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1. Dick Grayson
When Bruce first adopted Richard Grayson he expected for it to be a challenge. He knew raising a child wouldn’t just be another walk in the park task- but what he truly didn’t expect was to see his ward dangling feet first from the manor's chandelier.
“Hi B!” Dick called as he swayed back and forth with the largest grin staining his face, as his cheeks began to turn a shade of red as blood began rushing to his head.
“What are you doing?” Bruce rasped struggling to keep his composure. The billionaire had zero idea how the kid found a way to scale the glass lighting.
“Swinging!”
“You should probably get down now! That is very dangerous.”
At Bruce’s words Dick pouted, if possible his face became a much darker shade of red just before he decided to go against Bruce's worries and let his swingings momentum increase. Dick began to swing back and forth in a much faster rhythm just likely to spite Bruce's instructions.
Bruce could feel his face whiten and his palms start to sweat as he called out another concerned sounding set of instructions.
“Fine.” Dick finally said conceding his act of rebellion just as the chandelier decided to let out a sickening crack. At the sudden loud sound Dick’s eyes considerably widened just before disaster struck.
The entirety of the glass lighting fell with Dick hanging tightly on it with a panicked scream. Bruce swore he felt his heart sink down his stomach as he rushed forward in hopes of possibly catching his kid. Though as luck would have it Bruce had just missed it as the chandelier came loudly crashing down against the manors marble floor Dick along with it.
Dick let out an ear piercing scream as his body harshly made impact with the ground- many pieces of chandelier surrounding him.
“Dick!” Bruce called as he ran towards his sons now sobbing form.
The already slim kid laid in a fetal position with a single arm covering his bright red face while his other arm laid limp out in front of him. Bruce already deduced a broken arm. Gently Bruce sat on the floor pulling his son into his lap as he shakily pulled his phone from his pocket.
Dick continued to quietly weep even as Bruce gently ran his knuckles through his sweaty hair and quietly mumbled reassurance.
— — —
After Leslie left the manor Dick was left with a red cast bracing his left arm along with various blotches of bruising going down his entire left side- as well as the extreme swelling on the left side of his face. Poor kid couldn’t even see from his left eye. The swelling was terrible.
“Sorry B.”
Bruce sighed as he gently ruffled his wards' hair. “You're lucky that this is all you got. You could have broken your ribs.”
“I know.” Dick whispered as he weakly blinked his blackened eye. “Does this mean no Robin?”
Bruce found himself letting out an almost missable snort. “Definitely not.”
2. Jason Todd
When Jason got adopted by Bruce ‘freakin’ Wayne he had gained many thing besides a home. He got meaning. Being Robin gave him meaning- he finally felt useful not just a random kid leaching from strangers off the street.
Jason also found himself gaining a family. Though it was dysfunctional it was still nothing compared to his dad or living out on the streets.
Bruce was a blank slate. He barely smiled and barely reacted. Jason made it his personal goal to make the old man smile at least once a day- and surprisingly Jason found himself almost always achieving that goal.
Jason would nail an extremely difficult move while training and Bruce's lips would slightly raise at its sides. Or Jason would tell a dumb joke he heard about bats and Bruce would allow a quiet almost inaudible chuckle. He always counted those as wins no matter how minor they were.
Surprisingly the hardest one to crack was his ‘supposed’ brother Dick Grayson.
Dick barely was at the manor as he and Bruce almost always found something to argue about. Jaosn knew that wasn’t exactly the reason why he wasn’t around Dick ran a team after all. Of course his brother was a hero too, and his brother was busy leading the Teen Titans, he didn’t have time to spend with some lousy street kid.
So it came as a surprise to Jason when one day Dick visited the manor with the sole intention of asking Jason if he wanted to spend the weekend at Titans Tower with him. Of course Jason instantly agreed.
“This is awesome.”
Dick snorted as he gently led Jason by the shoulder into the Titans training room. “Alfred was telling me how you nailed the splits and elbow stand. Can you show me?”
“Sure.”
Jason pulled away from Dick’s comforting hand as he instantly flipped into an elbow stand then quickly maneuvered his body into the right position to fall into a perfect split. Jason then looked up to see the biggest grin on his brother's face just before he started to clap.
“That was great Jason! It was a very smooth transition.”
Jason felt his cheeks flush as he stood up from his split. “Yeah- well it wasn’t that hard.”
“Want me to teach you how to do a double backflip?”
“Hell yeah!”
— — —
“This is impossible.” Jason grumbled as he once again lifted himself up from the training mat.
Dick laughed as he lifted his younger brother back up from the ground. “Not impossible, just difficult. If I can do it, so can you.”
“You're a gymnast, of course you can do it.”
“I wasn’t a gymnast overnight you know. It took years of practice. How about we take a break from this and try swinging on the beams.” Dick walked away from Jason in order to grapple onto a high hanging pole. He pushed his body forward causing his body to swing back and forth in order to accelerate his speed. After a moment of gaining momentum Dick then swung his body up before spiraling in a circle motion up and down the beam before landing back onto the ground directly on his feet.
“That's easy.” Jason exclaimed just before pushing past his brother's form in order to jump up and grasp at the beam.
“Careful the beam is kind of high for your height- it was adjusted specifically for me.” Dick piped with a slight grimace on his face just as Jason began gaining momentum.
“Cool it dickwad, I got this.” Jason said with a smug smirk on his face.
After a moment of gaing moentum Jason quickly swung around the beam. The more he swung the faster his body went. Dick harshly bit at his cheek as Jason continued gaing speed.
“Jaybird you may wanna slow down or you might get hurt!”
As those words left Dick’s mouth Jason released his grip from the beam- with the complete intention of landing on his feet- his body came tumbling down, the young vigilante's feet stumbling at his landing just before his entire mass fell forward off the edge of the mat. Jason fell face first onto the ground, his head making a sickening smack against the ground just before he let out a pained cry.
“Jason!” Dick called out just before running over to his brother's fallen form. Gently he lifted his brother's head from the floor- and what he saw wasn’t great.
Jason's forehead was bright red as well as sporting a crooked and bleeding nose while his eyes blearily squinted up at the training rooms lights.
“Jay I’m gonna set your nose ok. It’ll only hurt a second.”
Before Jason could even show any signs of agreement Dick grasped his brother's nose snapping it back into place which resulted in Jason letting out an ear piercing scream.
— — —
“Concussion, permanently crooked nose, and two black eyes.”
Dick grimaced at Leslie’s diagnosis while Jason continued trying to push the ice pack that Dick held up to his head.
“You won’t tell Bruce about this will you?”
Leslie peered over her glasses with an unimpressed look. “I won't have to tell him anything, I’m pretty sure he’ll notice the permanently crooked nose and swollen eyes.”
Jason then let out a loud mocking cackle. “Better you than me!”
“You are literally concussed!”
3. Tim Drake
Tim may have been a genius but he was in no way athletically gifted. It didn’t matter how many self defense classes he took, he just wasn’t physically gifted. No matter how hard he worked his body wouldn’t cooperate. He struggled to gain muscle- his body seemed to want to stay naturally thin. It wasn’t just muscle his body failed to gain it also failed to gain much fat. Besides the baby fat he grew away from his body, he still continued to remain extremely slim.
Even though his body in no way wanted to cooperate with his new lifestyle Tim didn’t let it affect him much. Even with a lack of muscles Tim still was still an incredibly gifted fighter- before becoming Robin he took multiple self defense classes and even the occasional gymnastic lessons, then when he actually became Robin he learned multiple things from both Batman and Nightwing.
With all the training he undertook Tim found himself extremely skilled with a bo staff. Even after multiple lessons in using other tools Tim found the bo staff being the best weapon in his arsenal- it being the one he ended choosing as his signature weapon- or rather his weapon of choice.
At moments like these Tim was glad his bo staff could collapse to fit into his pocket because otherwise he would have been completely defenseless. Yes he has trained in hand to hand combat but with his body type he knew he wouldn’t be able to keep up in any fight for long.
The entirety of the Titans tower was pitch black as someone managed to turn all the power off. Tim was cramped between a wall and an open door with his bo staff tightly clutched in his shaking hand. In the silence of the tower he could hear Red Hoods heavy footsteps stalk down the pitch black hallways.
“Replacement, come out, come out wherever you are.” Red Hood taunted as he continued to slowly creep down around.
Tim breathing continued to pick up- while the hand wrapped around his bo staff continued to harshly shake. He could feel his heart pounding in his ears as he squished himself closer to the wall in extreme fear.
He swore he could feel his ribs poke into his lungs with every breath he took. Red Hood was able to get a couple solid good kicks into Tim’s side. He was almost certain he had a couple broken ribs- Red Hood packed a solid kick.
The next thing he knew someone came into the room he was hiding in just before slamming the door which ended up revealing Tim’s hiding spot behind it.
“Found you.”
Quickly Tim scrambled up to stand on shaking legs just before expertly swinging out his bo staff. Red Hood almost as quickly dodged the attack before deflecting the next with his heavily armored forearm.
“That little metal pipe is not gonna protect you replacement.” Red Hood seethed just before snatching it from Robin’s hand- then tossing it to the side just before he harshly pinned the kid to the wall he was just cowering against.
After a moment of tense silence Red Hood then started to slam the back of Tim’s head into the wall. Tim swore his brain was beginning to bounce around his head.
“Stop.” Tim gasped as he attempted to dig his nails into Red Hood wrists.
A mechanical sounding growl came from Red Hood as his slamming ceased just before a sudden fist came smashing into Tim’s face. “I’m not letting you off the hook that easy replacement.”
— — —
Tim was drenched with his own blood. His head and face throbbed as bruising began to develop. He attempted to crawl forward with just one hand while the other attempted to cover the gash cut into his throat- he could feel almost every individual blood droplet fall between his shaking fingers as he struggled his way forward.
Red Hood seemed to leave in a hurry after slicing into the flesh of Tim’s neck. It was so sudden that Tim barely had a chance to comprehend the sudden retreat.
Tim could feel himself fizzling out as his eyes struggled to stay open- after another shaking movement Tim collapsed forward as his vision quickly went dark. The next time he blinked his eyes open he vaguely caught Kon leaning over him with a panicked expression on his reddened face. He let out a weak groan causing Kon to look down at him with a slightly less tense jaw. Kon said something Tim couldn’t understand before grasping one of his blood soaked hands.
Tim vaguely heard Kon say something else before everything once again went black.
4. Stephanie Brown
Stephanie had no ill intention taking the Robin mantle from Tim, she truly planned on giving it back to him whenever he wanted to come back. She was pretty sure B didn’t like her much anyway- she knew she was reckless- she knew she wasn’t well trained- she was quite aware she was a bit clumsy. That's why she had no intention of staying Robin, she was just trying to do Tim a favor.
When she found out her ex was Batman’s number two Tim would almost never cease his talk about crime fighting. Though one thing that always came back during his crime fighting rants was that Batman needed a Robin- Steph found she could not disagree.
She had definitely noticed the disappearance of Batman’s precious sidekick as well as the bats sudden change in attitude. Batman was known to be fright to behold but he wasn’t known to beat people half to death. It was quite obvious Batman needed the sunshine that was a Robin.
So Steph took her role as the boy wonder quite seriously all things considered. She did her best in brightening the darkest of moods- she goofed off during fights- she practiced quipping and even added a bit of personal charm with some dark humor. Though no matter what she tried she could tell Batman didn’t like her very much.
So when an Arkham breakout happened Steph was surprised when Bruce told her to stay at the manor. Steph knew this was her first Arkham breakout since becoming Robin and B likely just wanted her out of the way. There was literally no other reason he was forcing her to stay.
Though even with the clear instructions to stay put Steph found herself suiting up and exiting the cave on Tim’s bike. Steph couldn’t bring herself to stay, all she thought was Tim’s words “Batman needs a Robin.” She knew if Tim was forced to stay at the manor he would likely be doing the same. After all, it was Robin's job to protect Batman.
— — —
Getting captured by Two Face was in no way the plan. Steph honestly had no real clue how it actually happened. All she could vaguely remember was getting hit in the face with a puff of gas before instantly passing out.
Maybe it was some variation of Jokers laughing gas or Cranes fear gas? At the thought Steph shook her head. She wasn’t hallucinating or laughing like a maniac so it couldn’t be that. It must be something entirely new.
It seemed as Dent had all her weapons stripped from her body as the blade she concealed in her sleeve was noticeably absent. She found herself sighing as she attempted to shuffle her hands out from the tightly wrapped rope around her wrists. Unfortunately it didn’t seem to be working the way she hoped. Instead of getting her hands in any way free she just ended up giving herself rope burn.
“That must really hurt huh?” Came a gravelly voice. Then out from the darkness of what Steph assumed was an abandoned warehouse was Harvey Dent himself. He came out with full confidence, a coin being casually flipped in his outstretched hand.
“Eh not really. I’ve felt worse.”
Two Face sneared, the flipping of his coin coming to a sudden stop. The fleshy half of his face gave a slight twitch before his face blanked. It was silent for a moment before a toothy grin finally settled on both halves of his face. “You know bats has been a real pain in the neck lately. What better way to piss him off than clip another of his little birds wings.”
Steph couldn’t resist the laugh that bubbled out from her throat.
Harveys expression noticeably dropped before his face then darkened. “What are you laughing at!?”
“You really think Batman cares about me?” Steph choked out as she attempted to hold back more laughter. “I’m not his kid or anything- I’m just doing the actual Robin a favor.”
“Let's see if that's true or not.” Harvey let out with a deep growl. “Heads for getting tossed around or tails for getting waterboarded.” With that said Two Face then flipped his coin.
— — —
Steph found herself struggling for air, she couldn’t breath due to the water invading both her mouth and nose. After a moment of struggle the goon pulled her out from the water leaving her gasping for breath.
She could feel her domino pushing down on a quite likely pair of bruised eyes. It seemed when Dent suggested a flip of his coin he was still going to have her tossed around and waterboarded. The flip of the coin only intended the order in which he did so.
Besides the nasty pair of swollen eyes, Two Face’s goons beat her around quite a bit. Steph could feel one of her back teeth chipped in half. One of the goons was able to get a good hit across her face with knuckle dusters. It was likely her cheeks would be swelling up as well.
“Hurting yet?” Two Face asked as he now stood face to face with her.
It was quiet for a moment before Steph spit a large loogy on the purpling side of the man's face. “Bite me.” She hissed, allowing a smug grin on her face.
“You are dead!” Harvy hissed as he grabbed the front of Steph's suit pulling her closer to his face, causing the goons hold on her to release.
A slight beep had then echoed through the walls of the warehouse causing all the surrounding goons to tense. Even with water still falling from between her lips Steph found herself shapely grinning. “No you are.”
With that smoke quickly covered the entirety of the warehouse- a bat shaped shadow harshly landing down just before goons started to drop. Two Face growled as he carelessly dropped Steph to the ground as he pulled out a gun.
Through a thick wall of smoke stepped out Batman. His jaws was clenched and his eyes were narrowed just before quickly leapt forward instantly knocking Two Face into unconsciousness.
Once again Steph found herself laughing as Batman walked toward her before dropping onto his knees next to her hunched drenched form. A shiver racked down her body as Bruce gently lifted her onto his bent knees.
“Stephanie, are you alright?” Bruce softly asked his usual Batman growl noticeably absent from his voice.
Steph looked up at Bruce before giving him a larger than life smile. “I am now B.” She softly replied.
5. Damian Wayne
In hindsight going after the Joker by himself was most definitely not the greatest idea. Though in Damians defense it was a spur of the moment decision.
The rope tightly twined around his middle was a pain. With how tightly it was knotted together Damian's body was forced to stay constricted together- his arms bent in an awkward angle behind his back with his knees uncomfortably tied against his chest. His limbs ached due to the positions they were forced to be in.
Damian hated to admit it but he was almost tempted to call out for Jons assistants. He knew for a fact his friend would come bursting through the wall in a heartbeat to save him- with the position he was forced to be in that thought seemed more and more appealing. Though Damian held off. It was honestly an idiotic idea- that is what Damian thought anyway.
“Are you actually going to do anything clown?!” Damian hissed as he once again attempted to shimmy his way out from his restraints.
“Why wouldn’t I?” Joker laughed as he walked out from the shadows.
“Because you are just trying to drag Batman out of hiding. Which won’t work- he doesn’t know I’m here.” Damian replied with an exasperated roll of his eyes. He almost wished the Joker could see it from under his domino.
The Joker let out another shrill laugh before tightly grasping the hair at the back of his head. “He might not now, but he will.” He whispered into Damian’s ear with an eerie grin rising onto his cheeks. The green haired man then pulled a phone from the pockets of his purple striped suit before aiming the camera inches from Damian’s scowling face. “Say hello to daddy dearest.”
Damian’s scowl seemed to worsen as he glared at the Joker's reflection from the screen. At his disobedients the hand in his hair tightened causing a hiss to spill out between his now clenched teeth.
“Say hello.” The Joker repeated as he brought the phone somehow closer to Damian.
“Piss off.” Damian growled just before the Joker harshly dropped his body to the ground.
“Being a downer huh. Don’t worry- batsy will get a message from you one way or another.” Joker had then walked away to a crate that stood against the nearest wall. He dug through the inside of it for a moment before he pulled out a rusted crowbar. “I’ve been saving this for a special occasion. A souvenir from one Robin to another.”
Damian didn’t respond even as the maniac of a man smacked him across the face with the rusted and likely blood stained piece of metal.
— — —
“Batsy will love this video, I just know it!” Joker boosted as he dropped the now freshly blood stained crowbar- a pinging sound coming from the phone in Joker's hand as he finally ended the recording. ‘How about I send this to all your little bird friends as well?”
Damian couldn’t even bring himself to respond. He had to continue keeping up his shallow breaths. It was quite the struggle due to all the blood dripping from various places on my face and head.
“Glad we all are in agreement!” The Joker sauntered back over to him before leaning down to be closer to his face. “Don’t look so disheartened- bats will be joining us any sec-”
Before the Joker could even continue his words a shot echoed out in the otherwise empty warehouse. After the loud echoing ceased the Joker fell over onto his side as blood began seeping out from his knee.
“Sorry to disrupt this perfectly fine party, but Robin and I have a dinner to attend.”
For the first time in his life Damian was happy to be graced with Jasons presence.
“Took you long enough.” Damian gumbled before coughing a puddle of blood.
Jason tsked in response as he casually strolled forward -making sure to step directly on Joker's fallen form- as he bent down to carefully lift Damian's bloody and beaten body into his arms. “Apologies, your highness, I was preoccupied.” Jason snarked as he began making his way out of the warehouse.
“Are you really going to leave Joker behind?”
Jason let out a snort. “Of course not. Once I get you somewhere safe I’m gonna go back and beat the shit out of him before sending his ass back to Arkham.”
+1) Bruce Wayne
Bruce’s eyes fluttered open as he felt the gentle weight of someone attempting to lay down on his shoulder. The person quietly hissed as their body slightly brushed up against his heavily wrapped side. “I didn’t know you were visiting.” Bruce whispered, causing Dick to jolt next to him.
“Alfred called, said you got hurt pretty bad.” Dick whispered back before once again placing his head down on Bruce’s shoulder.
“I’m fine. Just a couple broken ribs.”
Dick scoffed in response before the room settled back into comfortable silence. After a moment the bedroom door creaked open and a pair of blue eyes peaked through.
“What's wrong Tim?” Bruce softly asked as he lifted his head from his pillow.
“I saw Dick come in.”
With that said Dick lifted his arm in the air beckoning for the younger boy to crawl in the bed with them. Tim seemed to hesitate for a moment before he snuck his way in, instantly snuggling himself under Dicks outstretched arm.
Bruce huffed quietly as he allowed himself to fall back into a deep sleep. The next time he opened his eyes he found himself surrounded by more bodies than before. He now had Damian curled up under Dick’s other arm, while both Cass and Steph found a way to share his other uninjured shoulder, and quite surprisingly by his feet laid Jason.
“Go back to sleep, old man.” Jason hissed, tightening the arms crossed over his chest.
“When did you sneak in?”
“Just a couple minutes ago. Dick sent a mass text inviting all ‘bat kids’ to a snuggle pile.”
Bruce quietly snorted. “And you actually showed up?”
Jason seethed quickly looking away from him. Though Bruce couldn’t miss the obviously bright red of his son's cheeks.
“I didn’t come for you. I was just in the neighborhood.”
For the first time in a while Bruce let out a small laugh allowing a grin to rise onto his usually stoic face. “Of course.”