Robin Begins... (BtVS/Batman)

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Batman. They belong to Joss Whedon and DC Comics respectively. This fic follows the Batman Begins continuity.

When Alexander Grayson's parents are killed by Scarecrow's fear gas, Xander decides to exact vengeance. His path irrevocably leads him down the same path as his new guardian, Bruce Wayne. Can Xander and Bruce rid Gotham of the criminal element and the other monsters that stalk the night?

Gotham Family Circus
October 31st 1996

Flipping through the air with the smooth grace of one who had given his life to acrobatics, Xander caught his step-father's arm and continued his path across the big top. The Flying Graysons were a proud group that did not suffer nets below them. They had been doing this sort of thing since Xander was six.

It was kind of ironic that people in his high school still called him Harris after his biological father. Nobody seemed to be able to forget the washed up drunk that had died in a car crash when Xander was five. He seemed forever destined to be branded with Anthony Harris' name, even though he had long since taken the name of his step-father, John Grayson.

Another flip and Xander was caught by his mother, Jessica. His mother was a true success story. Anthony Harris had been dragging her headlong into the bottle when his abrupt death occurred. The shock of Anthony's death and her original meeting with John Grayson, the handsome young acrobat, had shaken her free. She had since gone to AA and found her calling in flying alongside her new husband and her only son under the big top.

A spectacular spinning flip had Xander on his own trapeze while his step-father caught his mother. Xander was doing this act to honour Jesse. It still pained him to have been the one to put a stake to his best friend, but he somehow knew that Jesse would have understood. Xander was not going to let some monster commit unspeakable acts in Jesse's name and with Jesse's face.

It was a Xander was contemplating Jesse that he noted that the tone of the crowd had changed. Going to Arkham High School, an institution that sat on the Mouth of Hell, meant that Xander could tell the difference between screams of awe and screams of fear. He glanced down at the crowd below and was shocked to see the crowd was tearing itself apart. The Narrows wasn't exactly known for being the best part of town, but this was crazy. He exchanged a glance with his mother and step-father and realised that they were just as mystified. Then it hit them.

It hit like a freight train on all three of the Flying Graysons. An overwhelming fear that blotted out everything else. Xander closed his eyes against the barrage of demonic images that struck him so fiercely. In another universe there might have been clowns in those images but Xander had never had that traumatic birthday episode and his years in the circus had further spared him that fear. Still, the new demonic side of the world that he had only just discovered a week or two ago assaulted his mind ferociously, causing him to shiver as he furiously held his grip on the trapeze, somehow doing so despite the terrible fear.

Unfortunately for Alexander Grayson, his spectacular battle against his fear was not reflected by his parents. Both of them, lifetime acrobats though they were, were not used to fighting their fears as Xander had done every night since the death of Jesse, fighting the fear that Jesse might not understand and would blame him in the afterlife for what he had done.

The screams of John and Jessica Grayson, as they plummeted down from the trapezes that they had released in their terror, echoed through the big top, ignored by all except Alexander Grayson who watched them fall, despite his terror, unable to look away. As he saw the bodies hit a wave of despair hit the lad, compelling him to fall too, but he didn't. Battling that fear was a rage the likes of which had never been seen before. Xander did not know or care who or what was responsible for the death of his parents. All he knew was that someone was going to pay for this.

They would pay dearly…

Batcave
November 1st 1996

"Master Bruce?"

Bruce Wayne, millionaire, glanced at his beloved butler Alfred with a mildly curious expression on his face. "The contractors here already, Alfred?"

Alfred frowned slightly. It still pained him that Bruce's Batcave was the only part of the manor to have survived Ra's Al Ghul's attack on the city last night. "I'm afraid not, Sir."

Bruce's curiosity increased. "Then what is it, Alfred?"

The butler maintained his imperturbable façade. "I thought you might like to know the casualty figures from last night's antics."

Bruce flinched spectacularly at that proclamation. "I know you don't approve of what I do, Alfred…"

A soft smile graced the aged butler's face as he cut his charge off. "On the contrary, Master Bruce. I am very proud of what you did last night. If not for what you did it is incredibly likely that the figures would have been far higher then they were"

Bruce acknowledged the butler's attempt to cheer up with a sardonic smile. "What have we got, Alfred?"

"Well, as far as people wounded, the numbers are rather staggering. Three hundred and fifty wounded, many of them severely. However, when you consider the population of Gotham…"

"How many deaths, Alfred?"

"Thirteen, Sir. Which I should point out is solely due to your work getting the antidote distributed with dispatch…"

Bruce ignored Alfred and plowed on. "How many orphaned?"

Alfred winced at that. Orphans hit close to home for Bruce. "Just the one."

Bruce's scowl was fierce. "One is too much."

"Quite so, Master Bruce." Without even asking, Alfred slipped a tape of the incident into the receiver.

Bruce watched the recording of the trapeze act at the Gotham Family Circus with the sense of someone that was watching a car crash. He wanted desperately to look away and yet he could not disgrace the deaths of the Flying Graysons by doing so. John and Jessica Grayson hadn't stood a chance, hanging from trapezes as they were when the fear had overwhelmed them.

But it was not the Graysons that captivated Bruce the most. No, it was their son. So much fear. It was blatantly obvious that the boy was just as terrified as his parents and yet he held on to the trapeze with only one arm. And the look in his eyes as the boy watched his parents plunge to their deaths. There was fear, of course. One could not be affected by Scarecrow's fear gas and fail to feel fear. But there was also anger… no, wrath.

Yes, that was it. The boy was filled with wrath. The absolute fury in the lad's eyes held Bruce there for almost fifteen minutes. He had never seen such rage before, but he had felt it. It gave him a connection to the youth that would not be denied. "What's going to happen to him, Alfred?"

The butler looked up in mild shock. He had known Bruce would identify with the lad, but if he was right… "He'll be placed into foster care, Master Bruce."

Bruce winced at the thought. Foster care had its good places and its bad places and Gotham was firmly in the bad. "When the contractor gets here to begin the rebuild, we're going to meet this kid, Alfred. And if he's willing I'm going to make him my ward."

Alfred had not expected Bruce to have a child whilst relatively young and certainly not while unmarried. "If I may ask, Sir. Why this boy? What is it about him?"

"He's me, Alfred." Bruce's voice was heavy. "He's me when my parents were gunned down. He is going to follow my path whether the world wants him to or not. The only thing I can do is prepare his so that when he walks down that path he will have the skills to survive."

It was then that Alfred too looked into the eyes of the young trapeze artist on the screen and saw what it was that Bruce did... Kin. "Very good, Sir."

Ideas for people who use this idea: Perhaps during a darker period in Xander's development he can take on a more realistic version of the identity of Red X? This continuity begins with Buffy moving to the Gotham City Hellmouth, right beneath Arkham High School in the Narrows.

Anyone who'd like to pick up this plot please drop me a line via the reviews and it'll be all yours.

Jasper