Lance stirred awake, embraced in the feeling of safety and warmth. Which was odd since he hasn't felt that in over a year. He blinks the sleep in his eyes away as he realized what was wrong. He wasn't embraced in safety at all. Rose "Ravager" Wilson had her arms around him, pulled up close to her. Their legs were entangled. There was no escape. For a few moments, he was worried that they'd done the horizontal tango, as it were... But then he remembered last night.
Oh, oh thank whichever god up there that he didn't fuck the Ravager. He didn't think his sanity could handle that. But now as he remembers her, selfishly pulling him in here to help him out, he can't help but feel upset at himself for all the shitty things he's said to her.
She deserved it though, to be fair. Like, massively deserved it.
Still, he does feel a bit bad. He decides to try to be sure to treat her nice for this. In fact, he's going to make her the best damn breakfest ever. He tries to worm his way out of the bed, but Rose's arms and legs pull him back in. He can't even turn over to face her. Oh well. A little bit more sleep won't be the worst thing in the world.
And like that, time passes. The next week goes by in a flash as Rose teaches more and more shooting tactics, and he's able to give her basic cooking lessons. On the rougher nights (read: every night) she drags him into her room and they put on nail polish and just... Sit in silence for a while. It's nice really, to just be able to have company and not expect a conversation. He's never had that. And when it's finally time to go to bed, she throws him under her covers and wraps him up in something that could almost be close to Dick's octopus hugs.
Lance can't believe he can say this... But Rose Wilson is one of the best friends he's ever had.
(...)
Joey comes back to the house first, funnily enough. He arrives early in the morning. Thankfully, Lance and Rose are both awake, eating pancakes that the Ravager herself made. Joey walks into the kitchen, smiling as wide as the youngster normally does.
"Hi guys!" He says excitedly, and slams his bag of tech and other supplies on the table. Rose scowls.
"Joey, get your shit off of the table. No work in the kitchen." She utters, and Lance raises an eyebrow.
There was no work at the kitchen back in the Manor.
Joey quickly grabs his bag and sits it next to him. He takes a seat near Lance. He then leans in close.
"How did you survive the last week and a half?" He whispers loudly. Rose glares at him as Lance snorts.
"Honestly? Rosie ain't that bad. She's teaching me how to shoot." Lance says, and then raises his hands. Joey blinks.
"She's also taught me how to paint my nails." Joey looks to Rose, and then back at Lance. He repeats the process several times.
Eventually, Joey looks at Rose and practically pouts.
"How come you haven't painted my nails?" He asks. Rose scoffs.
"If you promise to stop being an annoying little shit, I'll teach you tonight." Joey's eyes sparkle.
"Dope." He says, a smile on his face. He then turns back to Lance.
"She's been teaching ya some stuff huh?" He asks, and Lance nods.
"She's a pretty damn good teacher." He reiterates from a few nights ago. Rose looks towards him oddly again, and Joey just chuckles.
"Well if she's teaching ya guns and makeup, what say you learn a little from me?" He asks, and Lance's eyes widened.
"You'll teach me how to hack?" He asks in awe. Everyone knows Joey is the best damn hacker/coder in the world. He's not called the Machine Whisperer for nothing after all. (Which would be a much better name than The Revenger) Joey just laughs.
"Well, I was thinking I'd teach you how to tag shit, but I can do both!" For a half second, Lance doesn't know what tagging is, but then it hits him.
"Graffit?" He says confused. Joey nods as Rose rolls her eyes.
"At least knowing your way around a computer is helpful. Know how to spray paint is pointless." She says. Joey ignores her though.
"It'll be fun Lance! Come on, I'll teach you some stuff right now!" Lance quickly looks to Rose, who sighs in defeat.
"I'll train you Mondays and Tuesdays. Joey can have you Wednesdays and Thursdays." She says, and Joey snaps his fingers.
"We can get Grant to teach you swords on Fridays and Saturdays!" Lance ponders that. Using swords would be cool. Give him a nice, versatile move set to pair with guns. He does frown however.
"Pretty sure he'd need to agree to that before we confirm anything." Rose and Joey look at each other, a conspiratory grin immediately sporting both of their faces.
"He'll agree. Anything for his precious baby siblings." Rose says in a sweet tone. Joey snickers.
"Yeah, the best brother in the whole wide world will do anything for us!" Joey says in the same tone.
Dick was easy to manipulate too.
Lance laughs softly at their antics. He nods slowly.
"Alright sure. Why not?" Joey excitedly fist pumps.
"Dope shit! Finish eating and come into my room!" Joey runs off, grabbing a pancake, with syrup already on it, with his bare hands, and runs off. Lance suddenly gets the urge to wash his hands. Rose visibly shivers.
"I hate my brothers." She says, and Lance smiles at her.
"Naw. You love 'em. Just like you love me." He dodges the knife thrown at him easily.
(...)
Joey's room is a mess compared to Rose's organized, neatly cleaned up space. Lance whistles as he walks past old and new junk alike.
"You got a lot of shit." He says, and Joey snorts loudly.
"All of that shit is gonna be put to use one way or another." He says proudly. And then pats his bed. Lance reluctantly sits down on the mattress. Joey opens up his laptop and shows him basic, simple steps to get started if you want to hack anything.
The lesson is informative, especially once he gets to talking about how to get into secure places like the Pentagon or the CIA. Lance listens. He learns. It's pretty fun all things considered. Afterwards, Joey drags him outside to practice spray painting.
Joey again explains the intricacies of the supposed 'art form'. Lance doesn't get it, not at first. It's only once he sees a human sized spray painting made in real time do his eyes light up (figuratively). The painting was absolutely beautiful. It was a sunset, overlooking a lake. The way Joey brought it to life was unreal. And Lance couldn't get enough. His own first drawing was a replica of the beautiful scene.
It sucked. It sucked ass.
But Lance was more than happy to try again. And again. And again. He tried until night started to come in, before Joey tugged him by the shoulder and pulled him inside the house.
"Hey man, it's all good. You'll get there eventually!" The younger teen says happily. Lance just snorts.
"Yeah but I don't think I'll ever be able to make a sunset like that." He says, and Joey laughs, throwing an arm around him.
"You say that now, but I bet you'll be better than me one day." Joey then grins.
"Guess we go paint our nails and talk about boys?" He loudly whispers, and Lance just shakes his head.
"Let's hope Rose doesn't decide to murder either of us up there." She didn't, actually. It was a nice night, and a night that ended with all three asleep in her bed.
The next morning, Lance saw Rose and Joey holding each other tight. It was adorable. So adorable in fact, he snapped a picture.
On an unrelated note, Grant and Slade both have new wallpapers on their phones.
(...)
Lance was sleeping peacefully, by himself for once. At least the sleep was peaceful until someone poured water all over him. He woke up pissed off and swinging. Whoever did this to him was a dead - oh it's Grant. He blinks the sleep away that was left in his eyes, before yawning.
"What... What the fuck man?" He asks, Grant just laughs.
"Me and dad got back an hour ago. I talked to Rosie and Joey." He says, and then throws a wooden sword to Lance, who catches it with ease.
"Come on, outside." He says, and starts to walk away. Lance blinks, checking the time.
"Hey! Motherfucker, it's barely past midnight!" He yells, Grant opens the bedroom door, and then turns around.
"Yeah, which means it's Friday. Get your ass up man." He says, and then smiles as he walks away. Lance shakes his head.
This family was fucking crazy.
(...)
Time is a fickle thing. One moment, you think it's going by slowly. The next, it takes years off of you in the blink of an eye.
As Lance grabs Grant's hand, and throws him at Rose, and then immediately brings his sword up to block Slade, Lance realizes that the latter has happened to him...
Three Years Later...
Lance chuckles softly to himself, before Slade immediately disarms him and kicks him to the ground. The older mercenary shakes his head.
"Kid, keep your head in the game. Last thing you need to do is get yourself killed by being careless." He says, as he lifts Lance up with one hand. Lance rubbed the back of his head as Grant and Rose, who were now recovered from his previous attack, walked closer.
"Lot on my mind. We ready for another round?" He asks, and Slade shakes his head as Rose scoffs.
"It's been nearly three hours since we've started. I'm taking a fucking shower." She says, and stalks off without another word. Grant just laughs.
"Well, you're definitely getting better. Maybe in another year you can take us all out." Lance snorts, softly punching Grant in the chest.
"Maybe in a year I can take down you and Rose together. Doubt I can beat Slade by himself, let alone with help." The Terminator chuckles.
"I'll take the praise, but don't sell yourself short Lance." Slade says, and Grant nods.
"You're definitely becoming a great fighter. Hell by the time we're done, you can kick Batman's ass." A quick shot of rage and pain go through Lance, but it fades almost immediately.
Fuck Bruce.
Lance smiles.
"Heh, I can't wait." He says, as the group return to their home. Lance himself walks up to his room, the former one he had stayed at when he first arrived now long since changed. The medical room was reserved for serious injuries after all.
His room was across from Rose and directly next to Grant. Lance opens up the door and lazily (albeit carefully) chucks his sword into the closet. He flops on his bed and sighs. Lance takes a few minutes to rest before undoing his shoes and getting ready for his own shower. Before that though, he grabs his phone from the charger and checks it for any news. His eyes go wide when the first notification goes on screen.
Robin has confirmed to have been murdered by the Joker.
Lance can't breath. Jason... He immediately clicks on the link. At first, he can barely read it, having to go back and scan sentences multiple times. But he gets the gist. A warehouse in Ethiopia blew up and Robin was inside it. At first, he thinks it's another ploy by the Joker. But then he sees something. Something that makes his vision darken.
Batman, holding Robin's lifeless body.
(...)
He's on the floor. No, that's not right. He's on the ground, outside. Heavy legs are pushing into him.
"Fucking hell kid, what's your problem!?" Slade is yelling, though his voice is wrong. He's breathing heavily. Lance takes a look around. Or at least as good as he can with his face pushed into the dirt. Grant is nearby, cradling his arm. It looks broken. Holy... Holy shit.
"What... What happened?" He asks. The pressure on him lessons, but only slightly.
"You went into a rage. And I mean a rage." Slade says, and then his voice gets softer.
"You didn't say a word. Just started walking for the door. Grant tried to stop you and you snapped his arm." Lance wants to cry, but he composes himself.
"I'm sorry... Did I hurt anyone else?" He asks. Slade huffs.
"Only my pride." The assassin lets up completely, but Lance doesn't move. He only turns over to get a look at Slade. Lance gulps down air.
"My phone. I was checking the news and I saw that... That..." He can't say it. He can't. Suddenly, Slade pulls out his own phone from his pocket. It takes two minutes before he can hear a choked... Something coming from Slade.
"Fucking hell... Kid I'm sorry." Lance just lays there, holding his emotions back.
He won't cry.
(...)
Lance comes out of the shower shortly afterwards. His mind is... It's a tricky place to navigate. The former Robin sighs. He's been doing well controlling his anger lately. In fact, he hasn't blacked out in over a year. Something Slade told him was remarkable. The older assassin spent almost the entirety of the first five years of his post Mirakuru existence blacked out. So for him to have a decent level of control after just a couple of years?
Lance would admit that it was probably his willpower training with Bruce if he wasn't so angry at the man.
The young man stopped in front of his door, laying his head against the wooden entrance. He took a few deep breaths. He had to calm himself down. But... His little brother is dead. He's dead and no one is going to do a damn thing about it. Lance raises his head and walks into his room... Only to find the Wilson kids lounging about. Joey is on the floor playing with an old PSP, Grant is staring at his phone, his left arm in a cast, and Rose is on his bed, her eyes glued to one of his books.
Lance slowly shuts the door behind him, Joey noticing him first.
"Hey Bru!" He says, and for a moment, all Lance can see is Jason. He shakes his head and turns towards Grant, his eyes staying locked onto the cast.
"Fuck Grant... I'm sorry man." He says, and Grant just waves him off.
"I should have noticed you were pissed off. That's my bad." The older man says, and Rose scoffs.
"If you let Lance grab your arm, it's definitely your fault dumbass." Grant sticks a tongue out at her, and she rolls her eyes. Joey sits up excitedly.
"It's a sleep over night!" The young man says, and Lance raises an eyebrow.
"It's not even three yet." Joey shrugs, and Grant just laughs.
"Yeah well, we're not leaving you to stow in solitude and rage." Joey and Rose both immediately turn to look at him, and Grant points to his phone.
"Word of the day is solitude?" Joey laughs.
"Bullshit it is!" Rose snorts.
"I have to agree. Word of the day?" She says in disbelief. Grant smiles nervously, and Lance finds himself smiling despite himself. He shakes his head as he takes a seat on his bed next to Rose, getting uncomfortably close to her and putting an arm around the volatile girl.
"So what you looking at?" He says, as she tries to shrug him off of her.
"None of your fucking business, Asshole." She spits out, and Lance puts a hand on his heart.
"And here I thought you'd stopped calling me that." He says, fake sadness radiating from his voice. The other two boys laugh, as Rose reaches for a knife in her pocket.
Fuck, he loves these three.
He can almost pretend he's part of a family with them.
(...)
The afternoon turns to night, the sun finally dropping down to allow the moon it's own time to shine. Once moonlight hits the windows, Joey grins.
"So Lance, what do you think about killing the Joker?" Lance seemingly shuts down for a moment, as Grant and Rose both stare angrily at their younger brother.
"Fucking idiot, we were supposed to bring this up later!" Rose whisper-yells at the boy, and Grant shakes his head. Lance finally turns back on.
"... What?" He asks. Joey just sheepishly smiles.
"Soon as Grant had the cast on we decided we're taking the clown out. Jason was awesome and not to mention what happened with..." Joey trails off, but Lance gets the picture. He fidgits a bit, before biting his lip.
"That clown deserves to die. But..." Rose puts a hand on his shoulder, though she disguises the motion of comfort as an act to help pull herself up off of the bed.
"But? This isn't up for a debate Lance. We're doing this. With or without you." Lance swears Grant shoots her a look, but he's to busy holding back rage to notice. He sighs after a few minutes.
"What do you have in mind?" At that, Joey shoots up off of the floor.
"Well, I have a little project going on in the basement that I think you're gonna love mate." He says, and Lance frowns.
They have a basement?
Rose groans.
"Did dad never tell you about the fucking basement? In three years?" She scoffs, and Grant laughs.
"Guess he's more like Bruce than he likes to think he is." Lance ignores the rage and hurt that come from that comment, and stands up off of the bed. Joey rushes to the door, though quietly. Lance briefly wonders if Slade knows about this, but files that thought away for later as he, Grant and Rose follow Joey down to the first floor. Joey rounds the corner and pushes his face up against the wall. Lance is about to ask what the hell he's doing, when a quiet beep is heard. A part of the wall then lifts up to reveal a staircase. Lance softly whistles.
It's a much better hiding spot than the Batcave has.
He goes down the steps, trailing after Joey who opens the large door at the bottom. At first, darkness is all he sees past the entrance, but then lights turn on, and Lance's eyes widened.
It's a large, square room about probably five hundred feet wide. There's numerous tables and weapons and equipment everywhere. There's even extra suits for the entire family and molded suits that look like they aren't entirely finished yet. There is one suit in particular that Joey is walking to.
It's not finished. Hell, it's barely even started yet. But one thing that Lance notices is just what type of metal it's made of. As well as the large pile of it nearby. Lance's mouth drops.
"Is that... Is that fucking Promethium?" He asks, in awe of the sheer amount that's down here. Joey grins as Grant and Rose come up from behind him.
"Joey started working on this about a month ago. He's finished the blueprints and planning, now he's working on getting it made." Grant says, and Rose taps Lance's shoulder. He turns to her, and she holds him a sheathed sword. Lance smiles in amazement.
"This is Promethium too!?" He asks, as he takes the blade from Rose. He carefully pulls the blade out to confirm and yes, both the sword and the sheath is Promethium. Joey just laughs.
"This shit is hard as hell to work with, but I think if I work hard enough, I can get this suit done in two, maybe three months." Lance doesn't have to ask whose it is. He knows. And for a moment, he wonders if he wants to get back out there. Go back to the vigilante game. Joey doesn't notice the battle being fought in his mind, and instead pulls up a chair and sits down, turning on the PC nearby. The screen flashes on, and after a few minutes, Lance finds himself staring at the blueprints for the Promethium suit.
"So I figure I can heavily armor the back, chest, legs, arms and head with Promethium, and use a mix of Depleted Promethium and Liquid Kevlar for the joints to allow you to slip in and out of the suit." Lance doesn't think he could be more impressed with this design. It's a full body armor that he slips into, rather than taking off and putting on individual parts. And it's made of stuff that even Kryptonians have trouble breaking.
It will keep him safe. Secure. In a way he never was as Robin. Lance turns to Joey, tears threatening to fall from his face.
"How did you even... No, I don't want to know." This much Promethium in one place? Definitely has to violate some sort of law or sanctions. He won't ask. Instead...
"Why?" He asks, and Joey just looks up at him.
"You're family man. We keep each other safe." Grant throws his good arm around him, and Rose ruffles his hair.
"Stuck with us for life sadly cus." Grant says, and Rose scoffs, though she turns her head away.
"He's a better brother than you two at least." Lance can't stop himself anymore. He cries. Joey stands up and a group hug occurs. This... The past few years have sucked. But with these guys? With his family? He can do it. He can.
"So..." Joey says, as he breaks the hug first. He then smiles up at Lance.
"What are you gonna call yourself?" Lance takes a look at the blueprint. He takes a hard look. He remembers how his time as Robin ended, trapped in a small room in a fucking insane asylum.
...
Lance smirks.
"I know exactly what I can be."
(...)
A few months later, right around the time Lance's suit is finished, he gets a news notification on his phone. When he wakes up, he'll read it. And he'll don the suit, and head straight for Gotham.
Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon: Murdered by the Joker!