The Birds Who Smile, a Batman fanfic by Raberba girl
Deleted sequence: General Foster Care - Part 4 (rough draft)
[warble] waited a loooong time for the man and woman to go to bed. He was so bored, but then he got a book and his book light, and that was better. Except when the woman peeked her head in, she told him he was not allowed to look at books because it was time to sleep. So he pretended to go to sleep, and this time when she left him alone, he put pillows under his blankets to look like a little boy was still sleeping there, but him the real little boy took his books and light into the closet instead.
He gasped and realized it had been a long time. So he carefully opened the closet- No man or woman. But he could still hear them outside the bedroom, so this time when he went into the closet, he looked at his 'phone.' The numbers said 10:23. The number on this side of the dots went up and up faster; the number on that side of the dots went slower. He had to wait until that number said 11 instead of 10.
Next time he crept to the bedroom door, the house was dark and silent. The man and the woman were gone or asleep. Now [warble] could finally look for his brothers.
When he had been very small at the Big House, there were lots of not-mamas to take care of him and the house when Mama and Daddy were gone. Not all at the same time, but every time a not-mama left, a new one would come. (Except when Cathy left the day after his sixth birthday, a new one never came, so he and Big House had to take care of themselves. That was okay; he knew how to get food now, and when there was no not-mama, Mama and Daddy only left during the day instead of for weeks and weeks.)
One of the not-mamas, Gertie, couldn't drive. He remembered riding with her on her bike to the bus stop, and riding the bus into the city, and helping her go to all the places, and coming back again. Sometimes at night, she would go to see her friend Ronnie that he wasn't allowed to tell Mama and Daddy about, and she would take [warble] (except his name was Tim then) to the city, and when they met Ronnie they would ride in taxis. They would eat at places that were louder and more fun than Mama and Daddy's eating places, and sometimes they would even go to a movie. (Boring movies or scary ones, so Tim usually played or read instead of watched. Sometimes he would watch Gertie and Ronnie kiss, but that got boring, too.)
Then they would go to a hotel, and Tim was supposed to stay in the bathroom until Gertie and Ronnie stopped yelling. The first time, he peeked out the door and watched them wrestle instead, and at first it was scary because he thought they were trying to kill each other, and he wondered if they would hurt him if he tried to use the phone by the bed to call 9-1-1. But then they finished and they were so happy, and he realized they liked it. After the first time, he just stayed in the bathroom and read or played, though the yelling was annoying when they got too loud.
Tim was good and never told, but Mama and Daddy found out about Ronnie and the hotels, anyway. They got mad at Gertie and sent her away. The next not-mama didn't take Tim anywhere, but that was okay, because he knew how to do it now. Sometimes when Olivia forgot to make dinner for him, he went to get dinner for himself at his favorite eating place that Ronnie took him to. Then they told him they could bring food to his house, and they showed him how to ask, so he didn't have to take the bus or a taxi to eat anymore, but there were still other things he liked to do in the city. The birds at home were small and shy and flew away when he came close, but the city birds were fat and walked right up to him, some even ate out of his hand. He went to see the First Gotham Cathedral when it was fixed after the fire, because he knew the stained glass windows would be much more beautiful for real than on TV, and he was right. He went to look at the big Christmas tree at Christmas.
[warble] still remembered the numbers for the Big House. He had written them down while he was in the closet - it was hard, a little hard to do them one at a time instead of all together in his head, and a lot hard to make the right shapes on the paper. He had to keep throwing the paper away and trying again, but finally he did it.
He took off his sleeping clothes and put on some outside clothes, and put his phone in his pocket. He got his backpack and put some things in it, like his book light and his favorite book and his phone 'charger' and Bear. Then he went to the kitchen, and he put some bananas and 'granola bars' in his backpack.
He got a knife and a fork out of a drawer. He couldn't put those in his pocket because they hurt, but the fork stayed at his waist when he stuck it through one of the loop things on his pants. He could grab it quick and poke hard if someone tried to hurt him. The knife, he couldn't grab quick, but it was good to have in his backpack. If he had to sleep, he could take the knife out again and hold it close while he slept.
He didn't have any green money, but he found the woman's 'purse' and searched through it until he found her money card, and he put that in his pocket, too.
The man and the woman had told him not to be scared because there was a 'security system' to keep them all safe at night. He knew what that was. This Master had one, and the Big House had one. He still knew the security system numbers for that one even though he hadn't been to the Big House in a long, long time. Maybe Master had burned it up.
But maybe Master hadn't burned it up; when This Master's house got pretty and clean, big people who went away kept coming back. People kept not being dead, so maybe the house that went away was still not dead, too. He hoped Big House was still alive, because it would be a very long way to walk from Big House to Master's house if his ride-on car and his bike had been burned up, too.
This was a different house, and it had different security system numbers. [warble] had watched the man touch them. Now he just had to get high enough to reach. He already knew where the step stool was.
[warble] carried the stool to the front door. He climbed on it and reached, and pressed the right numbers and then the button that was to go out instead of the button that was to come in and make the house stop cawing.
The red light turned green. Now [warble] could push the locks on the door, and the house would be happy and not scream at him.
He went outside, and it was dark and a little scary. He walked past a house, and another house, and another, and now there were rushing cars. He walked some more until he saw a yellow car, a taxi, sitting still. He knocked on the door.
After a while, the door opened, and a man stared at him. "Incredulous, wary."
"Hhou'sse, please," [warble] said, and gave him the Big House paper.
Raffi Davtyan stared at the shakily-written address, then at the creepy kid staring at him with creepy expectant politeness. "...You got money?"
The boy fished a credit card out of his pocket.
Raffi thought of what might happen if this kid turned out to be some sort of 100-year-old meta with reality-bending powers or something who might or might not be a supervillain. No point in angering him if he wasn't causing trouble; better to be safe than sorry. "Get in."
o.o.o.o.o
Bruce, frantically trying to keep track of the efforts to secure an emergency placement for Peter, looking up everyone whose phone number was dialed, got distracted by an alarm. "What-?!"
He leaned over to look, as did Alfred and Duke from where they were doing tech support on different screens. One of the trackers hidden in Jack's shoes was reporting that he was moving away from his foster home. There was no camera in the Reynards' bedroom (Bruce wasn't that invasive), so he didn't know for sure whether they were in there or not. The rest of the house was empty, and both cars were still on the property. Bruce checked their security system, and found that it had been disarmed to permit an exit from the front door and had not been re-armed afterward.
He commed the Bats on patrol, doublechecking to make sure that Red Robin's and Nightwing's lines were open. "The smallest bird is on the loose, possibly alone."
There was some swearing in response.
"Where's he headed?" Red Robin demanded immediately.
Bruce sent a map showing Jack's movements in real time.
"He's in a vehicle," Nightwing observed, the only explanation for the tracker's speed. "Was he kidnapped, or did he run away?"
"I'm reviewing the video footage. No one approached the house; he walked out of it alone."
"Is he headed home?" Robin/Batman wondered. "To the cave, I mean?"
There was a pause as everyone stared at the tracker's route.
"We have to intercept regardless," Bruce said. There was no telling whether the driver was a decent person or one who would harm a child.
Version 1
"I'm suiting up. I'll probably get there first, but I can't make direct contact with him, so I need someone to meet me there as soon as possible."
"On my way," Nightwing promised.
A few minutes later, the Batmobile swept toward the city, and cut off the taxi soon after it exited the highway. The minute the driver saw Batman bearing down on him, he leaped out of his car and backed away with his hands raised. "I didn't do anything! The kid's fine! He asked me!"
Ignoring him, Batman stopped at what he hoped was a safe distance to look into the car, but he was too late - Jack had already thrust open the far passenger door and was fleeing. Batman rushed to herd him into an enclosed area. He didn't try to touch or come near the child, but Jack was now trapped between two buildings with a fence at his back. He squeezed himself into a corner and tightly gripped what looked like a fork in both hands, looking terrified.
There was a standoff for several minutes after the cab driver made his escape. Batman didn't move, standing guard and not looking directly at the boy. Jack remained motionless, still clutching his little weapon like a broadsword.
After what felt like ages, Nightwing arrived. "Jackie!" He slowed when he got close, not wanting to frighten Jack if the boy didn't recognize him, but Jack took one look and threw himself into Nightwing's arms, bursting into tears. "It's okay, Jackie," Nightwing whispered, holding his little bird tight with one arm and gently scrubbing his other hand through the child's hair to soothe him. "You're safe. I've got you. Batman is not going to hurt you. It's all right."
He looked up and found Batman awkwardly hovering nearby, holding the boy's backpack. When Jack, shivering and tearful, looked over his shoulder, Batman slowly offered the stuffed bear.
Jack stared at the toy for a long time. Finally he wiggled out of Nightwing's arms, crept close, snatched Bear out of Batman's hand, and stared at it for a while. Suddenly he snarled and lunged at his backpack; he dug a steak knife out of it and stabbed it viciously into the bear's belly, ripping downward. Batman and Nightwing watched in horror as the child tore the toy apart, fingers clawing through the stuffing spilling out of its stomach and head.
The attack slowed. Jack's fingers probed through gutted toy again, more carefully this time - then he sobbed. He was tender now as he pushed the stuffing back inside as best he could, and cradled the toy gently. "I sowwy, Bbea'...! I sowwy...!"
'He wasn't attacking it,' Nightwing realized numbly. It would never occur to a child to think there had been something dangerous hidden inside their favorite toy unless they had previous experience with such a thing.
"Ddick'ie," Jack wept, "I hhurr't Bbea'! Ppoorr Bea', oww, oww, he ssad...!"
"Jack," Nightwing whispered, kneeling to rest one protective hand on Bear and the other on Jack's shoulder. "It's okay. Grandpa can fix him. Let's take you home, okay? Let's go home."
Jack sniffled and wiped tears from his eyes. Then he looked at Batman, and his face hardened. He carefully pushed Bear to be cradled in Nightwing's arm, then went to the man who had the information he needed.
Version 2
"Someone needs to tail the vehicle in case it doesn't come to the cave as expected."
"I'm on my way," Red Robin said.
"I'll meet you." Batman readied himself and set out, eventually getting a visual on the taxi just outside the city. A scan revealed that Jack and the driver were the only ones in the car, so Batman relaxed a little. He wouldn't have to intervene and potentially frighten the child, since it was unlikely the driver would do any harm while the vehicle was in motion. Batman could tail the car and wait for backup to arrive.
The taxi made its way closer and closer to Crest Hill, but then made an unexpected turn rather than continuing on the road toward Wayne Manor. "They have a different destination," Batman reported sharply.
He felt like an idiot when Red Robin said, "I see it. I think they're headed for Drake Manor."
"Oh no," Nightwing said in dismay. "His parents won't be there."
"He knows that," Red Robin said in annoyance. "He needs to get something from there, maybe his own transportation. Either he didn't know how to give directions straight to Wayne Manor, or he's trying to protect the driver."
The three vigilantes were already waiting at Drake Manor, undetected by any of the occupants (Tim owned the estate and was renting it out), by the time the taxi pulled up. They watched the driver hand a credit card back to Jack, talk to him for a minute, then drive away. Jack trotted purposefully a little past the gate, pushed his backpack through and then easily squeezed himself after it between the bars of the fence, and headed straight for the garage. He tried a side door and found it locked. Undeterred, he hunted down some rocks and raised the first one to throw at a window. He yelped when Red Robin emerged out of the shadows.
"What are you up to, Jack?"
The boy twittered at him.
"You know I don't understand Bird."
"Please give me house number."
"...I don't understand that, either."
Jack sighed and turned to the approaching Nightwing. "Please give me house number."
"Which house, Jackie?"
"Brothers."
"John and Peter? House number- You want to know where John and Peter are?" Red Robin worked out. "You want the addresses?"
"A'ddessa. House number."
"This is 'address,'" Nightwing taught him, then realized, "You're going after them yourself. You crossed half the city all by yourself to look for your bird brothers...oh, Jackie...!"
Jack stiffened. The young men followed his gaze and angrily hissed at the lurking Batman to get back out of sight, but then Jack started moving purposefully toward the Dark Knight.
Continued from either version:
He looked frightened, but he didn't pause. His family watched nervously. None of them were expecting Jack to drop to his knees and cling ingratiatingly to his master's leg.
"No, Jack," Batman snapped, stooping to pry the boy away. He pulled down his cowl. "It's me. It's Bruce. I don't want you to do that."
Jack cooed at him and hugged him and nuzzled him.
"Stop. If you want something, just ask. Don't pretend."
Jack still kept the charming smile and the fetching head tilt as he signed, "Please give me address."
"...We will bring your brothers to you. You can stay somewhere safe while you wait, and we will bring John and Peter home."
"crow"
"Use human wo-"
"crow crow crow" the child insisted, starting to pull off his shirt. Batman grabbed his arms to stop him. "crow"
"Don't do that!"
"...Please," Jack said, pronouncing carefully, "Bbat'mman g'iffve me [chirp- Jjohnny ann'd Ppe'tterr."
"We will take you home, you will be safe while you wait, and we will bring your brothers home to you."
Jack stood there in Batman's grip, breathing heavily for a minute. Then his face twisted with anger and he began to scream and fight. "GGIB ME [CHIRP-CHIRP] [CAW], GIB ME GIB ME GIB ME!"
Batman thrust the child at his older sons. "Take him to the cave."
"[chirp-chirp]! [caw]! [chirp-chirp]! [caw]...!"
To be continued...