I don't own Batman
Let us thank L. VanDattae
"Pops, this is wrong." Jericho sighed as he sat on the side of the pool. "They're hungry… look at them, they haven't moved since yesterday."
The two mermaids both lay at the bottom of the pool looking almost dead. They hadn't been fed in six days. The smaller one had come back out of the pool seeking food two days ago, and apparently the man, whose name was Grant the Mermaid Trainer, had told them not to feed them. The next day both had come out for food and had not been fed.
It made Jericho sick. "Look at them… they're starving…"
"Maybe tomorrow," Slade said, as he watched the workers around the area as they built what would be the stage for his pets to perform on once they were trained. "For now they'll be fine."
Rolling his eyes, Jericho looked into the water and saw one of them looking up at him. Glancing over at his dad, he pulled out a couple of pieces of raw fish and dropped them into the water. The blue-tailed mermaid swam up quickly, snatching up the pieces, and quickly stuffed one into his mouth, eating it before taking the other two strips of fish to his friend. The red-tailed one ate it quickly.
Smiling, Jericho looked back at his dad. "Hey, Pops, what if I can get them to do a trick? If I can get them to do that, can I feed them?"
"They're not going to do any tricks for you, son," Slade said, as he watched the large pool being filled with water. "Besides, it will take a few months to train them to obey and longer to get them to do tricks."
"But what if I did?"
Grunting, Slade waved his hand back at his son. "Fine. If you can get them to do a trick, I'll let you feed them."
"All right." Jericho looked into the water and saw both of them looking at him. Putting his hand into the water, he waved it around, urging them to come up to the surface with a piece of fish. "Come on…"
They came up slowly, almost unsure. He noticed that the blue one looked unsure and the red one looked like he wanted to kill him. He urged them closer before he let the fish go. They split the food. At least they knew how to share. That meant they must be related.
Patting the water, he waited for them to peek out at him him before whispering, "Come on, one trick and you can eat, okay?"
The smaller one tilted his head.
"Jump!" Jericho said, throwing his hand up.
They vanished under the water, swimming all the way to the bottom.
Slade barked out a laugh. "It seems your little plan has failed."
"I think I scared them," Jericho said, and patted the water again as they popped up. "Hey, you two, come on… down…" He lowered his hand slowly and then shot it up. "And jump!"
They went back under the water, swimming back to the bottom. Slade snorted, crossing his arms.
Jericho could see something in their eyes, so he put his hand under the water and they came swimming up as fast as they could. He threw his hand up, yelling, "Jump!" and the two jumped up out of the water a good seven feet before diving back down.
"Ha!" Jericho said, jumping up, running towards a room where they kept the fish, and scooping a bucket of them into a pale before running back out. "I told you. Come on you two, lunch time!"
Slade was shocked as he watched his son toss the fish into the water. The mermaids ate the fish greedily, their stomachs finally feeling free of pain. His son sat back near the pool, grinning.
"See, Pops? I told you."
"Yes," Slade said, and then his eyes went wide as he saw the blue one rushing up towards his son. "Jericho, get out of the way!"
Jericho jumped a little when the mermaid popped out of the pool, but relaxed when it didn't attack him but rather laid down next to him, smiling up at him, purring. It cooed out much like the Orca whales did, but it wasn't as high pitched and it almost seemed as if it was meant as a thank you.
Smiling, Jericho petted the mermaid's head and looked at his dad. "See, Pops? He liked attention. Maybe you should just let me train them."
"Hmph," Slade said, walking over to them. "You have one that likes you, but the other one won't be as easy, and as far as training goes, you can help. Might as well do something useful."
"Whatever," Jericho said, before patting the mermaid's back. "All right, buddy, back into the water."
The mermaid looked at him.
"Oh," Jericho pointed to the water. "Go."
Dick dove back into the water, swimming over to Jason.
Jason snorted. "Such a good little pet."
"Shut. The. Hell. Up."
Dick missed Bruce.
He missed Tim.
He missed the ocean.
Lying there on the bottom of the tank was horrible. It was restricting. Only wide enough for him to lay down if he was laying straight and only about eight feet high. Filled with water of course, and one foot of air should he need it.
Jason was next door in the other tank. His must have felt more cramped though, since Jason was bigger. They could still talk through the glass since it wasn't sound proofed, but that was about it. They couldn't sleep next to each other, and that was terrible.
Merfamilies always slept with each other, and here the humans had separated them. They didn't let them be near each other at night. Didn't they know that merfolk families used their time asleep as a way of healing each other, bringing each other comfort? It was a bonding time. Dick remembered when he had first started to live with Bruce after he had "died," and he hadn't noticed it right away because then he never wanted to leave Bruce's side, curling up on the giant merman's back to sleep.
After a year and after gaining Jason as a brother, he'd noticed it. They fought to sleep on Bruce's back, which lead to them sleeping in either of his arms at night, and once, when they had decided that they were too old for that (since human children didn't sleep with their parents at that age), they both settled on rocks in the cave away from Bruce.
A day later Dick swam back over and curled up near the merman. Bruce had chuckled but hadn't said anything else. Jason was stubborn, so it took another day for him to wander back over to them. When apart, it felt like icy prickles all over. Bruce explained that in their kind the children didn't leave their parents until they were fully grown. When asked how long that would take, Bruce had commented that it depended on the person.
Dick asked Bruce when he'd left his parents and felt guilty when Bruce told them that they had been killed by a fisher when he was eight. After that, they didn't talk about it anymore. Jason hadn't been fully convinced until one Sun Day another mermaid had shown up with all her daughters and they'd all curled around her at night. When she'd asked Bruce how many children he had, he'd said two, and she'd given him a sad look and told him she hoped he had more soon.
Then Tim came along. However, Tim was different. He was born their kind, and right after Bruce had taken him in, that night Tim was curled up on Bruce's back. However, he shook for nearly two weeks, his eyes wide and darting around in fear that his biological father would return to take him away and kill him off.
Jack did come back, and Bruce beat him half to hell when the man started to verbally abuse Tim from what he thought was a safe distance. It took about a year but Tim's shaking finally stopped, and he stayed close to Bruce no matter what.
The four of them had been together since then, and since merfolk grew slowly, he wasn't sure if it had been seven years or maybe longer. How long? How long had it been since he was turned into a mermaid?
As Dick thought, the water started to drain in his and Jason's tank. "Jason! What's happening?!"
"The hell would I know!" Jason yelled, as the water got lower and lower until it was gone. "Damn it…"
"Do you think… do you think they're going to kill us?" Dick looked around in fear that it would be the end.
Slade appeared with two collars in his hands. One blue and one red and both had something written on them. He smirked at them before waving at some humans, who came forward with dart guns. Dick looked at Jason with a pleading look.
"Please, Jay, just go with it… please."
"I ain't a dog!"
"Don't you want to go home, Jay?" Dick whimpered. "Home to Bruce and Tim?"
Jason had to bite his tongue. He did want to go home. He wanted out of this hell hole! So when Slade got close, instead of attacking, he lifted up his chin, closing his eyes tight, trying to think of anything else as something clasped around his neck.
Doing the same, Dick picked up his head as the thing was placed on him, a clicking heard in the back, and the man chuckled.
"Seems our little friends like humans after all," Slade said, tilting their heads up with his hands. "You two will bring me great fortune."
"We'll go home, right?" Jason asked, as he kept his face as clueless as possible.
"Yes…" Dick sighed sadly, leaning into the unwanted touch, letting out a fake happy cooing. "Home…"
Jericho frowned as he watched the two mermaids swim around with the collars on their necks. He patted the water and they both came up to look at him. They were probably hungry again, so he tossed in some fish. Instead of going to the bottom to eat, they ate and watched him almost as if they were talking about him, and it was then that he saw the names on the collars.
"Nightwing and Red Hood, huh?" Jericho grinned a bit. "Somehow that fits."
To Kim: Thank you I hope this is soon enough.
To Guest: I'm glad it was good
To Guest: We'll see Bruce and Tim soon
To Nyx811: Interesting and hopefully intriguing lol
To Noon: Yes! We all need Robin Mermaids! XD
To REBD: He is isn't he?! I didn't even know Slade had a son until a friend told me about him!