The Birds Who Smile, a Batman fanfic by Raberba girl

Chapter 9.3 (rough draft 2)

A/N: BRUCE IS WEARING PANTS. There was some confusion when I first posted this chapter, a lot of people mistakenly thinking it was the little green panties. X''D No no no, it's based on Damian's outfit with the black pants, not Dick's and Jason's pre-Flashpoint one.

o.o.o

Part of the reason it had taken Bruce so long to get ready for patrol was that he'd been meditating. Being Batman had been second nature to him for years, but Robin was a new and different persona whose headspace he'd needed to get into. 'Do not skulk in the shadows,' he reminded himself again even now. 'You're wearing different colors, they will see you coming and you'll look like a fool. Do not skulk.' His Robins had been able to blend into the shadows to some extent, but they didn't become shadows the way Bruce had gotten so used to doing. He wouldn't be able to rely on that tonight, and he'd have to catch himself quickly if he started trying to do it out of habit.

Each of his sons had taken a different approach to Robin, but what they all had in common was that they couldn't intimidate their adversaries. Instead, Dick had chosen to distract and infuriate; Jason had stuck with the underhanded wiliness that had served him so well on the streets; Tim had gone with meticulous strategy; and Damian had made up for his small size with savagery and sheer skill.

...Then again, all of them had been children when they'd started, Tim the oldest at merely fourteen. No matter how Bruce was dressed, nothing changed the fact that he was a tall, muscular, and well-built man. 'I can't intimidate them as a phantom, but if I can find something other than a creature of the night to channel...' Robin Hood, perhaps - the original legacy Dick had so loved. 'I seek justice and defend the innocent.'

Navigating the city was a little trickier than it had been before. Some of the more devastated areas of town were still just expanses of rubble, with nothing for a grappling hook to attach to. "Come, Robin," Damian sighed. "Orphan says we must stop for every citizen in need, even the ones too stupid to go to one of the shelters."

They spent a good half hour thermal-scanning the piles of rubble, leaving care packs with the people who'd burrowed in for the night like animals in their dens. Most of them were either asleep or didn't acknowledge the aid, though one woman reached out a claw-like hand to hold Bruce's wrist for a moment. "The booklet has directions to all the shelters in Gotham," Bruce said gently, taking it out of the pack to show her. "Please make your way to one of them in the morning, all right? They have more supplies there, and resources for getting a more stable roof over your head and locating missing loved ones." The woman blinked slowly and didn't reply. Bruce reluctantly rose to his feet and moved on.

Even in parts of town where buildings were still standing, Bruce and Damian had to do scans before jumping to make sure the structures were still stable enough to take their weight and motion. It slowed their progress, and Bruce wondered if they ought to be traveling on motorcycles. "Have you or any of the others tried taking bikes?"

"Red Robin sometimes does; Orphan doesn't bother. I prefer flying."

Bruce smiled a little. "And the car? It's not much use within the disaster zones."

"Robin. I'm Batman. Batman uses the Batmobile."

"Fair point."

The first crime they came across was a group of thugs robbing a pair of displaced people.

'Do not skulk.' Bruce let Damian attack first, following his lead for once. Bat'man' swung in screaming a war cry, downing two thugs with his momentum and incapacitating two more in the next second. The last thug standing tried to flee, shrieking about the return of the evil Batmen. Bruce stepped into his path and dropped him with one swift punch to the face. He looked up at the would-be victims he and his son had just rescued, suddenly self-conscious about being seen in his Robin getup.

The woman was staring at him in awe. "Batman," she whispered.

Bruce, not knowing how to react, started to melt back into the shadows of an alley, but caught himself just in time and grappled up to the roof instead, leaving behind Damian to exclaim indignantly, "I'M Batman, you fool!"

Now out of sight, Bruce crept to the edge of the roof to both keep an eye on Damian and be on the lookout for potential threats.

"...shouldn't be running around in that costume, it's offensive!" the man was saying below. "After what those monsters did to Gotham, how can you wear that cowl so proudly?!"

"Apparently you don't have the mental capacity to tell the difference between the real Batman and a gang of unsanctioned perversions."

"That was him, though!" the woman spoke up reverently. "The real one! Dressed different, but he came back! Batman's come back to save Gotham again!"

"SAVE Gotham?!" her companion shrieked incredulously. "Look around, Lorraine! Gotham's dead, thanks to Batman!"

Damian's tone was seething. "I am going to leave now, before I injure you like I did these lowlifes."

"Good boy," Bruce whispered. When Damian dropped onto the roof a minute later, Bruce straightened and said it again. "Good job, Rob- Batman. I'm proud of you for backing off when you did."

"He was an imbecile! I wanted to strangle him!"

"But you didn't. Nightwing would be proud, too."

"And how did that woman recognize you?! Your outfit is completely different!"

"I suppose my build is familiar in a close enough context..." Which would make being seen dressed as Robin even more embarrassing. "Let's make sure they get to a shelter safely and then move on."

The next job was confiscating crates of drugs from a gang who'd thought to take advantage of Gotham's vulnerability and the preoccupation of the police. Of course the criminals objected to the removal of their stash, so Batman and Robin beat them up. Interestingly, the thugs reacted to the Dynamic Duo as usual, as if the costumes didn't matter - it was still the burly adult who angered and frightened them, drawing the majority of their attention, and the child whom they treated as more of an annoying afterthought.

"YOUR MISTAKE FOR TURNING YOUR BACK ON BATMAN, FOOLS!"

Delivering the subdued gang to GCPD headquarters meant traveling through the more restored areas of town, which had actual police presence. The vigilantes didn't even need to assist in stopping a burglary in progress.

The officer who'd just finished taking the statement of one of the would-be victims started to turn back to his car, then paused and frowned when he caught sight of Batman and Robin watching from a nearby rooftop. "Get out of here!" he shouted. "Batman is not welcome in Gotham anymore!"

"Batman goes where he's needed," Damian shouted back, "whether he's welcome or not!"

"Go home, kid! You're going to get shot if you keep playing this game, I don't care what idiot you found to be your bodyguard!"

"ROBIN'S NOT AN IDIOT, HE'S-! Mmf!"

Bruce dragged his son back out of sight. "The less said about me, the better," he hissed. Damian nodded sulkily. "Let's go, we've still got work to do."

A couple of hours later, they spotted a shadowy figure in the distance, leaping from one rooftop to another. The figure paused. Then it started making its way toward them, and Bruce and Damian headed to meet up.

"Hello, Orphan," Bruce said when they landed on the same rooftop.

Cassandra beamed at him, then snapped a photo. Bruce tensed, immediately imagining the field day his older children would have at his expense when they saw the picture. It was already going to be bad enough that they'd find out about the Robin costume eventually.

Cassandra must have read something in his body language, because her face softened. "Look good," she assured him. "Won't tell." She cradled the device close to her heart. "For me, alone."

"Thank you..."

"I think he makes a fine Robin," Damian asserted proudly. "A fitting companion to my Batman."

Cassandra's smile turned sly. "Batman. Very cute."

"Batman is not cute!"

"What signal is that?" Bruce asked suddenly. A light had appeared reflected on the clouds, but it was in the shape of a bird, roughly resembling the national emblem, rather than a bat.

"It's the Bat Signal," Damian informed him. "Gordon is just too cowardly to use the proper shape now."

"I see." Bruce nodded at his daughter. "We'll see you later, Orphan."

"I love. Tell them," she said.

"I will," he promised, as he always did when she asked him to give her love to her brothers.

At police headquarters, Bruce stayed out of sight and let Damian be the one to drop to the roof behind Jim. "Commissioner."

Jim sighed a little as he turned around. "You're not tall enough for the 'appearing out of thin air' trick to spook me. Where's your partner?"

"Around," Damian pouted. "Why did you call? One of the Rogues again?"

"I'm not going to send you after a Rogue by yourself."

"Why does everyone doubt me?! I was trained by the League of Assassins for the first ten years of my life! I single-handedly fought off every assassin Talia al Ghul sent after me when she put a bounty on my head! I once kicked Superman's butt! I CAN DO THIS!"

Jim was quiet for a moment, absorbing all this. Finally he said, "You just remind me of my own kid and her...dangerous hobbies. For my own peace of mind, tell me where your partner is, Batman."

"*SIIIIGGGHHH* Within earshot. He doesn't think I can do this alone, either. Now who's the Rogue?"

"He?" Jim echoed in confusion. Then he cleared his throat and answered the question. "Calendar Man. He's been causing disturbances at the shelters, and we need to get him off the streets as soon as possible. I-" He suddenly squinted up into the shadows. "Who's there?"

"...It's me, Jim."

"Batma-?" Jim glanced back at Damian, who folded his arms and raised his chin.

Bruce reluctantly dropped down to join his son. Jim stared at him for a moment in his Robin garb. He facepalmed and muttered, "Dear God, man...," then raised his head with regained composure and continued, "Just find Calendar Man, please. The sooner, the better. Here's a map marked with all the shelters he's hit so far, they're numbered chronologically."

Bruce started to accept the paper that was handed to him, and allowed Damian to snatch it first. "...Jim, the cowl is heavier than usual these days."

Jim waved his hand wearily. "I know. You've got a lot on your plate. ...League of Assassins, for God's sake, because why not assassins...guess that explains some things..." He switched off the signal and walked back into the building, his turn now to leave the vigilantes alone on the rooftop.

Damian waved the map. "Come, Robin!"

"Right behind you, Batman," Bruce said indulgently.

The pattern was clear enough, and they caught up with Calendar Man at what would logically be next on the list. Batman and Robin hurried through the building's already-shattered front doors to find Calendar Man menacing the terrified people inside. "WHERE IS HE?! TELL ME WHERE HE IS BEFORE I START SHOOTING!"

A batarang knocked the weapon out of his hand. Batman and Robin were on him before he finished turning, but he recovered quickly from their initial strikes and fled instead of retaliating.

They pursued him a couple of blocks until they managed to trap him in a dead end. "Enough, Julian," Bruce thundered. "You will end up back in prison tonight, so don't make this even harder on yourself."

"The defenders of Gotham City are still alive and well!" Damian added. "You're a fool to think you can get away with this!"

Bruce inconspicuously gestured to shush him.

"Just find my son," Julian snarled. "Find Aden! I'll come quietly if you can prove he's safe, but if you don't, I'll burn you along with the rest of the city!"

"You lunatic! Why should innocent people suffer-"

"Watch him, Batman. I'll start checking databases." Bruce stepped away and accessed his wrist computer. After almost half an hour, most of which was spent waiting for Nightwing to confirm his findings and send a suitable photo, Bruce returned to Julian and held up his holo-display where the man could see it. "Aden and his foster family are safe in a Blüdhaven shelter."

"...Holos are too easy to fake! I need real proof!"

Bruce sighed, called Cassandra to come join Damian on guard duty, went all the way back to the Batmobile where it was parked on the outskirts of the city, used the computer inside to print out a hard copy of the photo, then made his way back, where police vehicles had now joined the stalemate. Bruce swung over their heads, landed in the alley beside his children, and handed the picture to Calendar Man. "There. Aden is safe, Nightwing personally saw him with his own eyes. I would not lie about something like this, Julian, and you know it."

Julian raised his head from studying the photo to studying Bruce's masked face. "...Guess you wouldn't, Batman," he murmured.

Damian threw up his hands. "Does no one see the bat ears on my cowl?! I'M Batman! HE'S Robin!"

Julian Day finally surrendered to the waiting officers. Bruce escaped to a rooftop before any of them could get a good look at him, and was soon joined by Damian and Cassandra. "Thank you, Orphan." She nodded and took off again.

Damian sounded genuinely upset. "Why won't anyone acknowledge me? You said I could be Batman. I'm wearing the outfit, I'm doing all the things you do, I am good enough! This is my legacy, I was born to do this! But they didn't accept you at first, either, did they. I'm not doing this for...for the recognition, I'm doing this because it's right, it doesn't matter what other people say as long as I fight evil and help people have better lives..."

Bruce, proud of him for no longer dwelling on how offended he was, put an arm around him. "Batman...really, it's just that you're still young. That's the only reason. I'm sure you'll always be a different Batman than I am, but I know you'll make a good one, because you already are. They'll respect you more when you get older and grow into your adult height. In the meantime, you have my respect, Batman."

Damian leaned into him. "Thank you, Father."

TBC

A/N: I don't know much about Calendar Man. I'm basing him on a New 52 Detective Comics mini-arc that I skim-read, and the Wikis were not helpful at all, so I really didn't know what I was doing with him. I just wanted a minor Rogue to make an appearance.

Again, BRUCE-ROBIN HAS PANTS. X''''D