn't say anything about wanting to anger an entire family of demons by killing their baby!" he said, throwing his hands in the air. "Are you insane?"
"Baby?" Tim muttered, nose scrunched up.
"I don't want to kill Robin, but I have to," she said.
"What do you mean?"
She leaned back, frowning down at her lap. "My dad went a little crazy when I died. He told my nana he had me cremated and bribed the mortuary to sell the story so he could steal my body and take it on a world tour, trying to find someone who could bring me back. He ended up crawling to Johnny Warlock since Johnny worked for him before he got powers. He told Johnny he'd do anything to get me back, even die. So Johnny traded his life for mine."
"Woah."
"That's…"
"Yeah. Even worse, there's this demon attached to Johnny and a bit of its power is embedded in me. It ties us together, but the demon said he can break the tie. And so, Johnny agreed to let me go as long as I did this one little favor for him."
"You have to kill Robin," Tim said.
"Killing Robin is a little favor? You're kidding, right?" Bernard deadpanned.
She shook her head. "Robin appears to be the weakest of the Colony. Aside from the shadow traveling all of them use and his multipresence, he doesn't seem to have any abilities. He's powerful, but I should be able to take him. That's what's so odd. Johnny has all of these amazing powers, more than me, but for some reason, he seems to have a special phobia of Robin."
"He and Robin have history," Bernard offered.
"Robin blew one of his hands off."
The two turned to Tim, who shrugged awkwardly.
"At least, that's what I read, uh, but who can trust anything you find on the internet?"
Bernard hummed and nodded. "You know, that makes sense. He was whole the last time anyone saw him, when he was still just Johnny Warren, which was a fight against Robin. Then he disappeared for a while before reappearing with a missing hand, magic powers, and a grudge against Robin. The first thing he did was spook a whole club of thugs then attack Robin and try to kill Spoiler. Do you remember her? She was a vigilante for a while and was sometimes spotted with the Colony, then she was sacrificed to the newly resurrected Red Hood."
Tim frowned. "She wasn't sacrificed."
"Uh, yeah she was. Why do you think she disappeared right before he showed up? Batwoman sacrificed her. Either to bring Red Hood to life or to feed him right after he rose."
That was a good point, actually. They'd never bothered to come up with an excuse for where Spoiler went. Most people didn't even know she existed. He'd have to let the others know what theories were going around. Jason and Stephanie were going to love it.
"You two are getting off-topic," Darla chuckled, watching them fondly. "You might be right, though. About Johnny's hand, I mean. He is missing one. While Johnny was still unconscious, his pet demon told me Johnny could restore his hand in a day, except that he's convinced it won't work so it never does."
"So he's so afraid of Robin that his powers just don't work? That makes no sense," Bernard said.
"That's the trouble with irrational fears: There's no explaining them," Tim pointed out. "And a lot of magic is rooted in will, thoughts, and/or emotions."
Darla tilted her head. "So, how is it you suddenly know about magic? Don't tell me always serious and practical Tim's a closet occultist."
"Not quite. The manor's just got a lot of old, weird books and I get bored easily," Tim waved it off. "Also, Bruce has some weird connections."
"Told you," Bernard said, tapping his foot against Darla's. "Alright, so here's what I'm taking away from this. We've got two main problems. Number one: You're tied to Johnny Warlock. Number two: your magic's corrupting you with darkness."
"Your magic's what?" Tim asked and Darla nodded with a frown.
"The powers that brought me back are evil. The darkness is always calling to me, drawing me into it, almost irresistibly. I try to fight it, but it's so…" She buried her face in her hands.
Both boys grabbed her and pulled her between them on the bed to hug her.
"Hey, it'll be okay. We'll figure something out, just like I promised," Bernard said.
"There's got to be a way and we'll find it," Tim agreed. "Just don't give up hope or the darkness will win."
She pressed her face into Tim's shoulder and grabbed Bernard's hand. "A rich boy and a conspiracy theorist against a demon-powered sorcerer. I feel safe and free already."
Bernard was really glad he'd told his parents he was going to the library instead of telling them he was going on a date. He was sure his mother, at least, would think his explanation about running into Tim after his car got totaled by supervillain nonsense and deciding to stay the night at the manor to reconnect was a cover for staying over at a girl's house. Or worse, that he was dating Tim. His parents already thought Tim was a bad influence or something, he didn't want them thinking he'd turned Bernard gay (which is also why they could never know he was starting to think Tim might have been his first genuine crush). Since they didn't know about the date, though, they just begrudgingly agreed he could stay the night.
Alfred had shown him and Darla to guest rooms after a few hours of brainstorming, citing that fresh minds would help. The next morning Bernard followed his nose and old memories down to the dining room (the family one, because Wayne's money meant they also had a grand dining room that was just for special occasions).
Three unfamiliar faces were sitting at the table when he got there. The first was a young woman with a bright blue undercut who looked annoyingly put together as she worked on something with a tablet and stylus. The second was a teenage boy a few years younger than Bernard who had the same undercut, just brown, and appeared to be dozing off in his chair. The two were clearly siblings as they had the same long pale face, pointed nose, and narrow stormy gray eyes. The young girl between them had none of those traits. She was noticeably Asian and had a round face and nose with dark brown eyes and black, chin-length hair.
She stared at him for a moment and a chill went up his spine. Then she gave a sunny smile and waved, which got the others' attention.
"Did Wayne get another one?" the woman asked.
"Nah," the boy yawned and straightened up, revealing that he was wearing an overlarge shirt that proclaimed Waking up is homophobic! in rainbow letters. "He's probably one of the friends Tim had over last night."
"Yeah, I am. I'm Bernard."
"Cullen."
"Harper. And this is Cass. She doesn't talk."
"That's cool. It's nice to meet you."
"Sure. Take a seat. Alfred's making breakfast for those of us who aren't nocturnal," Cullen said and Harper slapped his shoulder. "What?"
"You better wake up before Jason comes looking for the person who swapped all his classics with Shakespeare for Dummies and those cheesy modern translations."
"He doesn't respect true art," he muttered.
Bernard took a seat on the other side of the table. "So are you guys family or friends or…"
"Friends," Harper snorted. "I don't think I could handle being related to any of Wayne's brood, even if Cullen has a crush on Tim."
"HARPER!"
"Wayne just helped me get custody of these two and helps fund Cass's language therapy so the family's kind of grown on us. Like fungus."
"They're not that bad. Certainly better than a snitch like you."
"If you think Tim hasn't noticed you've got another thing coming."
"Seriously," Bernard agreed. "He can be creepily observant sometimes."
"Tell me about it," a familiar voice yawned and Bernard turned to see Stephanie shuffling in.
"Hey."
"Hey, Blond Two, long time no see. Timtam said you came over last night looking for help. You guys figure it out, whatever it is."
"Not exactly."
"That sucks." She dropped into the seat next to him and flopped over onto the table. "Wake me up when breakfast arrives."
"Why didn't you just stay in bed?" Harper asked, pushing blonde hair away from her place setting.
"Promised Dick I'd make waffles for brunch, good waffles, which means I need to be awake enough by then to make them right. And I didn't eat yesterday."
"You didn't eat at all?" Bernard asked, worried.
"Dinner," she corrected. "I didn't eat dinner yesterday. Last night. Whatever. I did eat like a proper human yesterday."
Cullen snorted and Harper shook her head. Cass frowned and leaned over to pat Stephanie's head.
She looked up to smile at the younger girl. "I'm alright, Cass. Thanks."
Breakfast arrived shortly later. The siblings and Bernard all received a full English breakfast while Stephanie only got a protein shake. Bernard patted himself on the back once he saw the drink. The dark red color was the same as the one that had been on the edges of Tim's drink the night before. He'd known something extra had to have been added to the drink and he'd guessed protein powder given how much Tim must have worked out to keep his physique. Turns out he was right.
Jason came in from the kitchen with his own plate not long after they started in while Darla appeared when they were about halfway done.
"Didn't think you were going to make it to breakfast," Bernard joked as she sat next to him.
"What can I say? I used to be an early riser, but now I sleep like the dead."
Bernard wasn't sure what, if anything, Tim told the others about what was going on, but at the very least Jason and Stephanie must have recognized Darla. He immediately started chuckling at the joke and held up his hand for a high-five while she groaned and booed.
Bernard just rubbed his face.
"Okay, that was bad taste," Darla admitted. Her voice sounded apologetic, but he also spotted her accepting the high-five under the table. "Where's Tim?"
"Probably still asleep," Bernard guessed.
"Nah, he was using the phone in Bruce's office when I came down," Jason said.
"Did he even go to sleep last night?" Stephanie asked and he shrugged. "Sucks to be him when Boose finds out."
Tim showed up just after Alfred had finished clearing the table. "Okay, so I made some calls and I've got a lead. Or at least I've got a lead on where we can get a lead."
"Good morning to you too, Tiny Jay," Jason snorted and Tim rolled his eyes.
"What's the lead?" Darla asked.
"Zatanna."
"And I think that's our cue to head out," Harper said and the three siblings took their leave.
"Zatanna. As in Zatanna Zatara. As in Zatanna from the Justice League. That Zatanna?" Bernard asked, glancing from the too-calm Waynes and Stephanie to the equally shocked Darla.
"Yes?"
"How did you contact Zatanna?"
"Bruce had her number in his phone."
"He… He just has the number of a member of the Justice League on his phone?"
"In his defense, he met her when she was still pretending her magic tricks were fake. They were close back then so they still talk sometimes. Anyways, she's in Metropolis right now helping Superman with something so she said she could come by around noon to see what's going on."
"She's just going to ditch Superman to come talk to us?"
"She and Bruce were really close back then." Jason wiggled his eyebrows.
"I'd ditch Superman for a potato chip," Stephanie shrugged.
"It's kind of her job to keep an eye on these kinds of things," Tim pointed out.
"Your lives are insane," Bernard said.
"Facts," Stephanie agreed.
I just realized that anyone who doesn't get the reference might think Darla knows more than she does. Darla's line is just her making a joke relating to another piece of media. She isn't aware Alfred's not human.
I would like to state for the record that if anything in this doesn't line up with how magic works in the DC universe, just put it down as being my AU, similar to how my vampires aren't like DC's. Honestly, it's because the only thing I know about DC's magic system is that the verbal component seems to be more of a focus than a necessity since the Zataras do all their spells by speaking backwards, Raven uses the same mantra for most of her magic (at least in the animated show), and everyone else just uses an old language, but they don't all use the same old language and also sometimes they can use modern English or even be completely silent (see Johnny and Darla in the comics I read for this). There's no consistency, which would make sense if the words themselves weren't what's important, but the mental focus and intention behind them.
