The twins were in the Cave training with one of the level I bots that Bruce had setting it to one of the highest settings to see how they would fare. Robin was busy blocking attacks from the right side while Wren flipped away from the bots attacks on the left. Neither was gaining any ground alone and both saw this as they rolled away from the next attack to stand side by side.
Wren glanced over to Robin, "Any ideas?"
"One." he answered as they separated for a moment. "Maneuver 2? You go high, I go low."
"Got'cha."
Wren maneuvered herself behind Robin as they ran toward the bot when they were just two or so feet from it they put their plan into action. Leaping into the air, Wren used her brother to propel herself into up by jumping off his shoulders to get airborne while Robin slid beneath the bot. Wren delivered a solid kick to one of the many points on the bot that signaled a damaging blow to an enemy. Robin rolled out of his slide across the ground jumping up to punch another point sending it to the ground shutting it down.
They waited a minute before Wren turned to her brother, "Did we just win?"
"I think we did." Robin responded grinning. "Now Bruce has to take us out with him."
"One victory against a training bot does not mean that you're ready to go out on patrol." Bruce responded from the Batcomputer.
"Please Bruce." Wren pleaded walking over to the Bat. "It's been two months since him."
"Two months means nothing against the criminals of Gotham."
"Come on Bruce, we know you've been out every night rounding up the worst of them." Dick commented flipping over to them. "And how are we supposed to prove ourselves to be ready if you won't let us go out?"
"Young Master Richard has a point, sir." Alfred said as he appeared with a tray of coffee, water and snacks for his charges. "You have been overworking since Tuesday to put away the most violent of the criminals. If you did not plan on taking the Young Master and Mistress out them you would not have had to do what you have."
Bruce turned to Alfred with a scowl on his face which the older man met with a passive look of his own for the Batglare never worked on him.
"Hey Alfie, can you please not call me Mistress?" Ann asked having removed her mask.
"Why ever not Young Mistress Marianne?" Alfred asked turning his attention to the small girl in blue and white.
The girl shrugged looking down at her blue shoes, "I don't know...just makes me feel girly and not myself..."
"Hmmm if it makes you uncomfortable then I shall change what I say."
"Thanks Alfie. Now Bruce please let us go out with you tonight. We promise to be good."
"And follow your lead." Dick added.
Both kids looked at Bruce pleadingly and the Bat found it hard to resist the puppy eyes that they had mastered long before he took them in. With a soft growl the Batman turned back to his computer in order to avoid the look though he could still feel it burning into both sides of his head.
"Fine but you will follow my lead and stay within my sight." Bruce told them standing up.
"Yes!" the twins shouted jumping into the air high fiving one another.
Pulling the cowl up, the Batman got to his feet turning to stride toward the Batmobile, his signature scowl in place. The twins watched him excitedly though somewhat expected him to say that they couldn't go after thinking up some excuse.
"Are you coming, Robin, Wren?" he asked jumping into the driver's seat.
"Yeah!" they chorused placing their masks back on their faces.
"I call shotgun." Robin yelled racing toward the vehicle with a cackle.
"But I wanted to sit in the front!" Wren said chasing after her brother.
Batman shook his head, looking over to Alfred who had an amused smile on his face while the twins took their seats. The engine roared to life seconds before the vehicle headed out through the secret passage and into the night.
Robin and Wren were both crouched on either side of Batman who stood one one of the many rooftops of Gotham surveying the city. The twins since leaving the Batmobile had been quietly mostly with some laughter every once in awhile while they had moved. Looking down the Batman observed the people walking along the streets easy pickings for thugs and any other petty criminal that would be out.
"Batman look." Wren said quietly pointing down toward their right.
A car had pulled up in front in front of the jewelery store across the street, three men got out with masks and dufflebags while the fourth stayed behind in the car. Judging from the look of the robbers Batman weighed his options of taking them alone or seeing how his birds would fare. Both kids watched their mentor waiting on his signal on whether they would go or be told to stay behind. In which they would have ignored and followed the man anyway because there was no way that they were going to be left behind. And they knew that he was worried but they needed this to keep themselves going and do what the Batman did every night.
"Let's go." Batman told them gruffly. "Stay close."
"Yes sir." they chorused smiling.
Nodding the three grappled to the next building across the street next to the store that the men were breaking into. Batman used the shadows to drop down into the alleyway behind behind the men the twins letting out a cackle that echoed in the silence.
"What was that?" one of the men said looking around.
"Ignore it." a second one told the others. "Da boss wants dese diamonds in an hour tops."
"Right."
One laughed just as a batarang connected with his back sending him in the street through the window which shattered on impact.
Robin and Wren chose that moment to attack taking on the gunmen on together while Batman took on the other. They laughed flipping circles around the man to confuse him which worked surprisingly with the man missing every shot he fired. Neither realized that the fourth man had come to join his partners hefting a baseball bat in his hands heading for the kids.
"Who da hell are you two supposed to be?" he asked swinging at Robin who slipped between his legs.
"Boss will get a crack outta this." the other said firing at Wren who flitted away. "Bats gots kids."
Robin narrowly escaped a blow to the head as he dodged bullets that rained down on his as the two men laughed. The boy ducked behind some crates for cover having lost sight of Batman and Wren in his need to get away. Heart hammering against his ribcage, Robin looked around when he heard a yelp that drew everyone's attention. Wren was knelt on the ground hand gripping her shoulder teeth clenched in pain as one of the men loomed over her.
"Wren!" Robin called out.
Batman tied the two men up that he had been dealing with when he heard Robin call out for Wren and the desperation in the boy's voice. He hadn't been too worried about the kids believing that some simple thieves wouldn't be as tough as the training bot. His began to think that his choice to bring them with him was wrong as he ran back to where he had left them expecting the worst. What he hadn't expected was to find both Robin and Wren though roughed up sitting on top of the two men with massive grins on their faces.
"What happened?" Batman asked striding over to them.
"Nothing much." Robin answered standing up. "Just kicked butt."
"Doing our job." Wren said with a one shoulder shrug.
Batman looked them over before asking, "Are you alright?"
The twins looked at one another, "We're good."
They smiled at the Bat who shook his head impressed but knew that they still needed to work on their training individually as well as together. Sirens sounded in the distance signaling the arrival of the police who were always late to the party nowadays. The twins stayed to either side of Batman as he waited for a moment then headed back up to the rooftops.
"Now where to Boss?" Wren asked quietly.
"First let me see to any injures then we'll see if you are both able to continue for awhile longer." Batman told them kneeling down in front of Wren glancing over to Robin.
"I'm fine." she told him.
"Are you sure?"
"We're good Batman." Robin told him as he twins shared a look.
"Yep." Wren told him.
She popped the p at the end with a grin, Robin shrugged as the Batsignal appeared in the sky above them. Without another word the three looked at one another then took off with Batman in the lead heading to the police station. They landed silently the Commissioner stood beside the light a stern look on his face as he looked over the three vigilantes especially the kids.
"Commissioner." Batman greeted without emotion.
"You've got kids now?" Gordon asked crossing his arms over his chest. "You know that constitutes as child endangerment?"
"Don't worry about us Commish." Robin said with a smile. "Be more worried about the criminals."
Commissioner Gordon shared a look with Batman one of skepticism before he turned his attetion fully to the Bat.
"I hope you know what you're doing." Gordon told him. "But anyway we just got word that there's been several robberies over the last few weeks. One of which you broke up before the thieves got away."
"They kept saying something about a boss." Robin told the older men while Wren stood beside him quietly. "One said, 'Boss will get a crack outta this.' Referring to Wren and I."
"I'll look into this." Batman said silencing Robin with a look. "Robin, Wren let's go."
"See ya Commissh." Robin said with a wave.
Wren nodded the two following Batman as he jumped from the building taking them back to the Batmobile. They had been out for a good four hours, the most exciting thing had been the robbery attempt though they had both been roughed up. Robin laughed as they jumped from building to building flying through the air with his sister at his side. And before they knew it their night out was over and they were headed back to the Batcave and their beds for the morning to come.
"So when do we get to go again?" Robin asked with a yawn.
"After you complete your homework and defeat the next level in your training." Batman answered without looking at the two. "Then we'll see about you two patrolling more."
"Fine." Robin yawned again.
After a few minutes of driving, Batman glanced over to find Robin curled up in the front seat fast asleep with his cape wrapped around him. He grinned at the sight of the boy and it stayed as he looked back to find Wren curled up as well. Parking the Batmobile he silently jumped out turning back to the birds who had slept through the last part of the ride back.
"Sir, you have an urgent call from..." Alfred began then stopped.
"The League can wait." Batman said knowing exactly who wanted him. "Right now I think these two need to get to bed."
"Right you are, Master Bruce." Alfred commented with a smile.
Batman lifted Wren up into his arms the girl shifting as he handed her to Alfred before picking up Robin. His heart melted slightly at the sight of them and wondered if this was how his father had felt when carrying him off to bed. Truthfully though he had never thought of being a father even when he brought Dick and Ann into his home but now even though they had joined him on the streets he wondered if he'd actually make a good father.
So here is their first night out after Zucco.
Hope you enjoyed and please leave a review.
And I have a question for you all: Should I go ahead and introduce Jason later on in this story or wait til the next?