al-dusty33

[al-dusty33]

“i wouldn’t do that” “i wouldn’t say that” “i wouldn’t wear that” “i wouldn’t kiss them” too bad you pedantic dorks, you’re not the one in control here.

[al-dusty33]

Loverbird

Detective Work & Chill (Chap. 3)

Summary: Moving to Gotham City for your dad's job promotion, you find yourself in the middle of a city-wide conspiracy theory about the mysterious disappearances. Teaming up with Robin, you set off to get to the bottom of it all and find out who is behind all of it.

First | Prev.

The reader is non-binary but was born a female. If that's not your type of reader, then don't continue reading. Or do, I can't control you.

Warning: This book (not just this chapter) contains swearing, violence, sexual content, mature themes, alcohol consumption, near death experiences, and Joker.

09/15/2022 (Morning)

Two days have passed since the events at the Iceberg Lounge and so far nothing big has happened. (Name) is confident Robin and them stopped the kidnappings happening in the city. For the time being, the two aren't going out to look for Two-Face until signs of him show up to pinpoint his location. (Name) gets out of their bed and heads to the kitchen listening to music through their headphones. They rub the sleep out of their eyes then blinks a few times to clear their vision. Standing in the kitchen is their mom, their dad, their three dogs around their parents' feet, Commissioner Gordon, and a police officer. Wait, Commissioner Gordon and a police officer? "Uh…?" (Name) points at the two GCPD members, "What's going on here?" Commissioner Gordon is the one to speak up first, "(Name), I hope you slept well," He gestures to the officer wearing sunglasses indoors and blonde hair, "This is Detective Cash Tankinson. From now on, he'll be the one to drop you off and pick you up from school until we catch the person behind the kidnappings," He slides his hands into the pockets of his trench coat, "This is for your safety in case the person tries again." Though it's unnecessary, (Name) won't voice their thoughts on the matter. Detective Tankinson walks up in swagger to (Name) with his hands in his pockets, "Don't worry, kid, Cash Tankinson will make sure no messes with you." (Name) unenthusiastically smiles a little and nods, "Cool, cool. Thank you, Detective Tankinson." Detective Tankinson picks up his keys then says, "We'll leave when you're ready." (Name) just nods then walks back to their room to get changed.

--

The car ride to school was a bit uneventful, not including Detective Tankison overexplaining his job to watch over them until the GCPD finds the culprit and driving recklessly, (Name) was able to just sit back and relax while listening to music on their headphones. Exiting a police cruiser in front of school can get you a few stares from other students walking into the school building, some being in curiosity while others can be in judgement. “And remember, kid!” Detective Tankison calls out from the police cruiser, “I’ll be picking you up after school so no going off on your own!” Then he drives off back to the GCPD building. Ignoring the looks they’re getting from some students, (Name) walks into the school and heads to their locker. The murmuring of rumors about them didn’t take long to start up around school as everywhere they walked, they could hear some students watching them and whispering. “I heard she got wrapped up with police troubles only a few days after moving to Gotham.” “Well, she did just show up to school in a police car, so it has to be true.” “She definitely has a criminal record, why else would her family move here and come to school in a police car? You better watch out.” The conclusion gossiping students can come up with is truly an amazement; they’re probably burning so many calories by jumping to conclusions like that. (Name) just brushes the rumors off and keeps walking; let them think whatever, it doesn’t interfere with their life. They feel a hand on their shoulder, and looking to their left, they see Jason standing there with a boyish smile on his face, “Hey there, (NickName),” He walks beside them toward their locker, “You heard about the rumors surrounding you?” He sounds a bit worried about how they would react to all the gossip. (Name) just shrugs and waves off his worry, “It’s hard to ignore, but whatever, it’ll go away on its own eventually,” They stop in front of their locker and put the combo in then open it up, “They can think what they want, it doesn’t affect my life.” Jason snorts as he crosses his arms and leans back against the row of lockers, “Yeah, keep saying that until it bites you in the ass by someone trying to fight you or shun from partner work,” He says in a teasing tone of voice. (Name) places their bag in the locker after taking what they need for class then shuts the door, “At least I have you,” They smile and pat his shoulder before walking off. Jason softly chuckles then follows after them, “Fine, I’ll be your knight in shiny armor,” He playfully nudges them then adds, “Princess.” (Name) rolls their eyes in playful annoyance, “Don’t call me that.”

~[Lunchtime]~

Jason and (Name) sit across from each other, eating their lunches and chatting away about nothing in particular, when Rena walks up to them. She seems to be a bit frazzled while looking around the two. “Hey, have you two seen my book? I think I misplaced it somewhere,” Rena asks while nervously playing with her hands, “It’s The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton; my grandfather gave it to me for my birthday last year.”

With how fast Jason stood up from his seat, you would think he was a nervous actor on his first play and trying not to mess up the timing of his movements, “We’ll help you find it!”

We!? Did he just volunteer them as well?

Rena jumps back a little from Jason’s outburst before a sweet smile breaks through on her face, “You two will? Thank you so much!” She quickly pulls Jason into a hug then moves to hug (Name) as well before leaving their table.

After watching Rena leave, (Name) quietly grumbles, “I can’t believe you dragged me into this scavenger hunt…” They look up at Jason and see him beaming from his crush hugging him.

Jason looks down at (Name) and grabs their wrist, “Come on!” Then drags them out of their seat, “We have a book to find!”

–

Playing detective at school wasn’t on their to-do list for today, but (Name) isn’t complaining about the practice; maybe they can use what they learn in the Missing People’s case.

“The last place Rena saw her book was in Mrs. Jacobson’s class,” Jason mumbles under his breath, but (Name) was still able to hear him.

(Name) has biology class with Rena and remembers Mrs. Jacobson scolding Rena for reading during the lesson then asking Rena to place her book on her desk. Maybe Rena forgot to grab it when she left?

The two make their way upstairs toward the science wing and bumped into a curly blond hair student walking downstairs. He was clutching something inside his jacket and only made brief eye contact with (Name) before scurrying off.

(Name) watches him run off before continuing to follow Jason to Mrs. Jacobson’s classroom.

Luckily, Mrs. Jacobson wasn’t holding any classes and the two were able to walk right in without interrupting.

Mrs. Jacobson glances up from the papers she was grading to see who entered her classroom before looking down again, “Please tell me the reason you two are in my classroom, Mr. Todd and Mx. (LastName)?” She sets her red pen down and places all her attention on the two teens.

Jason steps up, kind of like the nonverbally self-appointed leader that he is, and explains, “Rena is looking for her book and we think she left it here,” He glances over to the small pile of items on the corner of Mrs. Jacobson’s desk that students forgot to grab when they left, “It was The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton.”

Mrs. Jacobson waves her hand over to the pile and says, “If it’s not there then someone came by and took it already.”

Jason and (Name) didn’t need to take long to search for the book in the pile; one look and it’s obvious to tell the book wasn’t there.

Jason sighs dejectedly, then mumbles, “We’ll look somewhere else. Thanks for helping…” He turns toward the door then walks out.

(Name) follows after him then pats his back, “Don’t worry, you’ll woo Rena eventually,” They tease him before snickering from Jason trying to swat their hand away, “Come on, I saw the look in your eyes, you literally jumped at the idea to help her if it means she’ll like you.”

Jason groans and covers his face before mumbling, “Am I really that obvious..?”

(Name) smirks and playfully answers, “Painfully so, my man.”

The Mrs. Jacobson lead was a bust, but there were still more places for them to look at, like the library! Cliche location, but a friend of Rena’s said that the group of them was in the library before heading to the lunchroom, maybe the book is there.

–

(Name) and Jason enters the library. Not many people were there, the librarians, people in study hall, and students skipping class. The place is quiet and peaceful with everyone staying out of each other's way.

Jason looks around the tables, “Okay, Rena’s friend said they were sitting at the table closest to the young adults books,” He spots the table then quickly walks over to the table.

(Name) takes their time to walk over to the table while looking over the books on the shelves. From the corner of their eye, they notice the same guy rushing down the stairs from earlier. They narrow their eyes in suspicion at the kid.

Walking over to Jason, (Name) nudges him then points toward the kid’s direction, “See that kid sitting in the corner? He’s the guy who bumped into us earlier; he was clutching something in his jacket.”

Jason looks over at him, “That’s Shane Rivers,” He grumbles under his breath, the two seem to have a sour history together. He notices Shane huddling over something he’s holding, “It wouldn’t hurt to check what he has.”

The two sneak up on the kid then look over his shoulder to see him staring down The Outsiders like he was contemplating something.

“Stealing books then just staring at them doesn’t make you look like a weirdo, kid,” (Name) sarcastically calls out and causes Shane to jump in surprise.

Shane whips his head around to glare at the two, “The hell are you talking about!?” He shouts, the librarians shushes him.

Jason picks up the book, “The Outsiders,” He looks on the inside cover and sees a handwritten note from Rena’s grandfather to her, “This book doesn’t belong to you; you stole it from Rena,” He spares a passing glance toward Shane, “I didn’t think you would go back to stealing after that attempted robbery at Horwitz.”

Shane stands up from his seat so fast that it caused the chair to be pushed back a little, “Listen here, Todd,” He sticks his index finger into Jason’s chest, “I don’t need you butting your nose into my personal business,” He crosses his arms then looks over at (Name), “Besides, you’re hanging out with a criminal; I heard she showed up to school in a cop car.”

(Name) rolls their eyes at the accusation of being a criminal, “God forbid someone wants to show up in style…” They murmur under their breath. They didn’t need to explain why they showed up in a police cruiser to some kid they’ll probably never talk to again.

Jason smacks Shane’s hand away from his chest, “You don’t know anything about (Name) so don’t talk that way about them,” He turns to walk away from Shane, “I’m giving this book back to Rena.”

“The hell you will!” Shane grabs the back of Jason’s collar to tug him back, “You think just because you give her this book back that she’ll like you?” He leans in closer to Jason’s personal space then says in a low, threatening tone of voice, “Don’t forget, she left you hanging to go with me.” The librarian shushes him for being loud, but Shane doesn’t seem to have heard the older woman, or he just doesn’t care.

Jason shoves Shane off him, “You forced her to go with you, Shane.”

Inside Shane’s backpack, (Name) sees a small plastic bag peeking out. Before they can inspect it, Jason grabs them by the wrist and walks out of the library with the book in hand.

–

The hour was almost over and the two returned to the cafeteria to give the book back to Rena. She was sitting at a lunch table with her friends and Jason couldn’t help admiring the smile on her face.

Not wanting to wait another second, (Name) grabs the book from Jason and takes it over to her, “We found the book, Rena,” They set the book down in front of her, “Some kid had it.”

The smile on Rena’s face brightens even more than she throws herself into (Name)’s arms, “Thank you so much for finding it!” She pulls back from the hug but keeps her hands on their shoulders, “I can’t believe someone would just take it.”

Jason steps closer to them, “Well, it was Shane Rivers who took it from Mrs. Jacobson’s classroom,” He slides his hands into his pockets to appear nonchalant, “Don’t exactly know why he did that, but we shouldn’t worry about him.”

Rena lets (Name) go then immediately hugs Jason, “You guys are the best,” She holds the hug for a few moments longer than pulls back after realizing what he just said, “Wait, Shane was the one who took my book?” She picks up her book and looks it over like that will somehow reveal the answer to her, “We’re meeting up later, so why take my book?”

A look of surprise then disappointment crosses Jason’s face after hearing this new piece of information, “You two are… meeting up later…?”

Rena just smiles and nods her head, “Yeah, we’ve been hanging out almost every week since the beginning of summer.”

Jason’s shoulder deflates and his gaze drops to the floor, “But… What about the attempted robbery at Horwitz last year?” He asks hoping she would see how he’s part of the wrong crowd.

“Yeah, that was messed up on what he did, but Shane has proven to me he’s gotten better,” Rena explains as she hugs her book close to her chest, “Also, didn’t you used to steal when you were younger?”

That was new information (Name) never knew before about Jason. They wonder what happened in his past life to cause him to steal.

“That’s different!” Jason shoots back, but he almost immediately regrets raising his tone of voice at Rena, “I had to steal to survive, I was out living on the streets basically on my own. I didn’t steal because I wanted to get drugs,” He didn’t feel ashamed for toughening up in the streets but telling her for some reason made it feel shameful.

“Well…” Rena looks down for a few moments while trying to piece together what she should say next, “It was still stealing and you both don’t do it anymore, you’ve both grown out of it.”

A small stinging feeling of hurt strikes Jason’s heart, but before he could comment on it, the bell rings to signify the end of the hour and Rena leaves for her next class with some of her friends.

(Name) watches Rena leave then moves their gaze toward Jason. Hesitating for a moment, they place their hand on his shoulder, “If it makes you feel any better,” A small awkward smile appears on their face, “From the small amount of interactions I had with Shane, I think he’s an asshole,” They hope they can somehow lighten his mood.

Jason gives them a glance, and a small smile slowly creeps up, “Glad you agree with me,” He murmurs.

~[After School]~

(Name) walks through the front door of their apartment with a tired look on their face; it wasn’t a long day full of adventure, the only exciting thing was searching for Rena’s book, but school just has a way of tiring people out.

Their mom plays a word search game on her phone in the living room with the tv playing The King of Queens in the background.

They set their backpack down next to the kitchen island then kicked off their shoes next to the shoe rack then suddenly their phone started to ring. Taking out their phone to check the contact, they are surprised when they see Commissioner Gordon calling them.

(Name) answers the call and presses their phone to their ear, “Commissioner Gordon? What’s with the call?”

“Have you seen the news yet?” Commissioner Gordon asks. No “hi” or “how are you doing?” just getting straight into it? Also, of course they haven’t seen the news yet, they just got home and they’re a teen.

Confused, (Name) asks their mom to turn on the news to see what Commissioner Gordon wants them to see.

On the tv screen, Vicki Vale standing in front of the Iceberg Lounge with her microphone, “That’s right, Oswald Cobblepot, infamously known as The Penguin, was arrested by GCPD police at 12:48 PM today. For the past two months, Gotham City has been dealing with the mysterious disappearances of some of Gotham’s civilians and today, Detectives Ethan Bennet and Ellen Yin, had come down to the Iceberg Lounge to finally take down the mobster connecting him to the kidnappings. Currently the GCPD hasn’t made an official statement on the situation.”

(Name) is a bit shocked to hear the GCPD take down Penguin so soon after Robin and them dealt with him. Remembering they were still on a call with Commissioner Gordon, they quickly spoke up, “How did you find him…?”

Commissioner Gordon lets a small tired sigh as he explains, “You remember that note you found? Detective Bennet and Detective Yin went back to the hideout and found the note hidden between a few files of Penguin’s in the desk drawer.”

That note, an important piece of paper that got them thrown into this crazy mess, was finally found by someone else. They thought that paper was gone forever, never to see the light of day again.

“That’s amazing. Does that also mean I don’t need Detective Tankison to drive me to and from school anymore?” (Name) asks.

“Correct,” Commissioner Gordon chuckles under his breath then mumbles, “If I knew we were going to catch Penguin so soon after assigning Detective Tankison to you then I wouldn’t have in the first place. Well then, you take care now, kiddo, and if you’re in any trouble, call me.”

(Name) nods their head, even though the commissioner couldn’t see it, then says, “Okay, I’ll stay safe,” -ish, they’ll stay safeish.

After saying their goodbyes, Commissioner Gordon hangs up the call.

10/22/2022 (Afternoon)

The day is the day (Name) goes over to Wayne Manor for the very first time in their life! During lunch, Jason invited them to come over and check the place out …Also their family is tagging along as well…

While (Name) was at school on Friday, (Name)’s Dad got a call from Bruce Wayne himself, and in the call, he invites them all to come along with (Name) to the manor so the two men can catch up.

After a bit of a long trip from Gotham Village to Bristol, the (LastName)s finally made it to Wayne Manor.

(Name) and their siblings stares out the window in awe at the large building coming into view; a sight like that was something they only ever saw on TV, but now there they are.

Standing outside waiting was the faithful butler, Alfred Pennyworth. He seems quite happy to have them over at the Manor.

(Name)’s Dad pulls the car right in front of the entrance door then turns off the car, “You know…” He shifts in his seat to look over his shoulder at his three children sitting in the back, “Usually parents would say something like, ‘Don’t touch anything you’re not suppose to because everything in there costs a lot,’ but I know you guys won’t do anything too stupid,” Then after that, he gets out of the car to greet Alfred.

One by one, everyone gets out of the car to meet Alfred, and get a better view of Wayne Manor outside of a car. “Welcome, (LastName)s,” Alfred greets them with them with a warm smile on his face, “Master Bruce has been eagerly waiting for your arrivals,” He opens the large front doors and gestures for everyone to step inside, “In fact, he wanted to make sure everything was perfect before you got here.”

Hearing that Bruce Wayne was, in some way, excited for them to arrive caused a small feeling of pride to well up inside (Name).

Inside the entrance hall was filled with pictures of the Wayne family, dating back to when the Wayne Family first came to Gotham, statues of knights in armor, a large staircase that splits off in two different directions in the middle of the hall, and open doorways leading to different parts of the manor. Even though it was just the entrance hall, it was still a bit of an impressive sight to see for someone who has never been inside a big place like this.

“Welcome to my humble abode!” Bruce Wayne announces from the top of the grand stairs. He’s dressed in a dark grey turtleneck shirt and black dress pants; all of it compliments him well and gives off a “smart guy” type of look, if he wore glasses, it would really tie the whole outfit together.

Bruce’s face lights up when his eyes land on (Name)’s Dad, “Grant! I haven’t seen you in years!” He quickly walks down the stairs and towards (Name)’s Dad, “How have you been?” He reaches his hand out to shake hands.

(Name)’s Dad casually shrugs his shoulders and shakes Bruce’s hand, “Well, as you can see, I got married and had three kids,” He lets go of Bruce’s hand then crosses his arms, “We’ve been getting by just fine and moved here last month for a job opportunity.”

“That’s good to hear,” Bruce then turns his attention from (Name)’s Dad to (Name), “And you must be (Name),” He holds his hand out toward them, “Jason has told me quite a bit about you.”

(Name) was just stunned from everything and hearing the Bruce Wayne say their name was, well, amazing to hear. They quickly compose themself and shake Bruce’s hand, “I hope you heard nothing but good things about me,” They bashfully chuckles.

Bruce smiles a little more as he adds, “Don’t worry, it has been nothing but good things.”

Alfred comes over to stand next to Bruce as he asks, “Do you wish for me to go grab Master Richard and Master Jason, Master Bruce?”

A small look of confusion crosses (Name)’s face at the mention of the unfamiliar name, “Master Richard…?” They quietly repeat the name under their breath.

Bruce notices (Name)’s mumbling and answers their confusion, “Yes, Dick is my first ward; he’s visiting from Blüdhaven,” Then he turns to Alfred and nods his head.

Alfred bows his head to excuse himself then leaves the entrance hall to gather Dick and Jason. “Come with me, I’ll show you to the living room,” Bruce guides them further into the manor.

Inside the main living room, a young man dressed in a dark grey shirt with a royal blue jacket over it and cornflower blue sitting back on the couch with his feet crossed on the coffee table in front of him.

He smiles and waves, “Heya! I was told some people were coming over to visit,” He stands up from the couch, “Name’s Dick Grayson, I’m Jason’s older brother.”

Okay. He’s really good looking, is everyone in this family really good looking?

(Name) glances over at their sister and they can tell Alexandra is admiring Dick with a look of awe on her face like he was some deity standing in front of her.

The sound of feet pounding against the floor from someone running gets closer and closer until Jason slides into the room. He seems a bit out of breath, but he just smiles at (Name), “Sorry I didn’t come out to greet you at the door,” He scratches the back of his neck, “I had… stuff to do…” He gestures for them to follow, “Come on, let me show you to my room.”

“Sweet! Lead the way!” (Name) follows Jason out of the living room and through the maze of hallways and stairs. They admire the place around them and add, “How can someone not get lost here?”

Jason shrugs his shoulders, “First time being here, yeah, it can be intimidating, but once you’re here long enough, the place somehow feels smaller,” He stops in front of a door and smiles a little more as he looks over at (Name), “Welcome to my room,” He opens the door and lets them walk in first.

Inside the room, a full-size bed sits at the back of the room with a nightstand on both sides on top of a large red carpet, a large chest at the foot of the bed, and a tv stand with a tv on it facing the chest. On the left is a closet, a dresser, and shelves with random knick knacks on it. By the large window to the right of the bed is a desk with an open notebook in the middle and a corkboard. And finally, to the right of the bedroom door, is a small library with a reading chair, side table, and rug in the corner.

(Name) steps further into the room and takes in the spacious room before sitting down in the reading chair, “I like the room,” Taking a peek at the book on the side table, they read the cover out loud, “The Count of Monte Cristo…” They look back up at Jason, who is now standing in front of them, “What’s it about?”

A bright boyish smile appears on his face the moment they ask the question, “The story is about a man named Edmond Dantès, a young sailor who is about to become the captain of the ship Pharaon, gets imprisoned for being falsely accused of being a Bonapartist agent by three men who is jealous of Edmond,” Jason picks up the book off the side table, “I got to the part where Edmond gets arrested on the day of his engagement with Mercédès,” He looks it over once more then sets it down again.

“What other books do you have?” (Name) asks as they stand up from the chair and look over the spines of the books in the bookshelves, their fingers gracing over some of the books.

Jason stands next to them as he answers their question, “Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, 1984 by George Orwell, The Prince by Machiavelli, The Art of War by Sun Tzu, Hamlet by William Shakespeare, all of the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle,” He points to the spines of the books as he names them, “That’s just to name a few I have,” He nonchalantly shrugs his shoulders and adds, “I don’t really want to bore you with all the details,” He softly smiles at them then backs away from the bookshelf, “Bruce was the who built the mini library in my room after I moved in.”

They move over to the desk next to the library and glance over the open notebook, but before they could actually read any of the words, Jason slams the notebook shut; which makes (Name) jump in surprise, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to…” They didn’t know exactly what they were apologizing for, but it felt appropriate to do so.

Jason opens a desk drawer then places the notebook inside before shutting the drawer, “You’re fine, I forgot to put this away,” He leans against the desk, his body covering the drawer, “It’s just personal stuff written in there.”

(Name) nods their head in understanding. The rest of the time before dinner was Jason showing off the manor to (Name), almost proud to show off the place he lives at now.

–

Sitting around the dining room table inside Wayne Manor was an experience unlike any other yet it’s the same experience (Name) can get anywhere else.

Bruce Wayne sat at the head of the table with (Name)’s dad to his right and Dick to his left. (Name) got to sit next to Jason, who sat next Dick.

The conversations were lively at the table, especially about the childhood stories of Bruce and (Name)’s dad like the time when the two were seven, they went on an adventure in the manor and accidentally scared everyone because nobody could find them.

Jason gently nudges (Name)’s arm with his elbow then leans in a little closer to quietly ask, “After dinner, if we still have time, you want to play some games in my room?”

(Name)’s eyes look him over then asks themself, “What kind of game?”

“Mario Kart,” Jason softly smirks then teasingly asks, “You afraid I’ll beat you?”

They softly laugh before it slowly dies out as a thought crosses their mind. The little plastic bag peeking out of Shane’s backpack. The thought kept nagging them since that day, like how that paper with the victims’ names just stuck to them.

“Hey…” (Name) carefully starts like saying the wrong thing would get them in trouble, “I have a question about Shane,” And immediately after saying his name, Jason’s face sours a little. They hesitate for a moment before deciding to go full steam ahead with their question, “Shane does drugs, right? What kind of drugs does he do?” Not a question to ask at the dinner table, especially in front of their parents, but they have this feeling that it’s important.

A look of surprise crosses Jason’s face before he cocks an eyebrow at them, “Last time I checked, yeah, he smoked weed. Why do you ask?”

Weed? That was it? At least it wasn’t something worse.

“Well, I saw a plastic bag in his backpack when we confronted him,” (Name) explains. They pick at their food in front of them with their fork then ask, “How is he getting it when he’s not twenty-one?” Also, as far as they know, weed at a dispensary can get quite expensive so how exactly is he getting the money for his habit?

The only solution they can think of is Shane Rivers never stopped stealing. Maybe (Name) can go undercover again to find out more about it, and there is a chance to learn more about the next suspect on their list: Two-Face.

[al-dusty33]

seeing my man with his canonical love interest 💔💔💔💔

[al-dusty33]

DONT PLAY WITH ME ( Jason Todd! )

summary: Jason disappears for a couple of weeks and the Batfam needs reinforcements, when Jason finds out, he breaks into your house to talk about how much he dislikes your approach to Dick

category: jealous fwb

pairing: Jason todd x fem!reader

open request — batfam masterlist

"Since when do you work with Nightwing?" Jason asks, leaning against the window frame of your apartment as if he hadn't just barged in five seconds earlier.

You give him a look, not bothering to hide your annoyance. "Since someone decided to disappear for three weeks without a trace. Bruce needed help. And Dick called for backup."

Jason crosses his arms, his helmet dangling from his left hand. "Okay, my bad, I shouldn't go without telling you" he stays a few seconds in silence. "But he needed to call you for backup? Of all the vigilantes in Gotham... you?"

You look at him with a raised eyebrow. "What do you mean 'you'?"

"Nothing, just..." Jason clears his throat. "Dick has a history. He's a...how do I put it? too much friendly."

"Is this your weird way of saying you're jealous?"

"What? No!" he answers so quickly he almost stumbles over his own words. Jason looks at you as if you're being completely irrational. "I'm not jealous!"

You lean in a little closer, enjoying the discomfort on his face a little too much. How many times do you get to see the big Red Hood uncomfortable? You had to make the most of it. "So you wouldn't mind if I paired up with him again tomorrow, right?"

"Again?" he says, almost choking on his own words. "How many missions did you go on? One? Two?"

"Four, to be exact," you reply, with a sly smile. "Yesterday he even bought me a coffee."

Jason blinks and stares at you, his eyes wide, almost cartoonish. "You went on a date with him?"

"No. It was a hot drink. Which I needed. Because it was cold out there."

"Of course not, that almost counts as a date," he mutters, pacing around your living room like an angry cat. "How is it possible you'd change me for Dick? Only three weeks."

"You're being so silly and jealous."

"I'm not jealous," he repeats, but now he seems to be trying to convince himself.

You lean against the table and look at him with amusement. "If you're not jealous, then you won't mind if I return the favor tomorrow. Maybe I'll bring him some cookies, you know, those orange-flavored ones I cook."

Jason stops dead in his tracks. He regards you silently. Then, very seriously, he says, "I officially forbid you from make patrols with Dick Grayson, and especially from taking him those cookies. It's a line that must not be crossed. It's... intimate."

You can't help but burst out laughing. "Intimate?"

"Yes! Those are my cookies, only I try that recipe. That's already emotional territory."

You look at him, still laughing. You're usually the one making sarcastic comments, but right now, you're genuinely surprised by how dramatic he can be. "Oh my god," you mutter, bringing a hand to your forehead. "Since when did you get so ridiculously intense?"

"Since some overly friendly acrobat is trying to steal my patrol partner" he growls, not looking at you directly.

"Your patrol partner?"

Jason blinks. "Technically you are, I met you first."

You take a step towards him, crossing your arms, and stare into his eyes with a playful sparkle. "And that's all I am to you?" You pouted.

He gives you one of those looks he uses to intimidate criminals. But his cheeks are still a little red from the heat of the situation. "Don't play with me darling."

You smile, with no intention of stopping. "What if I do want to play?"

Jason steps a little closer, so close you can see every shadow in his eyes, and his voice lowers a little, deeper, softer. "Then brace yourself, because I don't play fair."

[al-dusty33]

Being in Gotham-side of Internet must be so fun. Like, you open YouTube, and when searching for work-outs, you find "Batman working out routine." Or, you scroll through articles and bump into another 300 conspiracies about Signal. Instagram has reels with Timothy Drake inspired looks. Twitter keeps shipping Orphan & Spoiler and writing blind items about them. Damian Wayne is a constant guest on Reddit, giving advices how to take care of different types of animals. Circuses in the town have the whole Nightwing and Boy Wonder inspired shows. Girls on Tiktok try to re-create Red Robin's wings for the upcoming Comicon. Tumblr keeps score on Red Hood's mystery weapons appearing out of nowhere, trying to figure out if he is meta or not. Bruce Wayne's thrist edits flooding every social media. Local true crime podcasters have a series of episodes on Jason Todd's mysterious death.

[al-dusty33]

so uhhh. yeah.

[al-dusty33]

I feel like I put way too much effort into something only I’ll find funny

[al-dusty33]

You: do you love me? Yes or no? Serious answer only or I’ll cry.

Jason: you practically live in my apartment, you steal my clothes and welcome yourself to my food, you know all my friends and family, who love you by the way and we kiss and cuddle like we’re were two cosy cats in another life. I can’t see myself with another the way I see myself with you.

You: *teary eyed* is that a yes? You like-love me?

Jason: *laughs and kisses your nose* I like, like- love you.

[al-dusty33]

I awfully need a fic, where Jason gets drugged by a big dose of fear toxin and starts seeing Joker's hallucination around — kind of like Bruce in Arkham Knight game, you know — and everyone is just... confused what to do with all of it?

They can't really produce antidote because it would fuck up his mind more, so he is stuck in the cave for the next 24 hours, and no one is leaving, because they can't allow Jason to go through this alone. Again.

Jason tries to put a brave face of course (god, he is THE Red Hood, one of the most influential people in the Gotham, he can't be afraid of a stupid clown–) but the more hours pass, the less he can control his fear or anxiety. Instead of pacing around like a ghost — he did that in the first four hours — he sits down on the couch, hugs himself, and starts answering to Joker?

Yeah, he knows he is not real. He understands that feeding hallucination with conversations will not help — and Dick, the ultimate expert in handling hallucinations, really, gave him some tips on what to do — but he can't just ignore it now.

He is too scared.

He remembers what comes if he flips off Joker or stops playing by his rules, alright?

"Knock, knock!"

Joker's face is as pale and terrifying as Jason remembers it to be. And maybe it is hallucination, but he still can feel his panted, hot breath on his ear.

He is alone, of course. Or not entirely alone, but others would notice if Joker was really here, right?

"Who is this?" He whispers, sensing his family tensing a little, not being sure what to expect.

Jason either argues with his hallucination or asks to stop. Or maybe just wordlessly scraps on his temples or cheek, in the place the J scar used to be, before the Lazarus Pit erased it from his body completely, leaving no traces.

"The stray dog that can't bark! Do you know why it can not bark, Jayjay?"

"I don't fucking know," he murmurs, but the fiericness with which he screamed at this man for hours now is gone; he sounds tired even to his own ears, and it is embarrassing. "Tell me."

"Because I broke its bones with a crowbar, silly!~" Joker shakes his shoulders, and Jason can practically feel the familiar ache of shattered bones. "It– Ahahah, it is too hurt to bark! It can only whine!"

Jason laughs.

His facial expression doesn't really change — he is still frowning a little — but he laughs with a painful wheeze. Joker is pleased enough to sigh dreamily in his ear.

Good job, Jason.

"What so funny?" Dick asks carefully, a patient smile on his face — he has been trying to distract him with conversations the most; Bruce prefers to keep his silence, and Tim thinks accidental physical touches help more than talking.

"He just said a joke," Jason shrugs weakily.

"Tell it to them," Joker orders. "Let us all laugh."

He doesn't really want to. But he can't disobey. He can't allow himself to die again, and–

"Knock, knock," he clears up his throat.

"Who is this?" Tim echoes, turning his chair to him, smart eyes scanning him up and down.

"The stray dog that can't bark," Jason tugs the tips of his own hair. "Do you know why it can not bark?"

Bruce tenses in his chair. He tenses in a way, Jason thinks, he already knows this joke; he has already heard it before. He almost looks as if he wants to stop him, cut mid-sentence.

But for some reason, he doesn't.

"Uh, why?" Dick tilts his head.

"Because my– its bones are broken," Jason stutters. "You know, dogs can't really bark when they are hurt? Just whine."

He can't bring himself to laugh again, even though Joker keeps giggling over and over.

"That's not funny, Jay," Tim murmurs.

"Yeah. I guess it isn't. But if I don't laugh, he'll get the crowbar again, and I really, really want to keep barking," Jason smiles.

He tries to ignore pitful glances of his family members, and the torture continues. No one breaks his bones this time, but Jason still whines when Bruce hugs him by the end of the night, pressing to his chest.

Joker is not here anymore, but Jason still can hear his taunting whisper, somewhere in the back of his head.

You will die his son.

[al-dusty33]

Jason Todd isn’t soft. He swears he isn’t. But when you shiver, even a little, his jacket is on your shoulders before you can say a word.

Jason Todd rolls his eyes when you cuddle up to him on the couch, but his arm always finds its way around you. Always.

Jason Todd grunts when you trace lazy shapes on his arm, like it annoys him to no end, but you feel his muscles go slack. He lets you. Doesn’t even notice when his head tips against yours.

Jason Todd will never admit he likes holding your hand, but when you let go, he notices. Glances down. Threads his fingers back through yours without a word.

Jason Todd looks at you like you've hung the stars, even if all you said was his name.

Jason Todd doesn’t do flowers or chocolates, but your favorite snacks show up in the kitchen, like magic.

Jason Todd always has something of yours in his pockets — hair ties, lip balm, a receipt from that store you love.

Jason Todd isn’t soft. God, he swears he isn’t. But when you look up at him and smile like that — like he’s something good, something worth loving — he just sighs. Runs a hand through his hair. Pretends he’s not blushing.

[al-dusty33]

Can someone please explain to me why people like making AK! Jason abusive and toxic in a lot of fan fiction? Cause at this point, I'm beyond pissed off. I just read one that I thought was just gonna be some angsty hurt/comfort and this bitch who wrote this made him such a asshole and treat the reader like shit when all the reader wanted to do was comfort him and honestly, it made me want to throw up. Like, I'm sorry, but why do you think he would hurt an innocent person in a similar way he was hurt??? Why do you think he would be okay with assaulting someone who cares about him????? Are you okay?????? Are you stupid??????? And don't even get me started on the fics with the non-con stuff because a little fun fact about Jason is that he canonically has an extreme distaste for SA. Like, that was a thing built into his character since he was Robin in the eighties. So please, just stop it. Stop writing him like that. It's just gross at this point.

[al-dusty33]

Blackbird

I can't find the post that inspired me to do this. It centers around Dick Grayson and Jason Todd and Dick goes to Jason's grave, the two have a special song, Jason kidnaps Dick, then Dick finds out Jason is Red Hood. I really loved it and wanted to do my own version of it. If you have the link to that post please send it to me so I can link it here.

Song: Blackbird by The Beatles

Nightwing was on his own with only the stars in the sky as a witness to the acrobatic tricks he’s doing on the rooftop. Headspring, sideward salto, round off, any move he can think of and is able to do at that moment. It always made him feel closer to his parents somehow.

He came here to blow off some steam after a fight with Bruce; lately it seems that no matter what conversation the two try to have it always ends in a screaming match between them. The close relationship they had when Dick was younger was just a distant memory and what’s left is just two angry men having a hard time communicating with each other.

Suddenly he stops, then throws one of his escrima sticks in a fit of anger in a random direction. Damn you, Bruce! Doesn't he care enough to at least keep Dick in the loop on certain things. They may not always see eye to eye, but that doesn’t mean he can cut him off so much like that. They’re family, right?

Nightwing is seething in anger then all at once it flooded out of his system and all that was left is… something; he couldn’t quite describe what he was feeling at the moment, he felt empty, drained, frustrated, and dejected, maybe more feelings than that, but he doesn’t know.

He curls himself up, hugs his knees to his chest, and lies his head on his knees. He takes a few deep breaths to help calm himself down and let his mind clear from the waring emotions he’s feeling. Right now, he can’t face Bruce without sparking another argument.

“Hey… Nightwing, are you here?” Dick recognizes that voice; the two aren’t close, but it’s someone he can trust.

Nightwing looks up and softly calls out, “Robin…?” He quickly wipes his face in case his frustration produces any tears before standing up with his hands on his hips, “What’s up?” He tries to push a more casual, nonchalant tone, but he thinks Robin can hear the strain in his voice.

Jason Todd, Dick’s successor of the mantle Robin. From what he heard, Jason was born and raised in Crime Alley until he was twelve before Bruce took him in. Dick can remember the surprise and anger, not toward Jason, but toward Bruce for bringing in another child into the life of crime fighting.

Robin takes a step forward and accidentally steps on Nightwing’s escrima stick. He picks it up and looks it over in case he somehow broke it in someway before walking over to Nightwing and holds it out for him to grab, “Sorry for stepping on that,” he apologizes than rubs the back of the neck, “I was told I could find you here by Batgirl.”

Nightwing takes a few moments to study Jason before muttering, “Yeah… Of course she’ll know where I’ll be…” He takes the escrima stick from Jason and glances around the empty rooftop, “You came here for something so what’s up, Robin?” Even though he hasn’t been Robin in about a year, it still feels weird to call someone else a name his mother gave him so long ago.

Robin looks away like he doesn’t know what to say, and maybe he doesn’t, but after a few seconds of silence between them, Robin speaks up, “I overheard your argument with B, which isn’t hard because you two were yelling at each other…” He weakly chuckles before clearing his throat and continuing, “Um… Well, I came out here to check up on you.”

Nightwing absentmindedly twirls his escrima stick in his hand as he awkwardly pats Robin’s shoulder, “Thanks for checking up on me, but I’m fine…”

What were these two supposed to talk about? They don’t know each other well enough to just… talk; if Batman was here then it wouldn’t be as awkward as it is now. To help with the silence, Nightwing starts softly singing a song to himself.

“Blackbird singing in the dead of night,” Nightwing steps his foot on the edge of the rooftop as he looks out across the city, “Take these broken wings and learn to fly,” He stands on the edge of the roof with his arms outstretched like a bird flying, “All your life,” He holds his hand out for Robin to take, “You were only waiting for this moment to arise.”

Robin was a bit speechless seeing Nightwing softly singing and seemingly holding out his hand for Robin to join. He has heard the song before, it’s Blackbird by The Beatles, a song his mother, Catherine, played this song a few times when she wasn’t on some drug-induced high for long periods of time.

A bit hesitant, Robin grabs Nightwing’s hand and joins him in singing.

--

Dick solemnly walks through the graveyard behind Wayne Manor with a small bouquet toward a specific grave. It’s been nearly three years since Jason Todd died and at the time Dick was in space with the Teen Titans. He knows he couldn’t have done anything, but he still feels like he failed in some way as an older brother figure in Jason’s life. He should’ve been there to save him, protect him, but he failed and now a kid who's been dealt with a bad hand since birth is lying six feet under; a fate he doesn’t deserve.

Right in front of Jason’s grave Dick doesn’t do anything besides just silently stand there with the bouquet hanging limply by his side. It wouldn’t matter if Dick said something or not because Jason wouldn’t be able to hear or respond to it, but Dick still feels bad for his lack of words at this moment.

Dick replaces the older, wilting flowers with the new bouquet in the vase then kneels in front of the gravestone, his hand gently tracing the carved name on the granite gravestone. He feels tears pricking at the corners of his eyes and his throat closing up, making it harder to breathe. He drops his head and lets a few tears slip out.

“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry, Jason…” He lifts his gaze and his hands gently cups the side of the gravestone like he was holding Jason’s shoulders, “I wish you were still here…” His thumbs carefully caress the granite gravestone like adding more pressure would cause it to crumble away.

He sits down next to the gravestone and leans his head against it then softly sings, “Blackbird singing in the dead of night,” Dick uses the palm of his hand to wipe some tears from his eyes, “Take these sunken eyes and learn to see,” He lifts his gaze up toward the sky, “All your life,” Way up high in the sky, Dick sees two robins flying in the sky together and he can’t help but smile a little at the sight, “You were only waiting for this moment to be free.”

Dick lets out a small sigh before standing up from next to the gravestone, “Blackbird, fly,” He takes one last look at the carved name then starts to walk away; to leave this small bubble he has built with the gravestone, “Blackbird, fly.”

In that moment, Dick knew he was being watched, but everywhere he looked with his eyes couldn’t reveal the location of his watcher. Whoever it was, they were trained well to stay hidden.

Into the light of the dark black night

--

“Blackbird, fly,” A male voice softly sings to himself as he counts the money in his hands, “Blackbird, fly,” He kicks himself off the warehouse wall he was leaning on then sets the money down on a small pile of money.

Red Hood, the mysterious crime lord that took Gotham City, and Black Mask, by storm. The man is here on a mission: to get revenge against Batman for not killing the Joker and to prove to Batman he can be a better Batman than him.

Jason picks up his dual semi-automatic pistols from a nearby desk then slides them into the waistband of his pants and hides it with his leather jacket. He has a lot planned for tonight for himself, Batman, and that damn clown.

He walks toward the window then opens it and takes out a cigarette, the same brand his biological mother, Shelia, used to smoke when he was being tortured by him. He places it between his chapped lips and lights it before taking a slow drag then blowing it out. The smell brings him back to that moment in the warehouse; he needed to feel that pain from it, to keep the anger he feels knowing that psychopath is still out there alive.

Jason watches the smoke fly up into the smog-filled sky and mumbles, “Into the light of the dark black night.”

--

Red Hood sneaks through the abandoned factory, gathering parts he needs for the finale of his grand plan. He picks up wires, sheets of metal, nuts, and bolts; he inspects the items he scavenged to see if they’ll work for what he’s making before deciding if he should toss or keep it.

If he wants all this to go out with a big bang, if it goes down a different route, then he’s going to need a lot of supplies. He hopes that all this will end with the clown’s death, preferably with Batman killing the clown, but he’s willing to do it if needed.

His mind drifts back to the argument he had with Batman before the day he died. The argument was about a terrible monster named Felipe Garzonas who had protection due to his father’s diplomatic immunity. That monster was the reason a woman ended her life in fear of a threat he told her over the phone. Bruce thinks Jason intentionally pushed the man from a 22-story balcony, but Jason stood firm that he just spooked the monster. That case left the relationship between him and Bruce rocky and a bit tense, but that didn’t stop Bruce from helping Jason find his biological mother.

Red Hood shakes his head like doing that would get rid of the memory in his mind before focusing on the task at hand. He doesn’t have the time to be worrying about that part of his past life; he needs to focus all his energy on the moment that psychopathic piece of filth murdered him; to continue to remind himself why he was doing all this, to give back all the pain and suffering that mad man caused to everyone!

A small sigh of anger slips out from Red Hood as he picks up a broken clock and turns it around to see if it still works. It’s banged up, but he’s confident he can repurpose it for what he needs. He leans back against a wooden crate and opens up the back to get to work, all while softly singing, “Blackbird singing in the dead of night.”

He takes out a small tool case from the pocket by his right knee then grabs a small screwdriver, “Take these broken wings and learn to fly,” One by one he takes the small screws out and places them on the back of the removed back piece of the clock, “All your life.”

“You were only waiting for this moment to arise,” Another voice cuts through the small bubble Red Hood created for himself.

Red Hood groans then turns his gaze over to the intruder, “Nightwing…” He grumbles under his breath, and thanks to the modulation he has in his helmet, his lower voice was harder to hear.

Dick Grayson, Jason’s predecessor of the mantle Robin. From what he heard, Dick was born and raised in Haly’s Circus until he was twelve before Bruce took him in. Jason can remember how worried he was after finding out about Dick from Bruce that Dick came back to Gotham to take his job back as Robin, but was surprised when Dick gave Jason his old uniform as a way of showing acceptance of Jason.

Nightwing takes a step forward, his hand reaching over his shoulder to grab his escrima sticks off his back, “Didn’t know you were a fan of The Beatles, Red Hood,” He walks closer to Red Hood, “I hate how it’s that song specifically you decided to sing.”

Red Hood sets the dismantled clock down then fully stands up, “Don’t care what you feel; doesn’t involve you,” His hand subtly reaches behind his back; his gloved fingertips grazing the smooth metal of the gun in his waistband, ready to grab it if it comes down to it.

You were only waiting for this moment to arise

The two stand there glaring at one another, like they were daring the other to make the first move. Nothing happens for a solid minute before both Red Hood and Nightwing rushes each other.

Nightwing pulls out one of his escrima sticks and presses the prongs of his weapon against Red Hood’s throat while Red Hood whips out his gun and aims the barrel of his gun at Nightwing’s head.

Nightwing narrows his eyes a little more as he speaks, “Looks like we’ve got a stalemate,” He mumbles then presses the prongs further against Red Hood’s throat.

Red Hood scoffs, “Really?” He presses the barrel of the gun into Nightwing’s temple, “‘Cause it looks to me like you’ve got one of your stupid sticks against my larnyx and I’ve got a gun to your head,” Suddenly Red Hood headbutts Nightwing then pushes him backward.

Nightwing pinches the bridge of his nose and can immediately feel the sting of pain coming from it; he’s pretty sure his nose might be broken. He looks up at Red Hood just in time to see Red Hood carrying a duffle bag full of supplies he was collecting.

Red Hood waves over his shoulder then shouts, “Say ‘hi’ to Bruce for me, Dickhead!” Then jumps out of a nearby window.

Nightwing was left a bit shocked. How did Red Hood know his and Batman’s identities? It’s a huge leap of logic to think, but the way Red Hood acted was similar to…

“Jason…?” Nightwing softly mumbles to himself.

You were only waiting for this moment to arise

[al-dusty33]

Third Wheel Dreams

A random thing I wrote for my creative writing class a few years back and decided to upload here.

The Robin is left unnamed and has no specific gender so you can imagine any Robin or even yourself as Robin.

Lots of kids in Gotham City followed the adventures of Batman and Robin and some even dreamed of becoming the Robin half of the Dynamic Duo. But never once in that dream did kids want to be the third wheel to Batman and Catwoman, which is the unfortunate situation the current Robin is in.

The moon shines brightly in the sky over Gotham City. Due to the repeated use of fear toxin from Scarecrow, laughing gas from the Joker, and air pollution from cars, factories, and household combustion made the night sky have more of a red color than the normal blueish color. Earlier that night, Batman and Robin stopped a bank heist from Two-Face and in the process they ran into Catwoman in an alleyway nearby. The Dynamic Duo manages to take down Two-Face and the GCPD arrests him.

On a rooftop in the Gotham City Chinatown, Batman and Catwoman are having a discussion while Robin looks down at the city streets below. As the two adults talk, their conversation starts going off topic…

“You know, Batman,” Catwoman slides her hand up Batman’s bicep, her fingertips ghosting over his arm, “You didn’t have to catch me,” Her eyes flit over his face, “After all, cats always land on their feet.”

Batman doesn’t seem phased by Catwoman’s suggestive touches on his arm, “From that height? I don’t think so,” His voice stays firm.

Catwoman gently cups Batman’s jaw and looks over the forming bruise on his face, “Harv managed to punch that handsome face of yours,” She locks her gaze with his and uses her thumb to gently rub small, soothing circles against the bruise, “I can help you with that. I don’t like owing someone a favor.”

A small quirk upwards appears on the corners of Batman’s lips, “And how exactly will you help me?”

Catwoman lets a mischievous smile creep up on her face as she suggests, “You can always stop by my place and I can take special care of you.”

From that sentence, Robin’s interest in the conversation peaks a little. They glance over their shoulder and narrow their eyes at Batman and Catwoman.

They quietly wonder where this interaction between the two adults is going and hoping it doesn’t go down the route they were thinking.

Batman leans his arm against the wall beside them, almost caging Catwoman between him and the wall, “I usually patch myself up, but I wouldn’t mind having you do it.”

Catwoman slowly trails her fingers up Batman’s chest and stops at the Bat symbol on his chest plate, “You seem a bit tense,” She gently grabs the back of his neck, “I can help with that as well.”

At this point, Robin starts internally panicking a little. The adults are getting a little too handsy for Robin’s liking and they are starting to wish to deal with Joker instead of being here at this moment.

Batman places his hand on Catwoman’s hip and pulls her flush against himself with more of a pronounced smirk on his face as his eyes travel over her form.

Robin’s eyes widens from the almost uncharacteristic move from Batman. At this moment, wanting to fight Joker isn’t enough; they just wanted to die after seeing this public display of affection between the two.

Catwoman tilts her head to the side just ever so slightly and the mischievous grin of hers grows a little more, “It seems you’re a little aggressive even in this aspect, Bat,” She gently bites her lower lip to show her approval.

A soft, deep chuckle slips past Batman’s lips as he leans in a little closer, “You don’t know the whole extent of it, Cat,” Then he closes the distance between them and kisses her.

This had to end for Robin’s sake. They clear their throat to get their attention and say, “Hey, Batman, the sun is going to rise soon so let’s head back, okay?” They rub the back of their neck and look down at the city below. Robin doubts Batman and Catwoman want an audience to what they want to do.

When they look back up, it was obvious both adults didn’t hear a single word Robin said and continues their heated kiss. Robin can’t stand here and watch so they decide to end it right now. WIth only the stars high above them in the sky as their only witness, Robin firmly yells, “Batman! Catwoman! Hope you didn’t forget the kid who unfortunately has to be the third wheel in this situation!”

Never before have Robin even seen Batman jump away from someone as he did today. Both adults couldn’t look each other in the eyes and their cheeks were flushed red. Robin crosses their arms with an unimpressed look on their face.

Catwoman gingerly scratches the back of her neck as she looks down like her high heel boots were the most interesting thing in the world at that moment, “Well…” She softly smirks at Batman and then says, “I guess you’ll have to deal with all the embarrassment, boy scout,” She leans in and kisses his cheek before running off.

Batman covers his burning face with his hands and groans in embarrassment. After a couple minutes, he looks up at Robin then apologizes, “I’m sorry, Robin, we kinda got carried away…”

Robin just shakes their head and sighs, “I swear, I wanted to curl up and die after witnessing that,” They shiver from the memory, “It’s like walking in on your parents…” The dynamic duo both cringe from the idea.

Batman walks up to the ledge of the building and pulls out his grapple gun, “Let’s just forget this ever happened and go home,” He aims and then fires the grappling hook to zip off into the night.

“No problems there, B,” Robin mumbles before doing the same.

Later that night, Bruce pays his young ward as compensation for that unfortunate, embarrassing situation and promises to never put them in a situation like this again.

[al-dusty33]

Don't know if I'm going to use this for my Jason Todd x reader story, but I wonder what everyone thinks of this.

Dialogue and scenes used from Arkham Knight, Arkham Knight: Genesis, Deadpool, and Batman: Under the Red Hood.

⚠️!Warning!⚠️: Torture, blood, branding, rotten/poisoned food, freezing, extreme violence with and without crowbar, electric shocks, waterboarding. Pretty much everything about Joker being a monster.

Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream (bung, bung, bung, bung)

Joker struts over to the young, fractured Robin hanging by his wrists in the middle of the dimly lit room. It’s a beautiful, awful sight and the Clown Prince of Crime loves it.

“Wakey Wakey, Loverbird!” Joker cheerfully says as he gets closer to Jason.

The moment Jason hears his voice ringing in his ears, he whimpers and tries to shy away from the clown, but no amount of tugging on his restraints will allow him to escape.

It’s been… Two, no, three months since Jason fell into the clutches of the madman. Joker blackmailed Jason’s biological mother into turning him in before being betrayed herself after it was revealed Joker was never going to let her go. Despiste what she did, Jason couldn’t help but still love her.

Make him the cutest that I've ever seen (bung, bung, bung, bung)

Joker’s fingers ghost over the smooth metal bar of the branding iron, “Don’t look at me like that,” A cruel, twisted smile creeps up on Joker’s red painted lips, “Actually, do keep looking at me like that; it just makes it more fun.”

“What’s wrong, little bird? You think I’m going to hurt you?” His gloved fingertips briefly touch the glowing metal J to test how hot it is, “Why?” His head lolls back in a creepy, unsettling way as his green eyes stares deep into the very depths of Jason’s soul, “I’m not the bad guy here,” He shakes his head while almost mockingly saying, “Oh, no, no, no, no,” He walks closer to Jason then softly says, “It’s Batman. He’s abandoned you…” He gently, yet firmly, cups Jason’s chin then shakes the younger man’s head a little, “thrown you away like an unwanted puppy.”

Give him two lips like roses and clover (bung, bung, bung, bung)

Joker backs up and clasps his hands together like he was begging to someone, “Can I have him, daddy?” He asks in a playful, high-pitched voice, “Oh, please, please, please, please, please? I’ll take real good care of him.”

He turns around to act as the other person then continues speaking in a deeper tone of voice, “Anything to make you happy, princess,” He slowly turns his cruel attention toward Jason, “Just make sure people know he’s yours.”

He snaps his fingers then one of his goons walks into the room, removes Jason’s bound wrists from the hanging hook off the ceiling, and then lets Jason drop to the floor with a thud.

“We don’t want him to end up back here, do we?” He leisurely strides over to Jason, his grin twisting more and more cruel with each step.

With what little strength he has left, Jason tries to crawl into the shadows to bring some form of safety to himself. In some small, hopeful way, he believes Batman would be hiding in those shadows to save him.

Joker stops for a moment to taunt Jason by saying, “No we don’t, daddy,” He steps closer with the burning branding iron getting closer to the young man, “I want to keep him forever!”

Jason’s eyes widen in fear while he tries to crawl farther away. He feels all movement stopping the moment Joker’s foot lands on his back, and the fear he’s feeling intensifies, “No! No please!” He tries to push Joker off of him, but he has no strength left. Instead he continues to beg like a dog, “Please no! No!”

The sound of sizzling skin, Jason’s pained screaming, and Joker’s cruel laugh are the only horrifying sounds that can be heard inside the darkness.

Then tell him that his lonesome nights are over

Sandman, I'm so alone (bung, bung, bung, bung)

Jason sits hunched over in a wheelchair with barbed wire keeping him in place. Through his ripped costume, he can feel it poking into him and making him uncomfortable; he has to be careful if he doesn’t want to open any veins or arteries.

A door opens behind him, his heart skips a beat thinking Batman was finally here, but the familiar, awful laugh quickly dashes that hope.

“Happy birthday, Jason!” Joker says cheerfully. He walks over to Jason with a pep in his step, “You’re a whole year older! How does that feel?” He sets down a plate of wiggling cake in front of Jason.

Is it really already his birthday or is Joker trying to warp his sense of time?

Don't have nobody to call my own (bung, bung, bung, bung)

Joker smiles down at Jason as he continues speaking, “Don’t you worry, Loverbird,” He snaps his fingers and the door behind Jason swings open, “I made sure to invite some friends for your big day!”

One by one, Jason sees other patients of Arkham Asylum fill the room.

Bane, Calendar Man, Clayface, Poison Ivy, Killer Croc, Victor Zsasz, Two-Face, and Scarecrow, all wearing birthday hats. On the looks of the faces visible, it’s obvious no one wants to be here, but they must be here for something else.

Please turn on your magic beam

“Happy Birthday to you~” The villains all start reluctantly singing to Jason, besides Joker who seems to have something up his sleeve for this event.

Jason looks down at the wiggling cake and he can see the crude writing of “Happy Birthday” on the cake and the worms trying to escape the brown frosting. The sight of it is sickening and he can feel his stomach churning, yet his mouth still watered at the sight of food.

Joker grabs a fistful of Jason’s dark curls and continues to sing happy birthday, “Happy birthday, dear Jason~ Happy birthday to you~” He leans in close to whisper in Jason’s ear, “Make a wish, pumpkin,” Before slamming Jason’s face into the cake.

The clown keeps Jason’s face in the cake for a couple more seconds, almost like he’s trying to suffocate the young man, before pulling his face away while laughing, “That never gets old!”

Joker lets Jason go then turns around, “I have somewhere to be; sorry for not staying longer for your big day,” He looks over his shoulder and smiles, “You have fun with your guests, but remember to brush your teeth, finish your homework, and be in bed by nine.”

And with that, the clown exits the room and leaves Jason with the other patients, who seem excited to have some “fun” with Jason; as evidenced by their sadistic smirks, Bane cracking his knuckles, and Zsasz playing with his sharp knife.

Jason can already feel the dizziness and sickness coming in.

Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream

Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream

Joker takes his time walking to the chest freezer sitting in the back of the walk-in freezer at the asylum. Walking just behind is Officer Frank Boles holding a flashlight. The officer was bought off by Joker when the clown first obtained the boy blunder six months ago to help keep Jason a secret from everyone else in the asylum and to the people outside.

Make him the cutest that I've ever seen

“Oh, lamb chop! You’ve been hiding in here for nearly half an hour,” Joker stops in front of the chest freezer. He flashes Officer Boles a crazy grin before opening the lid and taking a peek inside, “How are you feeling?”

Jason’s body was violently shivering, his nose was completely red, and his skin was pale, almost like a dead body. He can feel the light shining on him, but his eyes refuse to open too wide, “B-Batman…? Is that y-you?”

Joker reaches out and lightly taps Jason’s cheek, but due to how cold the younger man was, those small slaps hurt a lot. Joker leans his elbows on the edge of the opening then whispers, “Batman’s not coming to save you, Jason.”

“He’ll come…” Jason mutters through chattering teeth as his eyes peer up at Joker’s.

Joker leans back then rests his hands on the lip of the opening, “It’s been six months now, Jason,” He tilts his head in a cruel manner as his smile turns upward even more, “I think it’s time to face facts.”

Jason’s eyes narrow into a glare and he spits out, “S-Screw you!” Despite the cold, the fire still burns in his eyes, albeit a bit dim.

Joker laughs then pats Jason on the head, “That’s the spirit! You’re a real chip off the ol’ Bat block,” He looks down at his hand like he was checking his nails, even though he’s wearing gloves, “Not that it’ll do you any good.

Jason closes his eyes, almost like in a defeated way, “Why w-won’t you just kill m-me…?” He mutters slowly.

Give him the word that I'm not a rover

Joker acts shocked after hearing Jason’s question, “What? No, no, no, no,” He places his gloved hand on his chest to emphasize his point, “I’m not going to kill you,” He shrugs with a sadistic smirk on his face, “not yet anyway,” He leans closer with a big smile on his face and gently taps Jason’s frozen cheek, “You’re my sidekick now. Imagine it,” He waves his hand outward like he was trying to show Jason the scenario, “You and me, out on the streets, starting fights, picking on the weak, a regular dynamic duo,” He reaches into his coat pocket then pulls out a picture while saying, “Just like Bats and that new kid of his.”

Jason tried his hardest to shake his head in disbelief, but his neck felt like it was frozen solid, “No, h-he wouldn’t…” His voice is barely above a whisper.

Joker playfully smirks then tilts his head mockingly, “You think?” He looks down at the picture in his hand, “So this isn’t Batman then?” He shows the contents of the picture to Jason, “The pointy ears are usually a dead giveaway.”

“No…” Jason can feel any hope he has left for Batman to save him slowly draining away.

Joker carefully puts the picture back into his coat pocket, “I didn’t want to show you that photo, really I didn’t,” He looks down at Jason with a mock look of pity, “But, well it was the only way for you to get closure,” He crosses his arms and looks off as he continues speaking, “Now I know it hurts but sometimes,” A big, cruel, sadistic smile appears on his face as he backs up from the chest freezer, “you gotta be cruel to be kind,”

Joker gives a nod to Officer Boles then the officer closes the chest freezer, leaving Jason cold and alone in the dark.

Then tell him that his lonesome nights are over

Sandman, I'm so alone

Jason’s hands is tied behind his back, he’s bloody and bruised, it hurts to breathe, his vision is blurry, and his head feels like it was being split open.

Through his daze he looks up in time for the crowbar to swing and hit him square in the jaw then causing him to fall onto his side with groan of pain coming from him.

He coughs up some blood onto the floor then tried to catch his breath.

Joker steps closer to Jason with the bloody crowbar in hand, “Wow, that looked like it really hurt,” The smile on his lips curls upward into a more twisted grin, his yellowish white teeth on full display.

He raises the crowbar into the air then swung it down on Jason as hard as he can; Joker does this two more times.

Jason falls onto his back and grunts in pain, he can feel blood dribbling down the corner of his mouth. He knows for sure he has fractured and even broken bones in his body that will never properly heal.

Don't have nobody to call my own

“Whoa, now, hang on,” Joker walks closer to Jason breathing heavily on the floor, “That looked like it hurt a lot more,” He carefully pats the crowbar in his hand as he continues speaking, “So let’s try and clear this up,” He cocks his head to the side in a mockingly questioning way, “okay, pumpkin?”

“What hurts more?” Joker raises the crowbar above his head, “A?” Then swings it down onto Jason’s chest, “Or B?” Then swings the crowbar down onto his leg.

“Forehand?” Joker swings the crowbar into Jason’s face, “Or backhand?” He raises the crowbar across his chest before swinging it into Jason’s shoulder.

Joker continues beating Jason with the crowbar, each time causing Jason to grunt and groan in pain, his body to jolt with each swing.

Please turn on your magic beam

Joker maniacally cackles. In his eyes, these past nine months have been a blast. Batman has been miserable, Jason is afun plaything to beat, and Joker loves it!

Jason looks over his shoulder, his eyes narrowing at Joker, then mutters something inaudible under his breath.

Hearing this, Joker gets down onto his hands and knees to better hear the young man, “Ah, uh, ah…” He mocks. He cups his hand over his ear then leans in a bit closer and whispers, “A little louder, lamb chop,” He places his hand in Jason’s hair, “I think you may have a collapsed lung,” While speaking, he ruffles the young man’s hair, “That always impedes the oratory.”

With some strength, Jason lifts his head and spits blood onto Joker’s face. Despites months of torture, Jason refuses to give up; he’s been through hell before growing up in Crime Alley and that didn’t break his spirit.

Joker is shocked, angry, and a bit disgusted by the act and in retaliation grips a fistful of Jason’s hair painfully before slamming his face into the concrete ground.

Joker stands up straight as he glares at Jason on the ground, “Now, that was rude,” He takes out a handkerchief from his jacket pocket then dabs away the blood on his cheek, “The first boy blunder had some manners.”

Jason looks over his shoulder and with a small, cheeky smile on his face, feeling proud of himself for that small act of defiance.

Joker finishes cleaning his face then puts his handkerchief back into his jacket pocket, “I suppose I’m going to have to teach you a lesson so you can better follow in his footsteps,” He looks up in thought for a few moments before a wide grin crosses his face and says, “Nah, I’m just gonna keep beating you with this crowbar,” He steps on Jason’s back and presses more pressure onto his spine.

Jason stares up at Joker then closes his eyes to mentally prepare himself for the beatings.

Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream

Mr. Sandman (yes) bring us a dream

Harley Quinn is the one handling Jason now while Joker is away. The clown gave her a list on what to do with Jason for her to follow. Since she’s madly in love with the madman, she made sure to follow it to the T.

Jason’s wrists is cuffed to the metal bedframe with a bag over his head to block his sight; as Harley Quinn described to him earlier, when a person loses one of their senses, the brain rewires itself and enhances the other senses to pick up the slack.

With Jason’s sight temporarily gone, he feels the things around him more than he would with his sight, and that was Joker’s goal. He can feel the cattle prod shocking the metal of the bedframe before feeling the shock course through his tense body.

Give him a pair of eyes with a "come-hither" gleam

Harley Quinn giggles in delight and claps her hands together, “Isn’t this fun, birdbrain?” She looks down at Joker’s list in her hand and traces the hearts she drew around his name, “Mistah J was so kind to leave us a list of activities to have fun with,” She giggles again before stopping, “Why aren’t ya laughin’!?” She shocks the metal bedframe with the cattle prod and causes Jason’s body to tense up and yells out in pain.

He doesn’t know how much longer he can go on like this before finally breaking; he’s been trying to distract himself from the torture by thinking of his life before going after his biological mother, but it sometimes ends with him hurting himself emotionally. He misses his friends and family and would love nothing more than to go back to them, but he still doesn’t regret going after his mom.

Give him a lonely heart like Pagliacci

“M-Mama…” Jason weakly calls out through slur mumbles. He can’t give up, his mom still needs help; even though she was the one who ratted him out to Joker.

Harley Quinn snickers and walks over to Jason. “Shelia ain’t comin’ to get ya, birdie,” She twirls the cattle prod in her hand as she speaks, “Don’t forget, she sold ya out to Mistah J.” She shakes her head and softly chuckles like she was remembering something funny, “Man, I don’t know if ya remember, but the look of her face when she came back with Mistah J was hilarious.”

Jason angrily huffs. He hates hearing her talk about his mom’s misery like that, “Screw you!” After that he was immediately met with the tingling feeling of electricity flowing through his nervous system.

Harley Quinn keeps the cattle prod against the metal for a few more minutes until Jason was a babbling mess. She smiles and lifts the bag to show the drooling, dazed mess underneath. She grabs his hair and forces him to look up at her. She sniffs the air then comments, “Smells like chicken,” Then she let's his head drop.

And lots of wavy hair like Liberace

Mr. Sandman, someone to hold (someone to hold)

Jason was drowning. He was tied down to a chair, on his back, and drowning. He wasn’t actually drowning, but the soaking cloth over his face makes it pretty damn hard to get any air into his greedy lungs.

Harley Quinn checks her nails while she continues to pour water over his covered mouth and nose. She seems bored and over with the whole thing; all she wants to do is spend time with Joker instead of some kid, “Jeez, it’s been almost an hour. How long I got to keep this up?”

Jason gurgles and sputters as he tries to breathe underneath the cloth.

Would be so peachy before we're too old

Harley Quinn cups her hand over her ear and leans down a little while still pouring the water over Jason’s face then asks, “What’s that? I can’t understand ya. Speak up!”

Jason tries moving his head around to get some air, but that only lasted for a few seconds before Harley Quinn was pouring water over his mouth and nose again.

So please turn on your magic beam

Soon the water in the jugs runs dry and Harley Quinn throws it over her shoulder, not caring where it lands. She leaves Jason on the floor for a few more minutes to let him catch his breath and not die of asphyxia.

She looks to her right at the other jug filled to the brim with water to pour over Jason, but her arm was getting tired and she really wants to get out of here to be with Joker.

Harley Quinn looks down at Jason with a big grin on her face, “Good news! I’m wrappin’ up your morin’ constitutional early!” She claps her hands cheerfully then grabs his chair to sit him upright, “We’ll take a quick break, sweetums.”

She takes a few steps away from Jason toward the door, “You and me got another big day ahead of us, Toddy Woddy!”

She opens the door then steps out and closes the door behind her.

Mr. Sandman, bring us, please, please, please

Jason was left sitting alone, dripping wet, struggling to breath, with Mister Sandman by the Chordettes playing in the room. It was a song Joker likes playing when torturing Jason; in some twisted way he finds it a bit comforting to just hear the song when the sounds of his screams, his laughter, and whatever Joker is torturing him with doesn’t mix with the lyrics.

He’s heard from a passing conversation between Joker and Harley Quinn about April 27th is right around the corner; it’s been a whole year since Jason was captured.

Mr. Sandman, bring us a dream

[al-dusty33]

Loverbird

Chapter 2: The Iceberg Lounge

Summary: Moving to Gotham City for your dad's job promotion, you find yourself in the middle of a city-wide conspiracy theory about the mysterious disappearances. Teaming up with Robin, you set off to get to the bottom of it all and find out who is behind all of it.

First Chapter | Next Chapter

The reader is non-binary but was born a female. If that's not your type of reader, then don't continue reading. Or do, I can't control you.

Warning: This book (not just this chapter) contains swearing, violence, sexual content, mature themes, alcohol consumption, near death experiences, and Joker.

09/06/2022 (Morning)

It was the first day of Gotham City High School. (Name)'s mom is driving them to school. They lie their head against the passenger window to watch the daily lives people of Gotham went through every morning. Despite the chaos of the night life, the morning life seems to be the exact opposite with its tranquility.

"Mom, you didn't have to drive me to school," (Name)'s eyes looked over to their mom, "I could've taken the bus."

(Name)'s mom shakes her head, "Not after what happened a few days ago," Her eyes flicker over to theirs before looking at the road again, "I don't feel comfortable with you being alone in the city."

They take a deep breath in and then say, "Fair point," They look out the window again.

They wonder if they can somehow ask Robin to take them to school but since he looks no older than them, the chances of him being free to do that is slim to none.

(Name)'s mom pulls up to the school's entrance, "My love, my cherub, one of the loves of my life, you have a great day. Be cool, be safe, be merry, don't forget to make somebody laugh or smile today because you never truly know if they need it in their back pocket or yours," She gently grabs their hand and squeezes it, "And don't forget, to smackth the dayth and conquer it and make it your bitch," She leans in and kisses the side of their head, "And don't forget I love you."

It's something (Name)'s mom has been saying since Oliver started attending school all those years ago. It changes everyday but the love behind the words is still there just as strong as the first time it was uttered.

(Name) smiles at their mom, "Love you too; see ya!" They open the car door and take their first step toward the unknown.

--

The school day so far has been going slow; every class was only an introduction to the class and what the students would expect as classwork.

(Name) checks their schedule on their phone to where their English class is located, but they feel like they've been going around in circles looking for the class.

Feeling frustrated and confused, (Name) summons up the courage to walk up to a random student.

"Excuse me," (Name) taps his shoulder, "I'm looking for Mr. Baxter's room," They show him their phone, "Can you show me where it is."

He seems surprised to see them before snapping out of it and taking a peek at their phone. His blue eyes scan over the screen before smiling at them, "I'm heading to that class now; you can follow me."

(Name) was mildly surprised at the revelation, but they were pleased with the result, "Sweet, lead the way..." Their voice trails off as their eyes look him over, "Sorry, I don't know your name."

"No need to apologize," He holds his hand out for them to shake, "Name's Jason Todd."

They shake his hand, "(Name) (LastName); I'm new here."

"Oh, I know..." Jason mumbles under his breath with a small huff of amusement. He lets go of their hand and lets his fall back to his side.

"Uh..." (Name) narrows their eyes at him, "How exactly did you know that?" Was he a secret stalker of theirs? That comment was definitely a red flag.

Jason shakes his head, "Don't think anything weird about that," He crosses his arms, "The reason I knew was because where that classroom was at," He starts walking off, "People who've already been attending this school would already know where each subject is located at school."

Now they felt like a bit of an ass for assuming the worst of him, but could you blame them when a few days ago they were kidnapped by some people.

(Name) follows behind Jason, "Right, right. That makes sense."

Jason looks over his shoulder at them with that same soft smile on his face, "It's fine; you should always be a bit wary of the people around you in Gotham," He looks forward again.

They let out a small sigh of relief at the fact he wasn't mad at them, "Good to know."

Jason leads (Name) to Mr. Baxter's classroom and the two take a seat next to each other.

"Thanks for helping me, Jas-" (Name) looks over at him to see admiring someone. Following his line of sight to see a girl with long, flowing brown hair, beautiful brown eyes, and tan skin. She was laughing and talking with two other girls.

"She's gorgeous..." Jason mutters with a dopey smile. He leans his head in the palm of his hand.

(Name) looks back and forth between Jason and the girl before a small smirk appears on their face, "Oh~ What's this?" They gently nudged him to get his attention again, "Who's the cute girl?"

Jason's cheeks turn a little pink at being caught red-handed, "Huh! Wh-What?" His eyes glanced over at the girl before returning to (Name), "Her? That's Rena Robinson."

"You like her?" (Name) asks in a teasing tone, "There's no need to be shy about it."

Jason deflates a little with a tiny sigh of annoyance, "Yeah, fine, I like her," His eyes trail over to Rena once more, "I've had a crush on her since last school year; we both started attending here in the middle of the year around the same time."

(Name) nods their head while listening, "I see..." They clasp their fingers together and rest their chin on them, "Obviously you didn't make a move on her yet."

Jason crosses his arms and leans back in his chair, "And how did you come to that conclusion, (Name)?"

"You're sitting here and admiring her from afar instead of being over there and talking to her," They explain in a slightly teasing tone, "It's not hard to figure that one out, Jason."

Jason softly chuckles, "Nice deduction, Detective."

(Name) smiles at him, "I try my best."

The bell rings to signify the start of class.

~[After School]~

(Name) leans against a pillar and scrolls through their phone while waiting to be picked up.

"Hey, (Name)," A voice pops out of nowhere next to them.

They jump a little and look over to see Jason standing next to them, "Goodness gracious... You scared me," They let out a small breath and put their phone away, "You get picked up as well?"

Jason leans back against the pillar with them, "No, I'm standing out here because I can," He says in a sarcastic way, "Of course I get picked up."

"No need to be a sarcastic prick," (Name) grumbles and then softly chuckles, "So, who's picking you up?" They look toward the parking lot and see Dad pulling up, "Nevermind, my Dad's here."

Jason points to the car behind (Name)'s dad, "My butler is here."

"Butler?" (Name) repeats with a look of surprise on their face.

An older gentleman steps out of the driver's side and walks around the car, "Come along, Master Jason."

Jason looks at (Name), "Let me introduce you to Alfred," He gently grabs their elbow and drags them over, "Alfred! This is my new friend, (Name) (LastName)."

The butler, Alfred, bows toward the two teens, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss (Name). I've heard your last name before."

(Name) raises an eyebrow in confusion, "You have?"

"You're still bultering, eh?," (Name)'s Dad's voice calls out as he exits the car, "It's been years, Alfred."

Alfred looks over at (Name)'s Dad and soft smiles at the man, "Mr. (LastName), it has been quite a while since I've seen you."

(Name) almost took a physical step back at their conversation, "Wait, what?" They glance between the two, "You guys know each other?"

"I didn't expect that..." Jason mumbles, equally surprised by the reveal.

(Name)'s Dad's gaze moves over to their child, "Believe it or not, but I'm childhood friends with Bruce Wayne," He lets out a hearty chuckle, "The way we met was through our moms, who were friends since high school."

(Name) opens and closes their mouth a few times, trying to come up with a response before stammering out, "You were childhood friends with a celebrity like Bruce Wayne?"

(Name)'s Dad nods his head, "Pretty neat, huh?" He turns his attention toward Alfred, "How has Bruce been since I last saw him?"

"Master Bruce can sometimes become a recluse, but he tries getting out there with different events," Alfred explains, "But regardless of all that, he's still the same person you knew before you moved."

"That's good to hear," (Name)'s Dad's gaze turns downward, "I'm happy he was able to move on from that incident..."

Alfred seems like he was going to correct (Name)'s Dad but decides against it.

(Name)'s Dad looks up again with a small smile on his face, "It was great seeing you again, and hopefully I'll see Bruce sometime soon, but (Name) and I should get going," He opens the passenger side door, "I still have the same phone number; he can reach out if he chooses to do so."

Alfred was happy to hear that, "I'll let Master Bruce know, Mr. (LastName)," He looked at Jason again, "We should get going as well, Master Jason."

Jason was caught off guard by Alfred suddenly talking to him, "Uh, yeah, sure," His gaze moves over to (Name), "I'll see you later then."

"Yeah, see ya, Jason," (Name) enters the car and closes the car door after.

--

During the car ride home, (Name) decides to bring up the surprising fact of her dad's apparent friendship with Bruce Wayne.

They tap their fingers against their thigh for a few moments and then start speaking, "So..." They look over at him from the corner of their eye, "You and Bruce Wayne were friends, huh?"

(Name)'s dad nods and says, "Eh-heh."

"Cool. Cool, cool, cool..." (Name) looks out the car window to watch the scenery fly by, "Coolio..." The conversation seems tense and awkward for no real reason at all and (Name) hates it. To help break up more of the silence, they continue to ask questions, "How did you two meet?"

(Name)'s dad quickly looks over at them before refocusing his attention back on the road ahead of him, "Our moms were friends in high school," He lets out a small chuckle and then says, "It's funny how our moms were friends, then we were friends, and now it's you and that Jason kid. It's like fate."

Fate? Was it really fate that kept bringing (Name)'s family back to Bruce Wayne's family? Or was it just a huge coincidence?

Silence floods between them once more, but luckily the radio was on to stop it from becoming an intense silence.

~[Evening]~

"What!?" Oliver and Alexandra shouts at the same time after hearing about the fact that their dad, Grant (LastName), a man who worked in a warehouse for nearly twenty years, was friends with Bruce Wayne once upon a time ago.

Alexandra runs her fingers through her hair and then down her face, "How do we keep finding out Dad has rich friends like them?"

Oliver has his arms crossed and his gaze down toward the floor in a bit of deep thought, "I've been alive for 21 years and never once have I heard of anything hinting at Bruce Wayne being part of Dad's history..." He mumbles under his breath.

"Dad was the one who brought up the idea of contact after all these years and we just have to wait for Bruce Wayne to accept the offer or not," (Name) explains. Being able to explore a big house Bruce Wayne lives in seems to excite them, "I hope he does accept the offer."

The idea of fate comes back to the forefront of their mind once again. If it's truly fate then they're not going to complain with fate intertwining their family with a rich one.

~[Midnight]~

"How are we going to find Penguin?" (Name) asks through grunts as they do burpees.

Robin continues scanning the area around them, "He's most likely at the Iceberg Lounge."

The two are currently standing on a new rooftop in the Safe Zone.

(Name) stops their training and lies on the rooftop on their stomach, "Where's that at?"

"At East-Side," Robin points at a building that looks like an iceberg, "It's not hard to miss it."

They stand up and walk toward the edge next to him, "It looks beautiful from here..." They mutter to themselves.

He crosses his arms, "Sure, but getting in there is going to be hard," He looks at them, "The best way to get in is with disguises."

The idea of sneaking in with disguises seems to excite (Name), "Disguises?" They pump their fist into the air, "Hell yeah! What are we going in as?"

"Uh..." Robin looks out toward the Iceberg Lounge again, "Good question..."

"What's this? Did the little birdie get a new little bunny friend?"

Robin and (Name) look behind them and see a woman in a black, latex, full body suit, a hood with cat ears mounted on top, and a pair of red goggles. The woman was undeniably beautiful.

Robin relaxes a little, but still stays on guard, "Catwoman, what are you doing here?" He crosses his arms, "This isn't your usual place."

Catwoman checks her nails, "That's none of your business," Her eyes lock on (Name) and point her finger at them, "Who's this?"

Snapping out of their small trance, (Name) clears their throat and speaks, "I'm- uh... I'm Bunny," They smile at Catwoman, "Nice to meet ya!"

Catwoman saunters closer to them, "An adorable little thing," They feel her nail ghost underneath their chin and causing them to look up a little more, "I didn't think the Bat would have bunnies join his team. Speaking of..." She looks at Robin, "How is my brooding boy scout doing?"

"Spread thin," Robin answers as his body relaxes a little more, "He's barely getting any micro naps."

Catwoman looks up in thought, "Maybe I should pay him a little visit and help him relax," She looks at the two again, "Now then, what is this about disguises?"

(Name) glances at Robin to see if they should answer honestly or not.

Robin points behind him at the Iceberg Lounge, "We need disguises to infiltrate in there."

Catwoman's gaze moves to the Iceberg Lounge for a few moments before moving back to the two teens, "The best way to sneak in there as guests, but to get closer to Ozzy is a different story," She plants her hands on her hips and looks at (Name), "You're gonna need to be a hostess working there."

(Name) stiffens a little when Catwoman's eyes land on them, "I'm sorry? I'm gonna be working as a hostess? Like the person behind the podium that takes people to their tables?"

Catwoman softly smiles and shakes her head, "Not that type of hostess, little bunny. The type who caters to men seeking drinks and attentive conversation."

"Hell no," They cross their arms and refuse to meet her gaze, "I'm not doing that."

"It's not that hard," Catwoman brings their attention back to her, "Dress up nice, make small talk, and keep the men entertained," She gently grasps their chin and moves their head from side to side as she inspects them, "I can help you fit into the role."

(Name) pushes her hand away, "I don't wear dresses or wear makeup; it's not my thing."

Robin places his hand on their shoulder, "That's part of this job; we sometimes do things we don't want to do to solve a case."

(Name) groans, "Fine... I'll wear the dress and wear makeup."

Catwoman looks them over and then asks, "Have you ever fought in heels before?"

"I barely ever fought before, let alone in heels," (Name) answers.

"I have a lot of work to do..." Catwoman mumbles before looking at Robin, "We'll take the next few days to prepare her for the Iceberg Lounge."

Robin nods his head in agreement.

09/13/2022 (Night)

The past few days have been blurred together and a week has already passed. Catwoman kept true to her word and helped teach (Name) how to fight both in and out of heels.

Were they the best at it? Far from it; they still have a lot to learn, but at least they feel more confident protecting themselves.

Robin and (Name) stand on a rooftop near the Iceberg Lounge. Catwoman promised to get them the outfit the hostesses wear.

"You don't think I would have to wear anything too revealing, right?" (Name) nervously asks Robin. This is the first time in years they would wear a dress and the idea made them a little uncomfortable.

Robin offers them a comforting smile, "Don't worry. I bet Catwoman would adjust the outfit for you."

Despite trying to ease their nerves, it only seemed to intensify them instead.

(Name) looks over at the Iceberg Lounge. They would be by themselves in there with little to no backup in there.

Seemingly sensing that fear from them, Robin steps closer to them and gently places his hand on their shoulder to not freak them out any more, "I'll be there with you..." His thumb rubs soothing circles into their shoulder, "You might not see me, but I'll be watching over you," He turns their head to make them look at him, "I won't let them do anything to you, I promise."

(Name)'s eyes admire Robin's confidence and they can't help but smile at him, "Thanks, Robin..." They softly said.

The two stand there smiling at one another when Catwoman lands a couple feet away from them. (Name) and Robin looks over at Catwoman as she shows off what she brought along with her.

"Here's your outfit with the necessary accessories," She hands it to (Name), "Now go get changed and I'll do your hair and makeup after."

(Name) takes a quick look around to change before walking behind a large air conditioner on the rooftop to change.

The outfit consisted of a black V-Neck open back short dress, a white feather scarf, and black high heels with a scarlet red outsole. The outfit was beautiful and made them feel more confident than they actually did.

They walk out from behind the air conditioner and do a runway-like walk just as Catwoman instructed them to do. Once they got close enough, they did a small spin to show off the outfit.

(Name)'s hands glide over their dress, liking the way it feels, and then look up at Catwoman and Robin with a bit of a sheepish smile on their face, "How do I look?"

Catwoman looks them up and down and then smiles, "Beautiful. Isn't that right, Robin?" She didn't get a response. A few moments passed before calling his name again.

Looking over, Robin was standing there completely silent, maybe even forgetting how to breathe, before snapping out of whatever trance and clearing his throat while looking away, "Yeah, you look great..."

(Name) doesn't question Robin's reaction and instead nervously smooths out their dress, "I guess now it's time for the makeup..."

Catwoman softly smirks and walks up to them, "I'll give you a smokey eyeshadow look paired with a striking red lipstick," She takes their hand to force them to sit down on the air conditioner.

(Name) had no idea how this whole thing was going to go down. Will they catch the person behind it? Will they find something else? Are they going to die after one wrong move? Too many possibilities can happen tonight and not many good outcomes are coming to mind. But they have to push all that away for this mission.

--

Catwoman helps sneak (Name) through a side entrance to the Iceberg Lounge.

She gently pats their back and whispers, "Good luck, little bunny," Before quickly disappearing.

(Name) sucks in a deep breath and then heads further into the back.

The backroom area of the Iceberg Lounge is to be expected for a typical backroom of this type of business. A small, bland hallway with doors probably leading to the kitchen, a dressing room for the girls, and a storage room. At the end of the hallway are stairs leading up and a guard not paying attention to his current surroundings, most likely to where the Penguin's office is.

They need to find a way to get up there, but there is nothing they can do right now. They walk into the dressing room and are greeted with someone looking frantic and quickly scanning over their clipboard.

He looks up from his clipboard at the sound of the door opening, "You! Are you Natasha Moore?" He asks in a desperate tone of voice.

(Name) seems a bit taken aback by the sudden question and answers hesitantly, "Yes...?" They nervously smile and their body stiffens.

He looks them over before grabbing their wrist and dragging them out of the changing room, "You're late, but I doubt the boss would notice," He pushes them into the main room of the casino, "Just entertain the guests and keep them gambling," Then he closes the door behind them.

(Name) stands there in surprise for a couple moments before snapping out of it.

Okay, they need to find a way to reach the Penguin. Easy, right? ...How the hell are they going to do that?

They take a deep breath and put Catwoman's training to the test. Become the confident, sexy person (Name) knows they can be!

They walk further into the room to stake out the place, to find people who can get to Penguin. Glancing up, they see a room above with large floor-to-ceiling windows across the wall for whoever is up there to watch over the main area like a hawk, or in this case, Penguin.

"Hey, beautiful!" An older, white man calls out to (Name). He drunkenly smirks and pats his leg, "Why don't you come over here and sit on my lap. Maybe give me some sugar while you're at it," He loudly laughs and gains quick attention from the other guests around him.

(Name) rolls their eyes and internally cringes at his demand. She glances up and notices a short, round man staring down at the man with a look of disgust before shifting his gaze to them to see what they would do.

They look at the man and walk over to him, making sure to sway their hips just like Catwoman taught them. They stand next to him and place their hands on his shoulder with a soft smile on their face, "You seem to be having a good time, sit," They glance down at the roulette table before meeting his drunken gaze again, "You wanna bet the next one would be red?"

The drunk man laughs and shoves some of his chips on red, "Let's hope you're a lucky lady," He rests his hand on their lower back and (Name) just wants to twist his hand away.

The dealer spins the roulette wheel then tosses the ball in. Round and round the ball went until it finally landed in a small pocket then called out, "Fourteen red."

(Name) is mildly surprised they were right about the color, but they hope in some way to gain Penguin's attention.

The drunk man pats their lower back and the smug smirk on his face grows, "Good girl. What's the next one going to be?" He seems to blindly believe in their ability to simply guess.

"Uh..." They look down before randomly giving their guess.

The man places his faith in their guess and moves his chips accordingly. Once again, they were right.

This guessing game goes on for a while, with a few wrong guesses here and there, until the man has huge piles of chips next to him.

He hands some to (Name) then says, "Lady Luck deserves to get compensation for lending me her luck," He laughs and winks at them.

(Name) awkwardly smiles and nods along. Suddenly, they feel a tap on their shoulder and look over their shoulder to see a muscular man standing behind them.

"Excuse me, Ms. Moore, the boss wants to see you," The man turns to leave and nods his head toward the direction of the backroom, "Come with me."

(Name) is grateful to leave the drunk, creepy man's side and the meeting with Penguin. They follow behind the taller man with a bit of a pep in their sexy step.

He takes them upstairs to the private rooms for Penguin and his guests only and leads them down to the end of the hall to large, double doors. He knocks on the door and a cockney accent tells them to come in.

(Name) recognizes the voice as the same one on the radio from when they were kidnapped. They were surprised how lucky they were to get the person behind the kidnappings so quickly.

The man opens the door and allows (Name) to enter the room before closing it behind them.

Penguin stands in front of the large windows looking down with a glass of whiskey in hand, "Well, lass, you seem to be helpin' out the fine gentleman down there wit' your luck," He looks over his shoulder at her, the monocle he's wearing reflects the lights in the main hall, "Natasha, where hav' you been all my life wit' the luck you hav',"

(Name) slightly glares at him. There's no doubt in their mind that he's the one behind the kidnappings in Gotham, but how are they going to make him admit it?

Penguin slowly walks over to his desk, his walk reminding them of an actual penguin, then he sits down in the large, spinny chair, "I can really see you becomin' a real money maker for me," He snickers then lights a cigar.

"Would be an honor, Mr. Penguin," (Name) notices golf clubs on the wall and walks over to the rack, "Nice clubs," She carefully traces her finger over one of the clubs.

"I see you have a good eye there, lassie," Penguin downs his whiskey and cringes a bit before continuing his sentence, "I play a bit sometimes. How about you?"

(Name) shrugs their shoulders a little, "On very few occasions; my dad and brother play a lot with their friends from work," They carefully take down one of the clubs and weigh it in their hands, "It's been a while since I've last played; I don't think I even remember how to properly swing a club," Hopefully this leads somewhere.

Penguin smirks and sets down his cigar and empty glass then walks over to (Name), "I'll help ya get into position, lass," He steps behind her, "I'll tell ya anythin' ya need to know."

Not wanting this to go any farther, they push Penguin to the ground then steps on his chest to make sure he can't move.

They rest the golf club over their shoulders and glare down at him, "Then you can start with the whole kidnappings you've been doing across Gotham, Penguin."

Penguin was completely surprised and left speechless for a few moments before recovering and glaring up at her, "Ya sonvabitch! I'll kill ya!"

(Name) presses their foot more firmly against his chest then asks again, "Answer my question."

"Fuck you! I'll blow ya brains out and make it look like scrambled eggs!" Penguin angrily shouts as he tries to escape from under them.

"Alrighty then," (Name) holds the golf club firmly in their hands, "If you want scrambled eggs..." They hold the golf club at the starting position right between Penguin's legs, "I'll just make some using your cajones," They do a few practice swings above the area, but each time gets dangerously closer to the target.

(Name) doesn't have a real clue where all this courage came from, but they believe it's from the outfit and Robin being nearby in case something goes wrong. Speaking of, where is Robin?

At that moment, Robin drops down from the ventilation shaft above and lands silently on top of Penguin's desk.

"Wow, this is an unexpected sight," Robin comments with a small chuckle then drops down to the floor, "But I'm not complaining," He walks closer to them and crouches down near Penguin's head, "Tell us everything you know, Cobblepot."

Penguin nervously looks between Robin and the golf club before blabbering out, "I admit it, I'm the one behind the kidnappin's, but I'm not behind the whole operation!"

The confession made both (Name) and Robin surprised. Something bigger is happening in Gotham and the kidnappings are just scratching the surface of the whole thing with the high amount of crime happening is covering it all.

Robin grabs Penguin's throat and squeezes it just enough to let Penguin continue talking, "Who's really behind it all!?"

Before Penguin can answer, his guards kick open the door and aim their guns at the two.

Remember all that confidence (Name) had earlier? Yeah, all of that is gone and the terrified civilian comes back.

Robin grabs (Name)'s arm, which causes them to drop the golf club on Penguin, then jumps through the floor-to-ceiling window and grappling through the large window outside, making sure to protectively hold (Name) close to him.

--

The two continue to run for a few blocks over rooftops before finally stopping.

They still loosely hold onto one another as they catch their breath then look at each other with relieved smiles on their faces.

(Name) hugs Robin tightly and breathlessly says, "That was so much fun but also terrifying once the guns showed up," They pull back a little on the hug.

Robin softly chuckles and gently pats their back, "Honestly, I'm surprised with how I found you and Penguin; that was badass in a sexy kind of way," He jokingly says to them.

The two continue to laugh and loosely hold each other without a care in the world. They discovered something bigger than both of them, but right now, they just wanted to laugh it all away.

From above them, Catwoman stands on a rooftop watching over them with an amused smile on her face, "It's so obvious there'll be something between them," She turns on her heel and uses her whip to grapple onto a different rooftop to leave the two alone.

[al-dusty33]

My thoughts exactly.

Rät by Penelope Scott is so Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne

[al-dusty33]

Loverbird

Chapter 1: The Sidekick's Sidekick

Next Chapter

Summary: Moving to Gotham City for your dad's job promotion, you find yourself in the middle of a city-wide conspiracy theory about the mysterious disappearances. Teaming up with Robin, you set off to get to the bottom of it all and find out who is behind all of it.

The reader is non-binary but was born a female. If that's not your type of reader, then don't continue reading. Or do, I can't control you.

First time posting fanfiction on here so let me know if I should make changes in the chapter or if you would like more.

Warning: This book (not just this chapter) contains swearing, violence, sexual content, mature themes, alcohol consumption, near death experiences, and Joker.

09/01/2022 (Afternoon)

The door opens to the new apartment the (Last Name)'s moved into. (Name)'s father takes the first step inside and takes a deep breath in, "Can't believe I'm back in Gotham City after all these years..." he mumbles. He looks back at his family and waves them in, "Look around and choose a room."

(Name) walks in and looks around the empty apartment. This will be the place they'll be living at, "It's... Small..." They mutter under their breath before shrugging their shoulders and glancing outside, "Better than out there..."

On the car ride here, (Name) had already seen two drug deals and a few daytime hookers.

"Gotham City is definitely a bit different than the cornfields from Illinois," (Name)'s mother comments as she places a medium-sized cardboard box on the kitchen island.

Alexandra walks past her mom, completely absorbed in her phone, "A bit different is an understatement," Her gaze moves up from her phone to her mom, "The streets seem nice but there are criminals everywhere."

"And it was the crime and corruption that caused my family to move in the first place..." (Name)'s dad grumbles under his breath as he walks by to grab some boxes from the moving truck outside.

Oliver walks into the apartment holding a few cardboard boxes, "That should be this city's slogan," He sets the boxes on the floor in the empty living room.

"What?" Alexandra raises her eyebrow at Oliver and slips her phone back into her pocket, "Crime and corruption?"

Oliver nods his head with a mischievous smirk on his face, "It's perfect for this city," he starts making his way outside again as Alexandra follows him.

(Name) wanders further into the apartment to map out the layout in their head. They slip their headphones on to listen to some music as they walk from room to room.

When entering the apartment, you're immediately introduced to the living room and kitchen. Next to the kitchen is a hallway that leads to all the bedrooms.

At the far door on the right, (Name) opens the door and enters a decent-sized room. A soft smile graces their lips as they look around the room.

"This seems nice..." They walk over to the window and open it, "A fire escape..." (Name) slowly nods their head and glances around to the surrounding area outside, "Good to know in case of emergencies," They close the window and move to the middle of the room to envision how they want their room to look.

"You like it?" (Name)'s mom's voice breaks through the music playing through (Name)'s headphones.

(Name) removes one side of their headphones and looks back at their mom, "Yeah, I do," they do a small spin in the middle of the room, "It's like the room was made for me," They softly chuckle and glance out the window.

Their mom moves closer to the window and looks out, "You know, if you're lucky enough you might catch a glimpse of Batman."

"Batman?" (Name) stands next to their mom, "Why would he pop up around here?" They look around outside, "I heard this is a safe neighborhood," They cross their arms and lean against the window sill, "So safe in fact that some parents let their kids stay out later than most."

"That's just bad parenting..." Their mom mumbles under her breath and shakes her head, "But that is true about the neighborhood. Hence, why we moved here to this area."

(Name) looks at their mom, "Why did we move from Illinois to New Jersey? What was the reason?"

"It's because of your dad's job," Their mom explains and leans against the wall next to the window, "They offer a better job opportunity in Gotham City. Since he lived in the area before, he thought ‘why not’?" She softly smiles and looks out the window again, "After a while of discussing with me, we end up here."

"So, that's why you force us to take those self-defense classes?" (Name) asks, "So if we run into a mugger we have a chance to make it out alive?" They snicker, "You know, Mom, I was the fastest learner there," they feel a sense of confidence washed over them for a moment.

Their mom smiles and gently ruffles their hair, "I'm proud of you, (NickName)."

(Name)'s chest swells with a proud feeling, a feeling they don't think they'll ever get over.

"Well," (Name)'s mom pushes herself off the wall, "We should get back to unpacking," She makes her way to the exit, "We'll order out for tonight," With one last smile, she leaves.

~[Night]~

(Name)'s family took a break from unpacking and sat in the living room on metal folding chairs. They talked about how their life would be in Gotham City, the potential people they'd meet, and other random things that came to mind.

(Name) stares out the window at the red night sky and sees a small family of three walking down the street and enjoying the night air without too much fear. They softly smile at the sight.

"Are you excited to be starting a new school?" (Name)'s father's voice breaks (Name)'s out of their small trance.

(Name) moves their gaze over to their father, "Huh? School?" They look down at their hands for a moment and shrug, "I guess it's a thought but I'm not excited..."

Alexandra nods her head, "Making friends this late in middle school is going to be hard since everyone already knows each other," She pulls out her phone to scroll through TikTok.

(Name) stands up and stretches their arms above their head, "Whelp..." They slide their hands into their pockets, "I'm gonna go chill in my room for a bit," They start making their way to their room, "Come get me when the pizza gets here."

They walk down the hall and enter their room. A bang was heard outside their window.

(Name) raises an eyebrow, "What the...?" They walk over to their window and open it. They look around outside to see nothing unusual, "What was that...?" They look around a little more before closing the window again, "That's strange..." They mumble to themselves. They take one last glance outside their window before leaving it be.

09/03/2022 (Late Morning)

(Name) leaves the corner convenience store and walks down the sidewalk of Gotham. They scroll through their phone looking for music to listen to on their walk home.

One of the coins they were holding slips out of their grasp so they crouch down to get it. From the corner of their eye, they see a van slowing down a couple of yards away from them.

They raise their eyebrow at the sight but don't think much of it and continue their walk. A few minutes go by and (Name) takes another glance behind them to see the van still following them at the same distance.

Alarms go off in their mind and instead of continuing their path home, they turn down a random street with people around to see if the van is still following them. After another couple of minutes, (Name) looks back again to see the van still there.

Panic washes over them like a tidal wave and they pick up the pace. They couldn't go home with someone following them, they needed to lose them first.

(Name) takes random turns at every other street in hopes of losing their followers. They weren't thinking about where they were going, just hoping for the following to stop. They ran into a dead end in an alley.

Dread takes over their system as they frantically look around for a place to go. Seeing no way forward, they turn around only to be met with the van blocking their path. A muscular man gets out of the car with a handgun and makes his way toward (Name).

(Name) backs up as much as they can until the cool bricks hit their back. They looked around for something to defend themselves with but it was too late when the man pistol-whipped them in the head and knocked them out.

~[???]~

(Name) blinks their eyes open a few times in a daze. Their head was pounding and the fluorescent lights above them weren't helping. They look around to try and get a better idea of where they were at.

An old, splintering door was directly in front of them, the wallpaper around them was peeling, and any movement on the floorboards made it creak.

(Name) notices they were tied to a chair and they panicked. They struggled with their restraints and luckily they were loose. After a few moments of struggling, they managed to escape their restraints. (Name) checks their pockets for their phone only to find out that it is missing.

"Great..." (Name) grumbles under their breath. They took another look around the room and found a broken lead pipe. They smirked and picked it up, "Lucky me..."

They slowly crept their way over to the door to check if it was locked. It was not. (Name) narrows their eyes at the doorknob, "This feels like it's too easy..."

They carefully open the door a little to take a peek outside. Seeing no one there, (Name) mentally prepares themselves and ventures down the hall.

As they creep down the hall, a door left ajar catches their attention. Opening the door reveals a makeshift office inside. (Name) peeks around to make sure it is safe before entering. They close the door behind them and head over to the desk in the corner. On the desk was their phone and a piece of paper.

(Name) picks up their phone and checks the time, "7:20 PM... I was out for a couple of hours..." Their gaze moves over to the paper and reads it over.

___________________________________________

Anastasia Romanova

23 - F

Sebastian Facilier

26 - M

Delilah Jones

14 - F

Earving Glover

15 - M

Geoff Roberts

25 - M

(Name) (Last Name)

16 - F

___________________________________________

"Holy crap..." (Name) whispers out loud before opening the camera app on their phone and taking a picture of it. They flipped the page to see addresses correlating to each name. They take a picture of that as well before placing the paper down.

They looked around the office a little more and found nothing of interest. They walk over to the door and open it a little to see two armed guys standing at the top of the stairs.

Anxiety floods their brain as (Name) listens in on their conversation.

"So, do ya 'ave the lass?" A guy with a cockney accent asks through the radio.

One of the guys leaned into their radio and said, "We have her, sir. She wasn't a problem at all."

"Good. The client said to make sure not to harm the girl. He says she will help with his experiment."

"We know, sir."

"He better hurry before the Bat shows up," Then radio silence.

(Name) watches one of the guards walk away, leaving the other guy completely vulnerable to an attack. (Name) readjusts their grip on the metal pipe before carefully creeping over to the lone guard. Once they got close enough, they raised the metal pipe above their head and then swung it down on the guy's head. The guy collapses to the ground unconscious.

(Name) takes a few moments to calm themselves down before making their way downstairs. And from their view, they saw five guys with guns.

They gulp and tip-toe to an isolated guy. They get closer to him and the gun turns around to face them. Before the guy can call out to someone, (Name) punches him right below the chin which snaps the guy's head back and knocks him out.

(Name) glances behind them to see two guards walking towards them. They quickly looked around and saw an empty can. Picking it up, they threw it out the window to cause a loud sound.

"What was that?" One of the guys asks the other as he aims his gun toward the window.

The other shrugs and lightly nudges the other, "Let's check it out then. Better for both of us to go in case it's the Bat."

The first guy lets out a small sigh and shakes his head, "I admire your confidence, Dylan..." He grumbles under his breath before the two guys leave to check it out.

(Name) let out a breath they didn't realize they were holding. After waiting a few minutes, they slowly make their way to the next guy standing next to the couch in the living room.

The guard's mind seems to be in the clouds as he stands there. (Name) sneaks up behind him before swinging the metal pipe to the side of his head and knocking him out on the couch.

(Name) smiles a little and thinks that everything is going smoothly until they feel something cold pressed against the back of their skull.

"Where do you think you're going, little lady?" A gruff-sounding voice came from behind them. They could smell cigarette smoke oozing off him.

(Name) drops the pipe and holds their hands up, "Fuck..." They mutter under their breath as their anxiety starts to rise inside them. They peek behind their shoulder to see the last guy lean into their radio but before he can get a word out, someone kicks him in the face.

The guy drops his gun and stumbles a few steps back with his hand cradling his cheek. He spits out some blood along with a tooth and glares at his attacker.

(Name) looks up and sees Robin standing there in a fighting stance.

"So it was you guys behind the missing people..." Robin mumbles under his breath. He clenches his fists even tighter and his jaw tightens.

"You're not going to do shit without the bat, kid!" The guy yells before cracking his knuckles, "I'm going to bury you alive!" He runs toward Robin with his fist in the air, ready to punch the living daylights out of him.

Robin sidesteps and trips the oncoming guy which causes him to stumble forward.

The guy falls to the ground and picks up a nearby glass shard. He quickly gets up and lunges at Robin in an attempt to stab him.

The guy manages to cut Robin's arm. Robin grabs his arm for a second and checks his hand for blood. When he sees some, Robin bares his teeth, "You jackass..." He kicks the side of the guy's leg.

The guy quickly recovers from the kick and punches Robin in the gut. He goes to grab a nearby lamp.

Robin staggers a bit from being punched but takes out a batarang from his utility and throws it at the lamp to knock away the guy's reach.

The lamp falls to the ground and the base breaks. The guy glares at Robin and lunges at him again. He manages to pin Robin against a wall.

(Name) stood there frozen in fear. The moment Robin was pinned, (Name) was able to snap out of whatever was holding them back. They immediately pick up the metal pipe again and run over to the guy to knock him out. Once they were close enough, they swung the metal pipe down on the guy's head and helped Robin.

Robin rubs his sore wrist and stares down at the unconscious guy. He glances up at (Name) for a moment, "Thanks for that..." He mumbles.

(Name) shrugs a little, "No problem, besides you did all the fighting and saved me so thank you," They smile a little at Robin. After a few moments, they collapse to their knees.

Robin was surprised by that and kneeled next to them, "Hey, are you okay? Did they hurt you?" He softly places his hand on their shoulder.

(Name) nods, "Yeah... I'm fine..." They look up at Robin, "It's just that I've never experienced this kind of situation before..." They gently grab Robin's forearm, "Honestly, I thought I was a goner for a second when I felt that gun..." They start hyperventilating a little, "I thought I was never going to see my family again..."

"Hey, hey, hey..." Robin rubs their back, "It's okay, what you're feeling is understandable..." He softly smiles at (Name), "You know, it's amazing you were able to get this far in your escape," He ruffles their hair a little, "That's impressive."

That was able to calm and cheer (Name) a little, "That honestly means a lot coming from you, Robin..." They smiled a little.

Robin rubs the back of his neck and looks away a little, "Sorry that Batman didn't show up, he's currently being run quite thin," He glares at nothing in particular, "Those damn criminals..." He grumbles under his breath.

(Name) raises an eyebrow at that comment but doesn't question it, "That doesn't matter, you still helped me," They contemplate to themselves for a moment before giving Robin a quick hug, "You're my hero..." They whisper into his ear.

Robin tenses up a little at the contact and feels his face warm up. He hesitates for a moment before wrapping his arms around their back, "Yeah... N-No problem," He clears his throat and lets them go, "We should head outside and wait for the GCPD."

(Name) releases him from the hug and clears their throat, "Sounds like a plan."

Robin stands up and offers (Name) his hand, "Let me help you up," An awkward, soft smile appears on his face.

(Name) stares at his hand for a few moments before taking his hand. They mutter out another thanks and the two walk out of the rundown building.

The two stand there in silence for a few minutes until Robin speaks up, "So... What's your name?" He glances to his right at them.

"(Name)..." They look at him, "(Name) (Last Name)," They squeeze Robin's hand a little before realizing they are still holding hands and let it go.

Robin nods, "Cool name," he looks down the street to try and see any flashing lights, "Do you go to school?"

(Name) nods, "Yeah, I'll be attending Gotham City High School," They slide their hands into their pockets and look down the other side of the street.

Robin's breath hitches in his throat, "Gotham City High School...?" He mutters out and glances over at them again, "Are you for real?"

"Yeah," (Name) looks back at Robin again and raises an eyebrow at him, "Is that a problem?"

Robin vigorously waves his hands in front of himself in a defensive way, "No, no, no!" He awkwardly chuckles and rubs the back of his neck, "There's no problem with that at all... I was just asking or whatever..." His voice trails off again as he looks away again.

(Name) looks Robin over for a moment before shrugging it off.

~[Night]~

(Name) has been sitting in the interrogation room for hours at the police station.

"So, how long have you known Robin?" Officer Montoya asks. She has her arms crossed and leans back against the wall.

(Name) groans and their head rolls back to rest on the back of their seat. They stare up at the ceiling for a few moments before answering, "How many times are you going to ask the same questions?" They narrow their eyes at Montoya, "I only recently moved to Gotham City and this is the first time I've seen him. There is nothing between us."

She looks away for a few seconds and then sighs, "I'm so sorry for keeping you here, it's just that the chief is refusing to let you go and the commissioner isn't here right now to talk some sense into him."

(Name) rests their hand on their chin and leans on the table in front of them, "I'm really tired... When will I go home?"

Officer Montoya walks over and gently pats (Name)'s shoulder, "Hopefully soon," She heads over to the door, "Again, I'm sorry for keeping you here. Chief Rojas is trying really hard to find a more definitive connection between you and Batman. For some unknown reason, he doesn't like Batman," Then she left.

(Name) sits there at the table for a couple of more minutes. Their eyes start to droop until eventually drift off to sleep.

~[Midnight]~

"Hey..." A male's voice calls out from the darkness as (Name) feels someone shaking them.

They blink their eyes open a few times and glance to see an older gentleman with greying red hair and gentle, tired blue eyes behind glasses.

"Sorry to wake you but are you (Name) (LastName)?" The man asks as he leans back a little from the table.

(Name) sits up in their seat and rubs their eyes, "Yeah..." They look around a little before their gaze lands on the man again, "Who are you...?" they mumble.

The man holds his hand out for (Name) to shake, "I'm Commissioner James Gordon," (Name) takes his hand and shakes it, "You're questioning is done so I'll be taking you home. We already told your parents what happened to you," He gently helps (Name) out of their seat, "Come on."

As Commissioner Gordon and (Name) leave the Interrogation room and head over to the police cruiser, they overheard an officer and a detective talking about the almost endless crimes happening every night and how everyone is getting tired by it.

--

The scenery of city buildings, cars, and people walking flies by the two as Commissioner Gordon drives (Name) home. The car ride was mostly silent besides the soft blues playing in the background.

"So..." Commissioner Gordon glances over to his right at (Name), "I heard from Officer Montoya that you and your family recently moved to Gotham City," He stops at a red light, "How are you liking it so far?"

(Name) shrugs as their gaze sticks to outside the window, "It's been fine... Besides being kidnapped by some random guys..." Their murmurs were so low Commissioner Gordon almost didn't hear them.

Commissioner Gordon takes a deep breath in, "Well, I'm glad your stay here has been fine so far..."

The two sit in silence at the red light. The silence was almost unbearable; Commissioner Gordon was thanking the stars that at least some music was playing.

The light turns green and Commissioner Gordon starts driving.

"Do you have any siblings?" He asks in hopes of starting up another conversation. He takes a right turn on a street in Gotham Village.

"Two. An older brother and a younger sister," (Name) answers. They look over at Commissioner Gordon and ask, "You have any kids, Commissioner?"

Commissioner Gordon almost smiles that this conversation wasn't going to be a total drag, "Two. Barbara and James Jr." He glances at (Name) for a few seconds then back at the road, "My daughter works part-time at the local library by where you live," He seems to be quite proud of his daughter.

A small smile starts to form on (Name)'s lips, "The library?" They look down for a moment as their smile grows, "I haven't been there yet..." They mumble to themselves under their breath. (Name)'s gaze moves back to the Commissioner, "How far is the library?"

"Just a few blocks," Commissioner Gordon answers. He soon pulls off to the side in front of (Name)'s apartment building, "Whelp, it's good talking to you and here..." He takes out a small folded piece of paper and hands it to (Name), "...If you ever need to reach me, just call that number."

(Name) takes the paper and looks it over before leaving the car, "Thanks, Commissioner Gordon," They look at him, "I'll give you a call..." They give him a small wave before closing the car door.

09/04/2023 (Morning)

That night, (Name) didn't get much sleep once they got home. Their mind kept going back to that piece of paper they found. They hope Commissioner Gordon will find it and the thought in (Name)'s head will finally rest.

They sat on the floor of their nearly empty living room. They gently nibble on the bottom lip, lost in thought about that stupid paper. They slip their phone out of their pocket and pull up the pictures of the sheet of paper.

The names are obviously for the people who were kidnapped, four people before them, but the addresses were what puzzled (Name). Were they the addresses of where the people lived, (Name) hasn't memorized their address yet, or was it the location of where they were kidnapped.

"Why can't you leave my mind, you stupid paper..." (Name) grumbles under their breath. They run their hand through their hair, "And why am I so stuck on this...?"

(Name) pulls up Commissioner Gordon's number and sends him a text.

___________________________________________

[Good morning, Commissioner Gordon, this is (Name) (LastName). In the abandoned building I was found in had an office with a sheet of paper on top. I think it might help you.]

8:47

___________________________________________

(Name) takes a deep breath, "Maybe that text was stupid... The GCPD probably found it," They stood up from the floor, "I'm gonna go crazy over that stupid paper..."

Their mind continues to spiral about that paper and why they were even concerned about it in the first place.

"(Name)?" (Name)'s mom calls out to them, "Are you feeling okay?"

Her voice snaps (Name) out of their thoughts, "Mom!" Their eyes darted over to their mom, "Uh... Yeah, I'm fine," They look outside the window, "Just have a lot on my mind right now..."

(Name)'s mom walks over and sits down next to them, "Oh, sweetie..." She wraps her arms around their shoulders, "It's okay to not be okay..."

(Name) takes a deep breath, "Yeah... But I swear that I'm fine," They rest their head against their mom's shoulder, "Just overthinking..."

"About what? Last night?" (Name)'s mom asks, "Or is it something else?"

"It's fine..." (Name) quickly stands up, "Don't worry about it."

She was taken aback by the sudden outburst, but she didn't press on it, "Well..." She takes a few moments to collect her thoughts and then stands up as well, "I'm here if you need anything," She pulls (Name) closer and embraces them.

(Name) didn't hesitate to wrap their arms around their mom.

The two stand in the empty living room in comfortable silence. Nothing needed to be said for them to understand each other.

"How about we go to the Gotham City Mall later today?" (Name)'s mom pulls back a little to look them in the eyes, "It'll help clear our minds."

(Name) softly smiles, "Sure, sounds fun."

~[Afternoon]~

The mall was bustling with activity from friends hanging out in the food court to parents dragging their children into a store they had no interest in.

"Okay, you all have money, so go off on your own. We'll meet at the food court in an hour," (Name)'s dad announces, "Just to be clear, I love you all but we all have already spent a lot of time together at the apartment."

(Name) chuckles a little under their breath before walking off to find something to do.

They walk by the different stores until one catches their eye.

"A Halloween store? Wonder what I can find..." (Name) mumbles under their breath.

They walk into the store and are immediately surrounded by monsters, ghouls, heroes found in the Justice League, and many other random things.

(Name) walks over to the mask section of the store and picks up a plastic rabbit mask. Their fingers gently trace the edges of the mask as their eyes take in the details.

The mask is a simple white mask that only covers the top half of the face.

A feeling deep down inside was telling them to buy the mask. What importance would the mask have to give to (Name)? Probably for a costume for Halloween.

Following the strange guide of their subconscious, (Name) takes it over to the counter and buys it.

Walking out of the store with their new item, they set off to explore the mall for a new interesting thing to spend money on.

--

How (Name) ended up sitting at a Victoria's Secret while Barbara, Commissioner Gordon's daughter, was in the changing room was beyond them. One minute, they were walking around the mall and the next meeting Barbara in front of Spencer's.

(Name) taps their fingers on their knees as they wait for Barbara to come out and ask for their opinion. Their mind slowly wanders back to the paper from the previous night.

While on the drive to the mall, (Name) searches up the addresses the people were taken at and they find out all of the addresses are in the same neighborhood the (LastName)s just moved into.

Barbara pulls open the curtain of her changing room as she steps out in a matching pair of dark lavender undergarments.

"So, how do these look?" Barbara asks as she does a little spin to show it off.

"Uh..." (Name) takes a few moments to process Barbara's words before responding, "I like the color; I think it suits you well," They softly smile.

"You think?" Barbara looks down at the clothes she's wearing and tries to see if she agrees with (Name)'s opinion. She nods and smiles at them, "I agree. They are also really comfortable to wear; it's like you don't even notice them," She does another small spin before walking back into the changing room.

While Barbara is changing, (Name) takes out their phone and pulls up the maps app on their phone.

"What else do these addresses have in common...?" (Name) mutters under their breath.

Unfortunately, due to (Name)'s lack of knowledge of the area, they weren't able to find any more information about it.

Barbara comes back out fully dressed with the undergarments in hand, "Are you ready to head out?"

(Name)'s gaze snaps back up to Barbara and slips their phone back into their pocket, "You're only getting one? I thought you would buy more."

Barbara waves them off and says, "I wouldn't want to bore you too long," They gently grab (Name)'s arm and pull them up.

Barbara pays for the clothes and the two walk out of Victoria's Secret.

"Is there anything else you want to buy?" She asks while scanning the surrounding area.

(Name) shakes their head, "Nah, just the Halloween mask," They look around, "I thought Halloween was banned in Gotham."

"It's still in the process of being banned," Barbara answers before dragging (Name) with her toward the food court.

That information surprises them a little since the announcement of Halloween being banned in Gotham came out two years ago.

The two walk in silence for a while; both not knowing what to say at the moment.

Barbara was the one to break the silence by clearing her throat, "So.... Uh..." She looks over at (Name), "It must've been scary being kidnapped."

(Name) can tell that Barbara mentally face palmed herself for asking a question like that.

Instead of furthering any embarrassment Barbara may have received, (Name) decides to just casually answer it, "Yeah, it was definitely an experience. I was lucky Robin came in and rescued me."

"Pretty cool to meet a vigilante, right?" Barbara asks with a smile on her face, "Did you know he is the second Robin?"

They shake their head, "I didn't know there was a first Robin..." They mumbled. They go quiet again and then ask, "Do you think I'll meet him again?"

"Let's just hope you don't," Barbara answers and that was the end of their conversation.

~[Night]~

(Name) Was currently lying down on a pile of boxes in their room and scrolling through their phone about the names of the people on the list.

So far in their investigation, nothing important was coming up.

(Name) softly groans, "Why am I even bothering with any of this?" They turn their phone off and place it into their pocket, "The police didn't find the paper..."

Earlier, (Name) received a reply from Commissioner Gordon about the paper with the names and addresses but any sign of the paper existing was gone. (Name)'s phone has been acting up lately and can't send any videos or photos to anyone.

A soft bang was heard on the fire escape outside their window.

They immediately shoot up and look out the window. There, they see Robin sitting on the railing.

"What are the chances...?" (Name) mumbles under their breath.

They stand up and walk over to the window. They quietly open it and step out.

Robin looks over his shoulder at them. He seems surprised to see them, "(Name)? What are you doing here?"

"I can ask you the same thing," (Name) leans their elbows on the railing next to Robin, "This is my room."

"Oh..." Robin's voice trails off as he looks out toward the neighborhood, "How are you feeling? Still shaken up?"

"Driving myself crazy."

Robin's gaze quickly moves back to (Name), "Crazy? With what?"

"With this," (Name) takes their phone out and pulls up the images of the paper. They hand the phone over to Robin.

His eyes scan over the first image, "These are the names of the people who've been kidnapped."

"I thought so."

Robin swipes to the next image, "And these addresses are around here."

"A quick search answered that one for me."

"Where did you get these images?" Robin hands the phone back to (Name).

"It was at that place," (Name) puts their phone back into their pocket, "But sadly, the paper was stolen and the police don't know what's on it."

"You have Commissioner Gordon's number, right? Why don't you just send it to him?" Robin asks.

"First," (Name) glances over at Robin, "I'm not going to ask how you know that. And second, my phone is being dumb and can't send any images and videos."

Robin takes a deep breath and nods his head, "Yeah... That doesn't help..." His eyes looked forward again toward the quiet neighborhood, "This place is the complete opposite of Crime Alley."

This captures (Name)'s attention, "Crime Alley?"

Robin nods his head, "Yeah. The place used to be called Park Row before being dubbed Crime Alley," His gaze moves to (Name), "Like the name suggests, the place is full of crime. But here," He waves his hand out toward the neighborhood like he was showing it off to them, "it's one of the safest areas in Gotham City. No wonder the families of the missing people report their disappearances so late."

The conversation continues to get even more interesting to (Name), "Do you think that's why the kidnappers target this place?"

Robin takes a few moments to process the information before answering, "Possibly," He looks out, "This whole case is a little weird," He softly smirks as his voice takes on a more playful tone, "And I'm saying that like I don't fight a human crocodile and and plants monsters while dressed in bright colors."

(Name) lets out a huff of amusement before asking, "Are you gonna report all this to Batman?"

Robin shakes his head, "No. I'm doing the missing people's case alone."

"Why are you doing it by yourself?" (Name) asks.

"Batman has been stretched thin with all these different crimes happening basically all at once," Robin explains, "Crime in this city isn't unusual, but how much that's happening right now is unusual."

"Yeah..." (Name) fold their arms on the railing and rest their chin on them, "You mentioned that before and some officers were talking about it..."

The two stand there in silence and take in the Gotham night air. (Name)'s eyes look skyward as some thoughts run through their mind like why was the night sky red and if there was any way to help Robin.

"Hey," (Name) finally breaks the silence, "You can say no to this but what if I help you in the case." They focus their gaze on Robin again.

He seems surprised to be asked that question as he stammers out, "You want to help me?" He narrows his eyes at them, "Why?"

"Well," They take a few moments to think before continuing, "because I'm a nobody in Gotham, I could sneak around getting information unnoticed in the daytime," They explain.

Robin looks off as he thinks about it for a moment, "You could still get hurt...."

(Name) places their hand on his forearm, "That's why I'm going to need you. You can protect me and even teach me how to fight."

Robin rubs the back of his neck, "I don't know..."

"If you don't want me to help then that's fine, just keep me updated."

Robin mumbles to himself to come up with the best scenario.

After some more mumbling, Robin looks back up at (Name) and says, "Maybe it would be better for you to help. And as you said, I would be there to protect you and I can teach you how to fight properly."

"So, is that your final answer?" (Name) asks as they lean in a little closer.

Robin nods, "Yeah it is," He takes a phone out of his pocket, "This is a burner phone made by Batman," He holds his hand out, "We can communicate through this."

(Name) places their phone in his hand. They watch Robin set everything up on both phones before handing theirs back.

They look at the contact saved on their phone.

John Doe

"You know, this is more suspicious than just putting Robin," (Name) comments with a teasing smile on their face.

Robin rolls his eyes and gently pushes (Name), "Shut up, I can't give you my real name for Batman reasons," He crosses his arms and looks away.

A snort of amusement escapes from (Name) as they lean back, "'Batman reasons'? Really? Is that the best you can come up with?"

He whips his head back around and glares at them, "What did you want me to say?"

They hold their hands up in mock defense, "Nah, it's cool. You have your 'Batman reasons' and I don't need to know the nitty gritty."

Robin looks them over for a moment then flicks their forehead.

(Name) rubs their forehead, "What was that for?" They narrow their eyes right back at him.

A mischievous smile slowly grows on his face before he says, "Batman reasons."

They did a small fake laugh and then grumbled, "I'm gonna punch you later..."

He lets out a boyish chuckle before pulling something out of his pocket, "Here," He opens his hand to show a little Bat symbol button.

(Name) grabs the small item and examines it, "What's this?"

Robin points at the device, "If you're ever in trouble then press that button and I'll come running."

They look up at him and softly smile, "Thanks, Robin, I appreciate it."

Robin smiles too, "I'll see you tomorrow."

"See ya."

Robin grabs his grapple gun from his utility belt and then flies off into the night sky.

09/05/2022 (Night)

Robin and (Name) were standing on the rooftop of a random building in the Safe Zone, which the two made the decision to name the safest area of Gotham. As the two waited for something to happen, Robin thought it was a good idea to use this time to train (Name) how to properly fight.

"Do you think the person kidnapping civilians is going to strike tonight?" (Name) asks as they throw out a punch.

Robin holds the soft mat in front of his chest to catch every hit, "Since the last one was a failure, they might try again soon."

"Soooo..." They punch the mat again, "Why did you choose this location?" And another punch.

"I used the other addresses as points and this location was where all the points meet," Robin explains with a slight shrug like it was no big deal.

"That's pretty smart..." (Name) mumbles and punches the mat as hard as they can.

The two continue to train together when all of a sudden they hear someone swear.

Both of their heads whip around in the direction of the commotion before running over to the edge of the rooftop. There, they see a few guys dressed in sweatshirts, beanies, jeans, and boots, like they were preparing for winter, transporting an expensive-looking machine onto a truck. Ice surrounded the open garage door.

(Name) leans farther off the ledge to get a closer look, "What is that?" They whisper and almost fall off the roof.

Robin quickly catches them and settles them on their feet, "I don't know and it obviously doesn't belong to them," He looked over at me, "You stay here and watch."

They nod their head, "No complaints from me," (Name) takes out the rabbit mask they bought from the bag they brought along and puts it on to conceal their identity.

He looks them over one last time before silently leaping off the rooftop.

(Name) sits down on the ledge to watch Robin sneak closer to the criminals.

Robin creeps up to a guy smoking a cigarette. The man seems to be absorbed in his thoughts while lazily scanning the area around them.

Robin jumps onto the guy's back and starts choking him. The man struggles to rip Robin off his back and eventually passes out.

Robin drags the man into a small hiding spot before continuing to sneak closer to the open garage door.

(Name) takes a small deep breath before letting it out. They were able to see their breath, "It's cold...?" They mumble under their breath.

"You shouldn't be out here, little bunny," A heavily modulated voice says from behind (Name).

Their shoulders tense up and the man's icy voice sends chills down their spine. They quickly stand up and face the man.

The man was wearing a heavily armored suit, a glass dome over his head, goggles over his eyes with striking red glass, in his hands was an ice gun, and the man's skin was blue and his lips were a tint of purple.

(Name) holds their hands up, "You must be Mr. Freeze, huh?" Their eyes look him up and down, "You're a lot more blue than I thought..."

Mr. Freeze aims the gun at them, "Are you with Batman?"

"Uh... I..." (Name) didn't know what to say in this situation. They weren't exactly with Batman but in a way they kinda are. Their eyes darted all over the place for something, anything, to help them.

The thing that distracted Mr. Freeze from (Name) was the sound of his men fighting with Robin down below.

"No!" Mr. Freeze walks over to the ledge, "Don't let him get in our way!"

Taking this small moment of distraction, (Name) quickly jumps down the fire escape as fast as they can to the ground. They look up and see Mr. Freeze following them.

They run off toward a close-by alley next to the open garage door for somewhere to hide. While trying to make it there, one of the goons fighting Robin was pushed into (Name) and causing them both to fall to the ground.

The guy clutches his side and groans in pain. They push him off and get up, but before they can run again, the guy grabs their ankle.

Looking down at him, (Name) shakes his hand off of them and then promptly kicks them in the side of the head to knock them out.

They notice Mr. Freeze aiming his ice gun at them and fires. (Name) quickly ducks as the ice blast flies over their head.

They stand up again only to duck once more as a metal pipe comes swinging over their head. They grab the man with the metal pipe and flung him into the ice behind them.

"What are you doing here?" Robin calls out to (Name) as he dodges a punch.

(Name) points at Mr. Freeze walking closer to them and Robin immediately understands. 

The man with the metal pipe comes swinging again. The metal pipe gets in contact with the ice and causes it to start to crack.

An ice, cold hand grabs the back of (Name)'s collar and tugs them back. They struggle to tear their jacket away from Mr. Freeze's grasp.

"Mr. Freeze!" Robin yells, "I'm using that stupid fish bowl of yours as a snow globe!" He appears out of nowhere and kicks Mr. Freeze away from (Name).

A small locket falls out of Mr. Freeze's pocket and lands next to the cracking ice chunk.

Two guys grab Robin and drag him off when the ice finally snaps.

A look of fear crosses Mr. Freeze's face when he notices the giant ice falling onto the locket.

With quick reflexes, (Name) scoops the locket up and saves it just before the ice could destroy it.

"You..." Mr. Freeze hesitates for a few seconds before continuing, "You saved the locket? Why would you when it means nothing to you?"

(Name) shrugs as they look down at the locket, "Well... It means something to you so it's worth saving," They look up at Mr. Freeze and hold it out for him.

Mr. Freeze takes the locket and holds it close to his chest, "I appreciate it; even if I don't fully understand your reasoning," He opens the locket and admires the picture inside, "Oh, Nora..." He softly smiles.

"Nora? Is she your wife or something?" (Name) asks, hoping that continuing the conversation won't have him remember that they are in the middle of a fight.

Mr. Freeze nods, "Yes, but a terminal illness keeps us apart..." His hand clutches the locket a little tighter.

"So..." (Name) looks around the crime scene, "You're doing all this for her?" Their gaze moves back to his, "It's really romantic when you think about it."

Mr. Freeze studies (Name) for a few moments and then asks, "Who are you?"

(Name) didn't know how to answer that question. Obviously, they couldn't give out their real name but what was she supposed to respond with?

They shrug their shoulders and stuff their hands into their jacket pockets, "I'm just a nobody trying to find out about what's going on in Gotham."

"A lot is happening," Mr. Freeze says as he carefully places the locket back into his pocket, "Multiple crimes happening at once and it's all to cover up one little crime."

(Name) furrows their eyebrows together, "Covering up a crime? What crime?"

"The missing people's case."

Their eyes go wide at the revelation of that case being at the center of it all, "Is there anything you can tell me about that case?" They take their phone out to write down his next words.

"Every criminal in Gotham is jumping at the chance to commit random, petty crimes for cash or fun but there are four who are remaining silent," Mr. Freeze says, "Those being: The Penguin, Two-Face, The Joker, and Black Mask."

Their fingers quickly type out the four suspects and a bright smile appears on their face. They look up at Mr. Freeze, "Thank you so much for the information! You have no idea how much that helps."

Mr. Freeze just simply nods his head as a response.

(Name) puts their phone away and stands there awkwardly for a few minutes before deciding to go look for Robin.

As they were walking off, they heard Mr. Freeze's voice say, "You may think of yourself as a nobody but I think You'll become a somebody in the future."

Before (Name) could get any father, Robin runs back, "Hey! You okay?" He looks them over before glaring at Mr. Freeze.

(Name) waves off his concerns, "I'm fine; what about you?"

Robin doesn't answer as he walks over to Mr. Freeze, "I'm taking you in, Freeze."

Mr. Freeze holds his wrists out for Robin.

Robin stops on the spot at the sight, "You're... giving yourself up?"

"Don't think I will do this next, Boy Wonder."

Robin quickly handcuffs Mr. Freeze and calls in for the GCPD to come take him in.

--

The two teens stand on the rooftop and look over the city together.

"Well..." Robin sighs, "I think we missed our chance to catch the kidnappers," He crosses his arms, "That is if anything happened today..."

(Name) takes out their phone, "It wasn't all bad," They pull up the list of suspects, "Mr. Freeze did tell me something valuable," They show the list to Robin.

Robin takes their phone and looks the list over. He softly chuckles and looks at them, "And yet again, you've managed to get great information," He hands the phone back, "Good work..." His voice trails off, "what should we call you? Bunny because of your mask?"

"That'll do," (Name) says as they take back their phone, "Back to the case at hand, it seems we're starting off with Penguin tomorrow."

"And school is starting tomorrow as well," Robin points out, "Try to get as much sleep as you can during the day. Now come on," He grabs his grappling hook from his utility belt, "I'll take you home."

(Name) softly smiles and holds onto Robin.