Gifts From the Sea, a Batman fanfic by Raberba girl

Batfam Bingo 2019: AU: Zoo

Chapter 18 - A Good Place to Gather (rough draft 2)

Arthur pushed up his date to visit, striding out of the waves with Mera just before ten in the morning. "Good to see you," Bruce said, shaking his hand as Dick eagerly raised a hand to Mera and was scooped up and hugged.

"So this is the kid?" Arthur asked, turning to Jason, who'd gone shy again and was lurking behind Bruce.

"That's right," Bruce said, stepping back a little so he could wrap his arm around Jason's shoulder. "This is Jason Todd. He says he's been looking for you."

"It's an honor, Your Majesty," Jason blurted. His eyes darted around, then he mouthed frantically at Bruce, "Should I bow?"

"You're fine," Bruce murmured back. He looked up again. "Did you locate any candidates?"

"I do have a few possibilities," Arthur said. "And listen, son, the other reason we came was to see if we can get to the bottom of this trafficking thing. Do you think you'll be able to talk to us about it in detail?"

Jason drew in a shaky breath. "If you're gonna shut 'em down, then yeah. I mean, yes, sir."

Arthur clapped him on the shoulder. "No need to be so formal, kid. I'm a small-town boy at heart."

Jason smiled shyly, and Bruce's heart fluttered. He loved his kids so much, they could be so unbearably cute.

The doorbell rang a moment later, and Bruce frowned in confusion. "Clark?" he said in surprise when he went to answer it. "What are you doing here?"

"Are you kidding? I heard my favorite fish kid is back," Superman said, stepping into the house.

"C'aaaaaaarkkk!" Dick yelled, hurling forward so forcefully that his scooter board rolled straight down the hallway without him having to use his arms at all.

"Dickie!" Clark laughed, scooping up the mer and not seeming to notice the scooter clattering against his feet. "I missed you!"

"Missed you tooo," Dick crooned, nuzzling his face against Clark's as he hugged him.

Bruce, smiling, turned to close the door, then blinked when a red-and-blue figure came descending majestically out of the sky.

"Oh!" Wonder Woman exclaimed in disappointment. "I was going to use the doorbell this time."

"I suppose you still can," Bruce chuckled, shutting the door and waiting.

A moment later, the bell chimed, then again before it had faded away, then a third time as Bruce was opening the door. "Just once is fine."

"I see. Greetings, Bruce Wayne."

"Greetings, Diana."

Pounding footsteps approached, and Jason skidded into view. "Wonder Woman!"

"Hello, young Jason!"

Jason crossed his arm over his chest and bowed. Diana laughed and returned the gesture.

"Er...well," Bruce said, "come in, everyone. I'll make some more coffee, or tea if anyone wants it."

They hadn't even gotten down to business yet when there was a tapping at the back sliding door. Bruce stared, and Jason snorted. "What's he doing here?"

"What are you doing here, Jordan?" Bruce asked when he opened the door.

"What's it look like?" the Lantern said, inviting himself in along with a serious-looking person Bruce didn't recognize. "League meeting, duh."

"League meeting?!"

"Bruce, boys, this is J'onn J'onzz," Clark introduced. "Otherwise known as Martian Manhunter. He's new to both the League and to Earth."

Bruce squinted at the newcomer, who morphed from a perfectly ordinary-looking man to a green-skinned humanoid with solid red eyes.

"What," Bruce said blankly.

"Whoooaa, are you an alien?" Jason asked.

"Yes. I am from Mars," J'onzz said gravely.

"So you can shapeshift?"

"Yes."

"Can you turn into a fish like Dick?"

"Yes." J'onzz turned his head for a moment to study Dick, who was now perched on Clark's shoulder. Then he started to sit down on the ground, presumably so he wouldn't fall when he transformed.

"You don't have to," Bruce said hastily.

J'onzz looked up at him, and Bruce somehow got the impression he was confused despite his complete lack of facial expression or body language.

"No, you totally do," Jason said mischievously, backed up by Dick's "Do~ it! Do~ it! Do~ it!"

"You really don't," Superman said firmly.

The palm trees outside suddenly rustled loudly in a strong, weirdly red-tinted wind, and then a seventh adult was suddenly among them. "Am I late?"

"You're last," Hal said.

"You're not late," Clark assured the newcomer. "We're still on introductions."

"Oh! Well, I'm the Flash," Flash said, holding out a hand for Jason to shake.

"Barry Allen," Hal clarified.

"Oh, are we doing real names? Everyone's still in costume..."

"This isn't a costume, they're my normal clothes in Atlantis," Arthur objected.

"Why is the entire Justice League in my home?!" Bruce wanted to know.

"This buying and selling of people is of great concern to us, and we have come to get more information and make a plan," Diana said. "You have good ideas, a secluded dwelling, and delightful children, all which make your home a good place to meet."

"Fine, but if you're all here, who's currently at the Hall of Justice? Who's keeping an eye on your hometowns?"

The League exchanged looks like such matters had never occurred to them.

"I have officials who manage the kingdom while I'm away on business," Arthur offered.

"My colleagues know how to contact me if my assistance is needed," Diana said.

"Ring'll probably give me a buzz if something happens," Hal said. He looked at the faintly glowing green device on his finger. "I think."

"My hometown doesn't exist anymore," Martian Manhunter stated.

Bruce gestured at the others. "What if a major event occurs while you're here, and you're not even aware of it? Do you at least have a program that will analyze news feeds and automatically alert you if something might need your attention?"

"Can we get one of those?" Barry asked.

Clark held up a hand. "We can look into that sort of thing later. Right now, we'll just keep the TV on in the background while we have our discussion."

Jason helped Bruce (or, rather, Bruce helped Jason) get everyone situated with snacks and drinks, then they turned the living room into a workplace. Jason, taking deep breaths and huddling in Bruce's arms, told them everything he could think of about the people who'd held him and the others captive. Then the fliers and Flash left for about an hour to do surveillance on likely locations as Bruce, Mera, and the rest of the League kept in communication and huddled over computers, trying to narrow down the search.

While they worked, the boys had gotten bored. Jason was doing schoolwork, lying on his stomach and idly kicking his feet in the air. He gasped and flipped over when he felt someone tugging on his socks. "What are you doing?!"

"I wanna see your feet," Dick said.

"No, you creep!"

"Why do you cover them up? Are you cold?"

"No," Jason grumbled.

"You're not even wearing shoes!" Dick reached for them again.

"No!" Jason yelped, tucking his feet under himself. "I- I don't like people to see my feet."

"Why? Are they ugly?"

"No," Jason said sourly.

"You say 'no' a lot. Pleeeaaase let me see your feet? You can see my tail," Dick offered.

"I've already seen your dumb tail."

"My tail is not dumb! I have a beautiful tail." Dick peeled off the sleeve, shook out his fins, then swept into a pose. "See? I'm very pretty."

"Ugh." Jason turned his back and tried to return to his work, shoulders hunched in anticipation of being nagged again.

Sure enough, the mer was soon poking at the tiny bits of Jason's socks he could reach. "Pleeeeaaaase, Jay? I bet your li'l feet don't like to be covered all the time."

"You know what happened," Jason snarled, spinning to face him again, "the last time people looked at my feet? They sold me to traffickers. They'd have been happy to cut my feet off and sell them."

Dick grimaced, then gestured at the League. "Good people. They'll never cut you, Jay. They love your feet."

Jason fidgeted for a long time. Dick rested his chin on his arms and fixed a set of sparkling blue puppy eyes on him, tail waving idly back and forth.

Jason finally drew in a deep breath. "You'll do somethin' fer me 'f I show you?"

"Do what?"

"Dunno yet. You'll owe me a favor."

Dick shrugged. "Fine."

Slowly, Jason worked a sock off and extended the bared foot a few inches.

Dick's eyes lit up and he straightened, gently taking the foot in both hands. "Oooohh." He played with the toes, gently spreading them to look at the webbing in between. Then he yanked the foot up to brandish it and declared, "I love feet, they're so dumb!"

The sudden movement sent Jason rocking back with a yelp; he hastily braced his elbows so he wouldn't crack his head against the floor. "You weirdo, let go!" Then he realized Bruce had his phone trained on them, either filming or taking pictures. "HEY!"

"I've been curious..."

Jason yanked his foot out of Dick's hold and scrambled back, tucking both his feet under his body and glaring.

"I'm sorry, Jay," Bruce apologized. "You do know that I would never hurt you no matter what your feet look like, right?"

"I know," Jason muttered, his face reddening. He did, however, after the League left, stop wearing socks except for when he went into town.

o.o.o

The trafficking ring was soon busted, and Bruce's next project was to locate Jason's biological mother. Using Arthur's information, Clark's contacts, and his parents' money, he eventually managed to pin down the most likely candidate as a blonde whose primary alias had been Sheila Haywood. She was going under a different name now, but he could tell from the security camera footage that she was still the same woman. She was actually still in Gotham City, working for criminals.

"So. Boys." They were sitting down to eat, Dick grabbing live fish out of a tank and the other two with plates of sandwiches. "What do you think of the three of us taking a trip to Gotham?"

"Grandma and Grandpa?" Dick asked eagerly.

"Yes, we can stay with my parents at the manor and visit with them. Going to Bristol will make it easier for me to investigate in the city about your mother, Jason, and if it's safe, we might be able to start proceedings to...update your legal status."

"Huh," Jason mumbled into his food.

"We're going to have to talk to the authorities at some point, Jason. We need your documents, too, like your birth certificate and social security card. You'll need a driver's license or at least an ID in a few years, there will eventually be college and work, and...inheritance issues..." He paused nervously, but Jason didn't even acknowledge the idea that he might be a prominent figure in Bruce's will.

"I don't wanna go back into the system," Jason mumbled. "I want either my mom or...you. No one else!"

"I want you very much, too, Jason," Bruce assured him. "We'll make it work. You won't have to go back into general foster care." He turned to his other son. "Dickie, worst case scenario for you, you might have to live at the manor permanently. You said that home is where I am, but what if that means you have no water except a couple of swimming pools and maybe an occasional lake?" There was no way he was letting his child anywhere near Gotham's polluted coastal waters.

"I lived in tanks for so long," Dick pouted, unhappy with Bruce's suggestion but knowing the options would probably be limited. "I can live in Grandma and Grandpa's pool. Just let me go out in the wheelchair and don't tie me up and make me do stupid tricks for people I hate."

"You know I'd never do that to you."

Dick shrugged. "Fine."

"Is it...hard to learn sign language?" Jason asked hesitantly.

Bruce smiled, probably more than the question warranted. He was really happy to see Jason taking an interest in communicating better with his brother. (Bruce probably ought to stop thinking of Jason as his child, but it was too late, he couldn't help it...) "Not hard at all," he said, signing as he spoke. "It just takes practice."

Jason, frowning in concentration, tried to imitate the tail end of the sentence.

"This is 'sandwich,' " Dick demonstrated. "This is 'I like.' So 'I like this sandwich' is..." He signed the whole sentence and then waited expectantly.

"I like this sandwich," Jason repeated, then blushed and smiled when the others cheered for him.

TBC

A/N: The thing about Jason's toes isn't entirely accurate to the folklore, but I fudged it a bit to make it work in this AU.

I'd originally had Cyborg on the Justice League, but very belatedly remembered that I wanted to use him for something different, so I replaced him with Martian Manhunter. Here's the original Cyborg stuff I had to cut:

"What's it look like?" the Lantern said, inviting himself in. "League meeting, duh."

"League meeti-?!"

A booming sound had the boys covering their ears. A blindingly bright vortex appeared and a human figure walked out of it, metal parts gleaming in the sun and a large pair of boots protecting machinery from the sandy beach.

"What?" Bruce said blankly.

"Bruce, boys, this is Victor Stone," Clark introduced. "Otherwise known as Cyborg. He's new to the League, and we're honored to have him."

"I saw you on the news," Jason remarked.

Victor winced. "The part where I joined the Justice League, or the part where my tech was going crazy and I blew up a bunch of stuff?"

Jason grinned. "Both. Both of them were cool."

Victor smiled back and turned to look at Dick, who was now perched on Clark's shoulder. "You and me in our little not-even-pretending-to-be-human brigade, huh," he said, holding up his curled fingers. Dick smiled and completed the fist-bump.

x

"I've basically got the Internet in my head 24/7," Victor said, then added in a mutter, "though filtering is an issue sometimes..."