I consider this the “first draft” for Code Bat - the one where the concept actually solidified into something semi-coherent. It takes great inspiration from other “Justice League meets the batfam” fics that I’ve read (honestly, the whole series takes inspiration from those).
Word count: 916 words
Enjoy!
This is stupid, he thinks, as he watches the scene unfold.
It had been years. Years of hiding the existence of his partners. Years of pretending not to know each one of them, every time they rose out of the shadows. Years of working with them and the League, and hiding the fact that they knew each other more than people thought.
They had just managed to get through a worldwide crisis without revealing their connection. The biggest partnership between youths and adults yet, and still everyone remained none the wiser to where each of the Gotham vigilantes had come from. Nightwing was known to be from Bludhaven, not Gotham. Red Hood was known to have made a fuss in Gotham, but that was about it.
Red Robin had simply appeared and joined the team now known as Young Justice, and Robin had been kept hidden in Gotham until now, with the new moniker of Shadow to join the newest team of young heroes.
The youths had been invited to the watchtower to tend to their wounds and rest. Each of them were sprawled around the massive meeting room. Batman scanned the room discreetly, checking for each of his kids. Red Hood was leaning against a pillar in the shadows, Bizarro and Artemis close by.
Nightwing was story-telling with Donna on the couch. Cassie - Wondergirl - was on the floor and leaning forward, latching onto every word they said. Kon-El was mildly interested, leaning against the side of the couch, while Red Robin perched on the arm rest beside Nightwing, seemingly occupied on his laptop. Minute, split-second nudges and touches reassured both of them of the latter’s presence.
The Birds of Prey were in their own corner, Dinah introducing Oliver with varying degrees of success. Black Bat sensed his gaze and gave a discrete signal that they were unharmed. Tired, but unharmed. Batman gave a sharp jerk of his head and moved on.
Robin was talking to his new team, Jon - Superboy - and Blue Beetle. They were babysitting Lian, if the way she was grinning happily on Jon’s shoulders was anything to go by.
Then-
“Waffles, anyone?”
Spoiler strolled in with a plateful of waffles stacked precariously high, quickly making the rounds and offering the fluffy dough to everyone around her, the speedsters stealing more than one every few moments. Bart had now positioned himself onto the other side of the couch, Wally ruffling his hair as he tried to nab the waffle from his hand.
He was just about to accept a waffle himself when a chime erupted in his ear.
“Heads up, guys. Arkham breakout.”
A collective groan resounded from everyone connected to the same private comms. “Do you need all of us?” Batman rumbled, ignoring his children’s theatrics. “Well, no, not really. It wouldn’t hurt for more than one person to come, though.”
There was a very pregnant pause, as each of their teammates cast confused and baffled glances at each of them. It had not been the first time they heard the robotic tinge of Oracle coming through their comms, after all. “Do you need any of us?” Superman questioned, walking up to Batman with Diana in tow, “I know you usually don’t allow metas in Gotham-”
“I work alone,” Batman intoned, against his better judgement, “We can handle Gotham ourselves.”
Nightwing snorted. Go figure it would be his eldest who finally lit the spark.
“If you work alone, who’s this ‘we’? Batman needs to check his pronouns, right, Hood?” Nightwing’s smile implied he knew exactly what fire he was stoking.
“Just because I don’t butcher the English language doesn’t mean I’m the go-to for grammar errors, ‘Wing,” Red Hood drawled from his corner, drawing confused expressions from both the Outlaws and the Titans. Batman resigned himself to the secret finally seeing the light, as all the bats and birds chirped a “Yes it does” back at the red-helmeted man.
“Remember that time you caught me up at 3am writing a report, and complained about my phrasings until you knocked me out and grammar-critiqued the whole thing by yourself?” Red Robin piped up, “Not to mention that time Robin had to write an essay about Shakespeare and you-”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get it, now stop exposing me,” Red Hood drawled, “Why don’t we talk about that time Spoiler painted your suit eggplant purple?”
“It was iconic!” Spoiler cheered, as Red Robin groaned and slumped off the arm rest, landing comfortably against Nightwing’s shoulder. Nightwing was still watching Batman, gauging his reaction. He seemed to find what he was looking for, because his face split into a wide grin.
“Arkham breakout guys, remember? Why don’t we all go? The Rogues won’t know what hit them when we’re done with them,” Nightwing stood to his feet and stretched. Everyone else took that as their cue to make their way towards the Zeta tubes.
“Superman, alert me if anything happens,” Batman ordered, before sweeping his cape and following after his family.
“Hold on! All of you are from Gotham? And all of you know each other? I’ve never seen any of you interact before!” Wally was waving his hands, gesturing wildly to all of them.
“Surprise?” Signal shrugged, “You’ll get used to it. Took me a while, trust me, but I’d never have it any other way.”
“Batfamily out,” Black Bat saluted serenely as the Zeta beam fired up and sent them each back to Gotham. The room was left in a stunned silence.
