Family Ties : A Batfamily Story

Chapter 10

POV Tim

The night is young. Though the sun has set, the streets of Gotham are rowdy as ever. Perched atop a city ledge, I look down at Downtown Gotham, or more specifically, City Hall. My cape bats against the wind as I pull out my binoculars. There is still police tape wrapped around a broken window. That is what I came here to see.

Leaping from the building, I land squarely on the roof of the hall. My grappling hook then lowers me down to the window in question. A large hole was cut into the glass, just big enough of me to slide through it. Inside stands a library of documents. Legal papers and blueprints dating back decades. I search my way through the mess to find the items that were stolen.

It's been a day since I looked into the case. An unconfirmed Catwoman robbery in which she took two outdated blueprints for the old sewers beneath the city. Though Bruce likes to keep the Catwoman cases to himself, I decided to look into this one. This is nothing like her past cases but it's her M.O. Examining the crime scene, I see that this time she was sloppy.

There are light scratch marks on the wall like she had been dragging her hand across it. Muddy footprints mark her path and she even left behind a strand of hair. Maybe it was a copycat, seeing as she has never been more careless. Even so, the fine claw marks match up exactly with the ones she has left before. This includes a long scar she left on my leg. No, this could not be the work of a fan. Taking the hair and a sample of the muddy tracks, I head back to the bat cave.

As my motorcycle speeds down the outer streets of Gotham City, I hear my comlink buzz on.

"Red Robin?" It's Dick.

"What is it? I'm on my way back." I answer him.

"They found Red Hood" It's hard to tell his emotion through the com.

"Oh, really?" I don't know how to feel about Jason. I barely know the guy and have only met him once. So far he seems like an ass. I mean he kills people without a care in the world and disregards everyone that cares about him. Then again, went I hear Dick tell of how heroic the second Robin was, I see that it's not all black and white. "His he coming back with them."

"No," He sighed, "But we know now that he's in Crime Alley."

"Well, that sure narrows down our search," I comment sarcastically.

"He'll come home eventually." Dick hoped.

"Maybe he'll never come back," I suggest, walking on thin ice. "He's not the same person you lost, Nightwing. He's a murder and a crook. Maybe he'll never come back because he doesn't want to."

There is a pause. "Listen, nothing could change Ja-him that much. He will always come home, understand?"

"Nightwing-"

"I'll see you when you get back." The line goes dead.

I can't blame him for being so protective of Jason. He was the closest thing Dick had to a brother, he was family. When he died it broke his heart. It didn't help that Bruce couldn't deal with the grief either. I only saw the aftermath of Jason's death but when he came back, it was like the sky ripped open. The grief turned to joy but then so quickly to grief again as they realize Jason was truly gone. Dick still holds out hope that his brother will return to him. Bruce decided that it would be wrong to break his spirit, so he lets him continue his investigation into Jason's resurrection and current whereabouts. I honestly think it's cruel of Bruce let Dick live in this fantasy that Jason will return someday, but I don't have the heart to tell him that Jason is never coming back.

Damian doesn't care much for our family affairs. I don't even think he considers us family. Dick has taken so many chances on this kid, I think he sees a bit of Jason in him. I, however, see nothing but an assassin. He uses little to no restraint while fighting, disregards the safety of innocents, and is always looking to pick a fight. I'm still convinced Talia sent him here to spy on us. Dick said that he would have nothing more of us fighting, but that's like telling a tiger to cut off its claws. Bruce only wants to parent him when he has the time (which is never) and lets him run wild. Dick has ended up as the babysitter. This is problematic seeing as he is only here once a month. I can only hope Robyn is less of a prick.

She has taken the death of her mother better than most. I think she was never close to her. Though she is not a potential spy, I still think it's a bad choice to have her here. Bruce finds out she exists one day and then adopts her the next. It's reckless. Not to mention that fact that he didn't even know if she was actually his before making the choice. It's only been three months since Damian came and he has already found another orphan to add to the mix. Not only are there now three of us in the house, all the mantles are already filled. I guess she could come up with her own, but what skills does she have. She is a girl from the East End who dropped out of school in six grade.

As my bike pulls into the Batcave, I zoom down the entrance. Parking my bike beside the Batmobile, I know that Bruce is somewhere close by. He leans over a broke gun which has shattered into hundreds of frozen fragments. In full costume, he looks almost like a shadow.

"Trouble with the cold?" I ask him setting down my helmet.

"Mr. Freeze used an upgraded suit to rob Gotham National Bank." He explains not looking up from his work.

"That's chilling," I joke pulling off my cowl.

He sighs.

"You don't like my puns, how cold."

He growls lowly at my pun.

"Careful Bruce, don't ice-olate yourself!"

Before I'm hit with a Batarang, I leave to analyze the samples I collected. Halfway through analyzing the hair, Dick walks down the stairs and into the Batcave. His footsteps echo down till they stop in front of the Bat Computer.

"Bruce, where have you been?" He asks sternly.

It happens so rarely that Bruce is scolded, and even then I am never lucky even to catch it. Alfred is the usual one to start the argument with Damian in a close second, but Dick has seldom stood up to him. My interest pikes as I watch through the door to watch.

Unnoticed, I look out on the scene. Dick stand over Bruce as he sits in the Batchair in full costume. The look on his face is blank while Dick's eyebrows are furrowed in judgment.

"I don't have time for this," He replies, clearing knowing what's about to happen.

"Then make time," Dick says coldly. "Cause she is asking for you. It's been a week and you haven't said a word to her. When you took her in you knew what you were signing up. I can't do all this for you."

Bruce doesn't look away from the computer. "I never asked you to."

"No, you don't get to play that card." He grits his teeth. "You can brood all you want but it will get you nowhere. I left because I was done being neglected, because you feel the need to push people away." His hands tighten into fists. "Look at me, Bruce!"

Bruce bolts up, pushing his chair away making it slam in the wall. "If you hate it so much, then why don't you go back to Blüdhaven?"

Dick doesn't flinch as he looks him dead in the eye. "Because if I do, I'm taking them with me." Bruce looks away, "I know that with Jason back it reminds you of everything you could have done to stop it, everything we could have done to save him. But now there is a little girl who lost her mother and needs you to be her father, even if it's just a lie."

A lie? Bruce was lying about being Robyn's father.

"You couldn't save Jason, but you can save her." He finishes.

Bruce turns back to the computer and closes the document he had been looking at.

"The adoption papers have been filled out and are waiting for approval. Tomorrow night is Queen's Charity Ball. I'll be excepting all of you to be there." He states hollowly.

Dick raises an eyebrow, "All of us?"

Bruce turns to face him again. "All of us,"

Just as the battle ends, the analyzing equipment beats. I reluctantly abandon my place beside the door to return to my hair sample. Scrolling through the data I see one complete match, Penguin's DNA.