208I'm in love with the Bat-family. And Young Justice. And Justice League.
Justice League was having a problem. A serious problem. There had been sight of intergalactic smugglings in Russia, and they requested a hero to investigate it thoroughly. Batman was the only one available and the fittest for this mission. He wasn't called The World's Greatest Detective for nothing. But the problem was, Gotham's Dark Knight refused to go. Shocking news.
"Batman, you are the fittest hero for this mission. You need to go." Superman nearly pleaded to the figure on the screen. The Man of Steel and six other Leaguers were sitting around the table in the Briefing Room, facing the big flat TV screen that show the image of a man dressed in a bat-like costume. They had called the Bat-cave 30 minutes ago and had been arguing with the Dark Knight since.
"I can't, Superman. I just CAN'T." Batman said through gritted teeth and everybody could see his shoulders tensed up tightly in annoyance. The Dark Knight hardly spoke to anybody- except when he was verbally abusing them- especially Superman. For the big Bat had spoken a whole sentence to the Boyscout was something extraordinary. And in Bat-dictionary, 'extraordinary' usually went along with 'violence and verbal abuse', sometimes with 'Kryptonite ring'. Flash, trying to ease the tenseness, zipped to stand in front of the screen and butted in.
"Bats, we have been arguing this for 30 minutes! Just accept it already."
Batman sent him the Bat-glare and the speedster quickly shut up. Wonder Woman stood up from her chair and elegantly walked to the screen. The Princess asked with concern in her voice.
"Batman, what's wrong?"
"I'm a busy man, Diana." Batman muttered, using Wonder Woman's real name. Not that she minded anyway.
"Hey, surely Wayne Enterprise can survive a week without its owner, right?" Green Arrow said from where he was sitting next to Black Canary. The two had been staring dreamily at each other for the past 10 minutes.
The Dark Knight sighed deeply, as if he wondered if Oliver was lacking a few dozens of IQ scores.
"It's NOT about W.E., Ollie. I'm needed at home." Seeing the others' confused gazes, Batman discretely rolled his eyes. "Alfred is leaving for England tomorrow, and no one else is home for a week-"
"No prob, Bats." Barry had found the courage to interfere again. "We can look after Dicky for you."
Realization dawned on the others' faces. Everybody knew how overprotective Batman was to his partner – or rather, his son. And no matter how capable the boy was, there was no way Batman was leaving him alone for a week. Staying with Young Justice was also out of question. The little bird was just too precious to the Bats.
They saw Batman's eyes widened slightly, but the surprise was quickly replaced with a thoughtful frown. Superman nodded.
"Flash is right. Robin can stay here while you're gone and we can look after him."
"Or he can stay at my house. You know Kid would totally agree." The speedster grinned.
The Bat-glare became the Daddy-Bats-glare (which is one thousand times scarier than the Bat-glare), and Barry ran to hide behind Diana, making the Amazonian Princess sigh. Barry should have known that Batman disapprove the idea of having two Flashes corrupting his son. Aquaman stepped closer with his arms crossed.
"Don't worry Batman, the boy is going to be safe here. There are always Leaguers staying on Watchtower."
The Dark Knight stood there thinking for a good five minutes before giving a curt nod.
"I accept the mission."
"Yes!" Barry punched the air but quickly snatched his arm back, grinning sheepishly. "Oops, sorry."
Superman smiled in relief. The Bats really was going soft these days.
"Alright, report to Watchtower 8 o'clock tomorrow morning, leave Richard here and you are ready to go."
Batman nodded again. When he spoke, his voice seemed lighter than usual – with a hint of wicked humor.
"Agree. I'll bring the kids up."
"Yea- Wait. What did you just say?"
Barry stopped mid-sentence, not believing what he had heard – or he thought he had. His eyes grew wide and his voice laced with fear. And everybody in the Briefing Room saw Batman smirk. Not the blink-and-you-miss-it smirk, but the you-are-doomed smirk which he only preserved for those who he thought deserved to be rotten in the deepest and darkest level of hell. Superman had been given this smirk once and the outcome hadn't been pretty. The Man of Steel shuddered at the memories and began to feel unease when the Dark Knight spoke again.
"I said: I'll bring the kids up." That smirk was still on his lips. Batman's light voice was smug. Too smug for liking. Flash gulped, sensing a dark cloud looming over his head.
"You said 'kids'? Not 'kid', but 'kids'?" The speedster emphasized the last letter and paled when Batman nodded. Damn, Barry hated that smirk. He hated his life, too.
"Yes. KIDS." And before anybody had the chance to open their mouth, Batman had logged off. Deadly silence shrouded the Briefing Room.
Flash turned around and saw that everybody was staring with wide eyes at the blank screen. Nobody dared to speak. Finally, Green Arrow broke the silence with a tentative voice.
"I know that Batman have a kid. But… kids?" The last word was a whisper but everybody heard it loud and clear. This time, Superman gulped.
"Barry, just what have you gotten us into?"
The next day, the whole Justice League was greeted with a sight of a very worried and frightened Flash pacing restlessly in front of the Zeta Beam. He was talking to himself so fast that even Superman could only catch some unintelligible words. Hawkgirl cocked an eyebrow.
"What's wrong with him?"
"Let's say that Batman black-mailed him last night." Green Arrow sighed. He was standing to the side, waiting for the Dark Knight to show up… actually, waiting for the Dark Knight's kids to show up. The Seven Founders had been on edge since the call ended yesterday. They knew Batman had Richard-Robin, but no one ever imagined that he had other… kids.
Hawkgirl slowly nodded. Batman terrorizing other heroes was not unheard of. Flash, Superman and Green Arrow were his usual victims. Several other Leaguers were watching intensely, waiting to see what had frightened the Flash into this near-hyperventilating state.
Suddenly a mechanic voice rang through the Watchtower, making Flash squeak in his pacing.
"Recognized: Batman."
The Seven Founders held their breath, Flash was biting his nail rapidly. And not for long, children's voice could be heard at the other side of the gate.
"-son, give it bac-"
"Daddy, Dam-"
"-lly Watchtower?"
"Yeah. Do you like it, Ca-"
"Waaaaahhhhh!"
"Shut up! You f-"
"RAWG!"
"ENOUGH!"
Everyone jumped at the Dark Knight's voice boomed through the gate and startled them. Flash actually squeaked again, looking around for a place to hide. The other voices in the tunnel died down. The footsteps got closer and finally stopped at the entrance of the Zeta Beam.
The Leaguers' jaws dropped. The sight that greeted them was the weirdest sight they had ever seen.
There stood the Dark Knight in all his glory – shining black armor, pointed ear standing straight, black cape fluttering in the air – but what ruined his perfect Gotham's boogey man image was… a bunch of children.
Yes. A bunch of six children – two girls and four boys – and one teenage boy. All of them had jet black hair, except for one girl with curly blond hair. Five of them were in their hero costumes and the other two in civvies – or battle suits disguised as civvies.
The eldest was unmistakably Richard Grayson in his civvies and trademark dark shades, smiling – more like smirking – brightly. On his right was a nine-year-old boy in red costume and black cape with a bird symbol on his chest. On his left was a seven-year-old black-haired girl in black costume with a big yellow Bat symbol on her chest. The two children both had their cowls down but were wearing masks, and they were pressing themselves against Richard's sides, looking frightened. The only girl with blond hair was holding her sister's hand. She also wore a Bat-suit with purple outlines on her sides. She seemed bolder than her brother and sister and was looking around curiously, an amused smile on her lips.
The second eldest boy looked about 10 years old. He was standing between Batman and Richard with an extremely grumpy look on his face. His arms crossed in front of his chest and his foot tapping impatiently on the floor, his scowl was visible under the red mask. His leather jacket looked harmless but the others knew it was wide enough to store an arsenal inside. He had a perfect image of a bad-ass kid.
And the Dark Knight himself was having two youngest children. The older boy looked about 5 years old in a Robin costume – although with yellow cape and black hood – standing near his 'father's leg with a scowl on his face. The youngest was about 3 years old – with a yellow pacifier in his mouth – and was sitting on Batman's shoulder, playing with his cowl's pointed ears. The toddler wore a black body suit – which really looked like footsies pajama – with pointed bat ears and a white bib with a red Bat-symbol on it.
All the members of Justice League were staring at the Bat-family, their jaws hitting the floor. No one dared to blink or bring a camera out. Batman ignored them and set his youngest 'son' down. The children immediately looked at him.
"Alright, kids. Remember, if you want anything…"
"Call Uncle Flash!" The kids screamed in unison, their voices echoed across the Watchtower. Flash paled noticeably. Some of the Leaguers burst out laughing (Green Arrow the loudest). Batman had to bite his lip to keep his face stoic. His eyes fell on Richard.
"Dick, you are in charge. If anything happens…"
"Just call Uncle Flash. I remember." The eldest Bat-kid replied with a big grin on his face. Everybody was able to detect the sarcasm under the word 'uncle'. Flash considered running home. With his super speed he might be able to out-run the Bats, right? Well, there's a chance. But the Bats with his… Birds? No. No way in hell he could escape in one piece.
Ignoring Flash's obvious fear written clearly on his face, Batman nodded to the children and turned around to the Zeta Beam and was gone in a flash of blue.
Right after their 'father' was gone, seven pairs of masked eyes turned to Flash, grins formed on their lips. Not just any other grins. Bat-grins.
Barry Allen really wanted to die.
Note 1: Tim is wearing his Red Robin costume (before the Reboot), Cass and Steph are in their Batgirl costumes, Damian in his Robin costume, Dick in his Young Justice civvies, Jason in his leather jacket. Terry's costume is inspired from The-BlackCat's comic series on DeviantArt.
Note 2: since Flash was the one that brought up the idea of looking after Dick, Batman just deems the guy to be responsible for his kids.
A/N: okay, that's the first part. What do you think? Good? Bad? Continue? Abandon?
I'm taking requests for this story (since I'm too lazy to think of any ideas). If you want to see something happen, please leave your request here or PM me. I only have plan for the kids to go on a mission with the JL.
Please read and review.