So, it's been awhile, and I've been suffering some writers block which has caused me to neglect my story. However, I just got my wisdom teeth remove (ouch! :( ), so I've had a lot of time to work through the kinks and details and get this out here. Hope you like it- please leave (constructive) reviews (Smiles devilishly at Austin Jones).
"Goodnight, Scarlet." Bruce gave her a quick peck on the cheek before he tucked the covers under her chin.
"Goodnight, Dad. Stay safe, 'kay?" she looked up at him anxiously.
Bruce nodded, meeting her eyes seriously. He'd convinced her and Dick that they weren't needed because Gotham's most dangerous were in jail- but actually, he'd received word that Two Face had broken out, and he didn't want his children anywhere NEAR the man. Not to mention he was still rattled about what the Joker ha told him regarding his daughter.
"I'll be careful, Scarlet, I promise." he reached over to brush a stray lock of hair from her faced. "Now get some rest, alright?"
She nodded, and he flicked off the lights, swinging the doors almost all the way shut, so a little light from the hallway could seep into the room.
"Goodnight, Dick."
" 'Night, Dad."
Bruce flicked the light off in his son's room, and Dick quietly set aside the book he'd been reading. At twelve, he didn't let Bruce tuck him in anymore, though Bruce knew he still liked his father saying goodnight to him.
He closed the door behind him- Dick didn't mind sleeping in total darkness, unlike Scarlet.
Five minutes later he was peeling out of the batcave, dissolving into the night.
Dick slid his window open, nodding to Scarlet. They were both clad in civilian clothes- Scarlet in jeans and a t-shirt, and Dick in sweatpants and a hoodie.
She wordlessly handed her older brother the bottle of baby powder, and Dick squeezed it out in the gap from the window. They both sighed in relief when the powder didn't reveal any infrared beams- there were no motion sensors here, only a simple alarm system that'd been all too easy to disarm.
Dick wordlessly squeezed out the window, hanging by his fingertips, dangling for a brief moment, before he dropped, landing in the flower bed in a crouch. They were only on the second story, and he nodded to Scarlet, who copied his maneuver, before they ducked behind them, before the reached the corner of the manor and stood, backs against the wall, hiding from the security camera on the other side.
Scarlet slid a small object into Dick's hand, and Dick calmly aimed it around the corner, using a small compact mirror to make sure he hit his target as the laser pointer came into direct contact with the security camera dome. It'd be disabled for at least five minutes, which was all they needed.
A moment later they were scaling the brick wall, choosing to forego the wrought iron front gate altogether due to excessive security around it. It was far easier for the two acrobats to climb the wall, Dick boosting Scarlet, who then let down a rope and stood on it, allowing him to fairly walk up the stone surface. A moment later they were dismounting the wall, rolling on the grass opposite the wall, outside the grounds of Wayne Manor. They headed towards a drainage ditch to the right, trottign alongside the road and being careful to keep out of sight, before they were swallowed up by the darkness.
"What took you so long?" Wally asked, bouncing on the balls of his feet excitedly as he met them at the Greyhound station.
"Our Dad is Batman- it took us a little while to sneak out." Dick explained, handing Wally his ticket.
"Right. Forgot about that." Wally said, rubbing the back of his neck and looking sheepish."You two didn't get caught, did you?"
"No. We're Batman's kids- we don't get caught." he smirked at the last part, and Wally smiled and nodded, before they headed to their gate before boarding their nearly deserted bus and departed.
It was nearly midnight, and he had finals next week. Roy looked over at the bottle of Red Bull beside him as he turned the page in his textbook. Oliver had taken him off patrol this week so he could study it, and while he'd much rather be on patrol, he secretly appreciated the opportunity to study, since he wasn't naturally studious like Dick.
He sighed, looking back at his notes and rubbing his sandy eyes.
There was a thud at his window, and he blinked, looking over surprised. The only person he could think of cming over at this hour was his friend Roger, from school, and Roger had been grounded last week...
He just about fell over when he saw Scarlet, Dick and Wally standing in the flower bed beneath his window.
Scarlet waved, looking up at him excitedly, and Dick smirked, arms crossed, while Wally simply fidgeted, though he was grinning, as well.
He was frozen in shock for a moment, before he was dashing down the stairs, throwing open the front door.
"GET IN HERE, NOW!" he bellowed, surprise quickly morphing to anger. How the hell had they gotten here, it was the middle of the night, did they have any idea how DANGEROUS it was to travel through Star at night?
He watched Wally recoil at his sharp tone slightly, Dick stepped back, and Scarlet chose to hide behind her older brother.
"Inside- now" he hissed out between grit teeth, and they all ducked inside the house, Roy closing the door behind them, pointing at the kitchen table.
"Sit."
Wordlessly, they sat down, looking significantly more nervous than they had a moment ago.
Roy took a breath before sitting down across from them, trying to keep his temper in check.
"Does anyone know you came here?"
Dick shook his head, and Roy sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Did any one you bring a cell phone?"
They all avoided his eyes. "They could've tracked us if we brought them." Scarlet piped up, though she fidgeted slightly and didn't meet his eyes.
Roy avoided the urge to sigh again, before he turned to Wally. "How did you get here?"
"We took a greyhound bus..."
"To the depot in Star? That's like five miles from here... You walked here? In the middle of the night? Alone?" he looked at them, shocked they were still alive with the amount of creeps in Star.
"Do you have any idea how dangerous that was!? You could've been kidnapped, you waited for a bus, alone, in GOTHAM! What would've happened if someone tried to mug you, or if someone grabbed Scarlet!? You didn't have your phone, if you couldn't have caught the guy, she'd have been DEAD! And in Star City, really!? You walked FIVE MILES alone in the middle of the night- three miles of it on a deserted road to get to the manor, where Oliver and I find more bodies dumped than you've ever seen..."
He'd jumped up in his agitated state to pace the room as he rattled it all off, and he looked up when he heard sniffling, and he was unpleasantly surprised to see Scarlet was crying quietly, while Wally did his best to stare at his feet and ignore the tears dribbling down his face and Dick scrubbed at his eyes, trying not to cry openly.
He stopped for a minute, anger at them dissolving for a minute when he saw they clearly hadn't meant to be this reckless.
"Um...guys?"
"You... you didn't have to be so... mad... at us." Dick choked out.
"Yes I did, Dick! You three could've DIED!"
"Well you didn't even a..." Wally jumped to his feet, knocking his chair aside in his haste, green watery eyes blazing...
"And what exactly could justify you three RISKING YOUR LIVES!"
"We wanted to come see you because we MISSED YOU!" Scarlet burst out, before he shrunk back into the chair and rested her head on the table.
For a brief moment, the entire mansion was dead silent, save for the ticking of the antique grandfather clock in the next room as Roy absorbed what they'd said.
After a long pause he spoke. "You three...came all the way here... in the middle of the night...because you missed me?"
All three kids nodded tearfully, and he grabbed a chair and sat down for a moment, blown away. They'd come all the way here because they missed him?
And he'd just screamed at them for it. He sighed, his head banging against the dining room table as he sighed. He was touched and terrified that these kids ever naive enough to try and visit him.
"Guys... I don't know what to say. But you could've just called..." but now that he thought of it, they probably had been. He'd been doing double shifts with Ollie in the hero gig, as well as struggling to cram for finals- and he hadn't seen them in 3 weeks.
Suddenly he realized why they'd decided to come visit him- and that, regardless of how poorly-planned they'd been, this was partially his fault.
He sighed. "Alright, I'm not mad, exactly..." he looked up to see Scarlet sniffing, wiping her nose on her sleeve, and sighed. "Everyone follow me." was all he said, before he trooped upstairs, Scarlet grabbing his hand and trailing behind him with Dick and Wally on her heels.
He pulled them into his bedroom, pulling out a hoodie from his closet and tugging it over Scarlet's head, tossing a jacket to Dick and a sweater to Wally. "Put those on, will you?" he asked, careful to keep his tone mellow so as not to upset them again. "It's cold out."
He ducked into Oliver's room, snatching a pair of keys off the dresser- he didn't think twice about driving, since while he was only 15, he'd long since learned how to drive thanks to his 'extra-curricular activities'.
He herded Dick and Scarlet int the backseat, and Wally looked at him hesitantly from where he sat shotgun, arms crossed.
They sat in the disquieting silence for a moment as he pulled out of the garage, before he spoke.
"I'm not taking you guys home- yet."
The silence hung in the air clearly, like their unasked question as all three exchanged glances.
Five minutes later they pulled into a driveway, the neon sign lighting up the plaza.
"Pizza Planet!?" They burst out in union, lighting up.
Roy nodded. "Head on in." he pocketed the car keys and strode in after them, finding them pelting one another with balls from the ball pit. Wally and Dick were getting a little old for this, honestly, but the place was nearly deserted, and something about Scarlet brought out their playful side.
He ordered three pizzas and sat, smiling, as they dove an hid behind the ski-ball machines for strategic cover and ducked around inside the indoor playground. He realized with a pang that he really had been neglecting them. He hadn't seen them in weeks, he'd allowed being a teenager in school and being a hero with Ollie to take away one of the most important aspects of his life- his siblings.
All of a sudden, a ball pelted him in the back of the head, and he grinned when he turned to see Scarlet smiling at him. The nine year old had a look of pure excitement on her face as she squealed and started to run, and he didn't hesitate to sprint after her. After all, there was no time for fixing things like the present.
Later, as they sat in front of him, strings of cheesy hanging from their sauce-covered, grinning faces, he figured he was forgiven.
"So- you guys wanna order some more pizza?"
They all nodded, grinning, and he nodded to the waitress who brought another pizza over. He could see the admiration in their eyes, and he made two resolutions to himself then and there- that he would make sure their trust in him wasn't misplaced, and that he'd make sure to see them at least once every two weeks.
"What time does Bruce check on you?" Roy hissed. They'd ditched the car outside of Wayne Manor gates before scaling the walls, and Scarlet was asleep, slung over Roy's shoulder, as they headed towards the manor frantically.
"Four AM, every night. He usually peeks in on me first, then Scarlet..."
"Right." Roy panted, staring at the glowing lights of Wayne Manor in the distance, his gears turning as he tried to figure out how to get both kids upstairs within five minutes, undetected, and avoid the wrath of Daddybats.
"Back door." Was all Roy said, and Dick nodded- they scrambled upstairs, Dick doing his best to shoulder some of Scarlet's weight as they heard the grandfather clock downstairs slide closed. Bruce was home.
"Go-GO! I got her!" Roy hissed, swatting Dick away- the boy ducked into his room and dove under the covers, and Roy darted into Scarlet's room further down the hallway as he heard Bruce heading up the stairs.
He fairly threw the covers off her bed, wrestling the sleeping girl into a somewhat natural position. He heard the door of Dick's bedroom close and tossed the blankets over her, turning frantic when he realized there was no time to go for the window- he dove beneath the bed just as the door to her room swung open.
He heard the footfalls as Bruce entered the room, came face-to-face with a pair of steel-toed combat boots. He didn't dare even breathe, for fear of what would happen if he was discovered. The boots were still fo a long time, before Scarlet stirred on the bed above him...
"Daddy?"
"Go back to sleep, Scarlet."
"You're bleeding, Daddy." even half-asleep, the concern in her voice was tangible, and she feebly reached out to trace the wound on her father's cheek.
"It's just a scratch, Scarlet. I was careful- remember?"
She nodded solemnly as her eyes fluttered closed, and Bruce wordlessly stroked her hair until she was her features softened and her breathing slowed, and she was asleep.
Bruce leaned forward carefully, delicately sweeping a strand of raven hair away from her face before kissing her forehead.
The back of his knuckles ghosted over her cheek gently- "Sweet dreams, Scarlet."
Bruce turned and flowed silently out of the room, and Roy counted out a few dozen heartbeats before he scrambled out from beneath the bed, adrenalin wearing off into shock that he hadn't been discovered, as well as relief.
"Goodnight, Scarlet." he whispered, pecking the girl he thought of as a younger sister on the cheek. "I'll see you again soon- I promise." and with that he was climbing out of the window, disappearing into the darkness.
MAILBAG
Sparks, Chapter 88
Really like it. But you should incorporate the team
Actually, my friend, that's a whole 'nother story! :)
You see, Two Little Birds is a prequel to my adaptation of Young Justice, Season 1, "The Second Bird", with Scarlet thrown in. This story functions as a prequel to "The Second Bird", and since I'm bat-crap insane, The Second Bird has already been completed and is on my profile! Please feel free to check it out, and I'm glad you're enjoying the story! :)
Lady Sydna, Chapter 88
Never say never! I have a feeling that she's gonna get hurt either way...no matter how much they try prevent it. It's bound to happen in their career path lol
Looking forward to the next chapter!
Please update soon!
Absolutely- anything is possible with the Bat-fam! Glad you're enjoying the story! :)
Austin Jones, Chapter 88
Fuck you cunt
Um, excuse me?
Anyways, I'm back, and I hope you all enjoyed it! Please review! :)