Chapter Text
The Manor can almost be considered full. Duke doubts it'll ever actually be full, outside of galas, but there's so many people now. They don't live there anymore, having moved to live on the campus of Gotham University, but they visit as often as they can. Bruce has adopted several more children since Duke, and there's people who aren't adopted that visit the Manor just as often as they do.
After Damian arrived, it was Tim who got adopted. He was followed by Steph, who isn't adopted but still has a room in the family wing. Cass came next, appearing in Gotham and finding Bruce. Jason's the most recently adopted, apparently having been caught stealing the Batmobile's tires. Bruce knew better than to send him into the system after Duke had told him what it's like, so Jason was brought to the Manor. It's nice, having so many siblings, it makes the house feel less empty.
Although, Bruce does have a tenancy to find children who want to become vigilantes. First was Duke, who took on the name Starling. Their dad had enjoyed birdwatching and when they were thinking if aliases, they kept circling back to the birds they'd watch together as the sun rose. Damian chose by Raven, citing that they're incredibly intelligent birds, at the time, Duke thought he was just being edgy. Tim goes by Cardinal, following the bird theme. Cass had chosen to go by Batgirl, wanting to tie herself to her new family. Steph is Spoiler, a name she'd picked out before they even found her. Jason hasn't picked a name out yet, but he's not ready to head out into the field.
☆☆☆☆
Duke heads into the cave not long after arriving in the Manor. They're not sure where their family is, but they want to get some training in before heading out. In the cave, they find Jason, hunched over a sketchbook at the large meeting table.
“What're you doing?” Duke moves to stand behind the boy, peering over his shoulder. Jason's 6 years younger than Duke, and still quite skittish even after almost a year of living there. Duke gets it, Jason had apparently been homeless and living in Crime Alley before Bruce found him. They knew they were lucky that they hadn't ended up in the same position after their parents death.
“It's nothing,” Jason hunches futher over the book, flushing slightly.
“C'mon, I promise not to make fun of you,” Duke pushes lightly, if Jason keeps hiding they won't push, but they're curious. Jason looks over his shoulder and eyes them suspiciously.
“Promise?” He asks.
“Promise,” Duke smiles warmly.
“I'm working on my costume design, y'know, for when I'm allowed out like you guys are,” Jason hesitantly holds the book up for Duke to see.
The art is good, impressive, actually. Duke studies the designs thoughtfully.
“These are nice, which is your favourite?” They ask after a moment. Jason scans through the designs carefully before pointing at one of the more detailed ones.
“This one,” He says, looking to the side, embarrassed.
Duke looks closer, the base seems to be a black body suit with green accents. Over the top is roughly drawn armour. It's oddly reminiscent of Duke's own suit. Oh.
“That's a good design, have you shown Bruce?” They ask. Duke felt warm as they stared at the drawing longer, taking in all the similarities between the design and their old costumes. If they look closer, they can see similarity to Damian's original costume as well.
“No,” Jason shakes his head. “I need to find the right one before showing him.”
“Want some help?” Jason hesitates again before nodding.
“Okay, I guess you've done this before.”
Duke sits down next to the boy, waiting for him to turn over to a new page. They spend a while going over different costume designs, Duke deciding to forgo training to help their new little brother.
☆☆☆☆
Somethings up with Jason. Duke's not been home recently, busy with university, but he's heard from Damian and Tim that he and Bruce have been arguing recently. It started after the incident with Garzonas, Duke firmly believes Jason didn't push him, but it's been slowly escalating. So, when Duke gets a call when they're supposed to be studying, of course they answer.
“Jason? Is everything alright?” They ask, panicking slightly.
“It's, uh, I'm okay, I just…” He sunds like hes been crying.
“It's okay, take your time, whats going on?”
“Catherine wasn't my biological mum,” Jason said quickly, Duke pauses.
“Wait, what?”
“I went back to my old flat…” Jason hesitates a moment before continuing. “I saw one of the neighbours and she gave me a box of things fro before I had to leave. It had my birth certificate inside.”
“What does it say?”
“It's damaged, but I could make out some letters. I compared it to my dad's old phone book…”
“Are you trying to find your biological mother?” Duke asks, they now things have been hard for Jason recently, it'd make sense for him to want to find her.
“There's three names,” Jason says in lieu of an answer.
“Okay, I'll swing by the Manor tomorrow and we can look together,” Duke says, already preparing to call in sick for a week or two. They know Jason will go anyway, and he won't tell Bruce. So, Duke will go with him, they don't have any exams soon. It'll be a holiday of sorts.
“Okay…” Jason sounds young, devastatingly so. “Thanks Duke.”
“Anytime Jay.”
☆☆☆☆
The two of them go to check out the first woman on the list, Duke gets a call about the Joker, but tells Bruce they're busy. The first woman isn't who they're looking for, so they move on.
The second woman turns out to be Lady Shiva, of all people, and they end up running into Bruce as they investigate. He's glad Duke went with Jason, but still lectures them about not telling him before running off.
“I was worried sick when Damian said you weren't at your dorm, Duke.”
“Sorry, Bruce.”
They end up in Ethiopia, tracking down Sheila Haywood. The Joker's here as well, something that makes Duke uneasy. They leave Jason with Sheila after they confirm she's his mother, just for a moment. Duke and Bruce work on the Joker case as they let Jason catch up with his mother.
Bruce goes off after the rogue, leaving Duke behind with orders to watch Jason and telling Jason not to run off again. Duke wanders around the camp, not straying far from the tent, when they get a premonition. It's Jason, in costume, beaten and bloody. They see Sheila in the corner, and a man with too pale skin and a wide, wide smile. Joker. They run to the tent only to find it empty. There's a bike roaring in the distance.
Duke comandeers a motorcycle, not waiting to put on their costume before going after the first bike. They curse under their breath, willing the bike to go faster. They can't be too late, can't lose another family member to the clown. They see a warehouse in the distance and head for it, wind howling in their ears.
When they get to the warehouse, they see the side door is open, a thin trail of smoke drifts out of it, intertwined with wild laughter. Duke leaps off the bike, heart pounding as they race towards the door. Sheila is there, smoking, as the Joker laughs maniacally. There's the sound of something solid hitting flesh over and over and over and over-
Duke shoves her out of the way only to stop a few steps into the room. Jason's tied to a chair, bloodied and beaten with the Joker standing over him. He's in uniform. The Joker holds a crowbar that's splattered with blood. They move to race forwards, but Joker pulls a gun, holding it to Duke's brother's head.
“Ah, ah, ah,” The clown is mocking them. “One step closer and I'll blow birdies brains out.”
“Let him go,” Duke snarls.
“Now where's the fun in that?” The Joker tilts his head. Then he sighs. “Well, I suppose our time was going to come to and end soon.”
Joker steps away from Jason and Duke starts to rush towards their brother, only stopping when Joker makes to leave.
“I'm not letting you escape this time, Joker.”
“Oh but you will!” He cackles, the grating sound etched into their nightmares. “See, this place is rigged to blow, you can't stop me and save birdie over there!”
Duke turns and spots the bomb, cursing under their breath.
“I'm sure I'll be seeing you soon, maybe you can try catch me then,” Joker taunts, leaving the warehouse. Duke assumes Sheila's long gone. The door clicks behind him and Duke knows it's locked.
They drop down beside Jason, assessing his injuries. They're bad, life threateningly so. Duke fishes in Jason's suit for his first aid supplies, but their eyes catch on the bomb as they start patching up the head wounds. Only a few minutes left. Duke could disarm it, but what if Jason dies because they didn't patch him up? His injuries bleed at varying rates, bruises bloom over pale skin. He likely has several broken bones and the laboured breathing isn't a good sign. Duke checks his pulse, its there, but it's not good..
Duke can't leave him. Duke can't disarm the bomb. If Duke doesn't disarm it, they both die, but if they do…
Duke couldn't live with themselves if they let their little brother die to save themselves.
Duke gives up on first aid, working to free Jason from the chair. Once he's free, Duke lifts him up and places him against the door, trying desperately to pick the lock.
“Duke…” A voice says faintly. It's Jason. They look down. “‘M sorry…”
“It's not your fault, Jay,” Duke tries to work faster, but they didn't grab any gear before leaving. The bomb ticks loudly in the background. 25 seconds. “It's not your fault.”
“But…” 23.
“It's not your fault, I promise.” 16.
“‘Kay…I love you, Duke…” 11.
“I love you too Jay.” 9.
Duke drops down and holds Jason against them. If they can sheild him just enough, maybe…maybe…
There's a loud bang, then nothing.
☆☆☆☆
Duke wakes up laying on something hard. Opening their eyes hurts, so they don't. Until they remember what happened. They try to sit up, only to gasp in pain.
“Duke!” Bruce cries out. His eyes are red, he's been crying. “How- you were-”
“Jay…” Duke croaks, throat dry and scratchy.
“Alive. You managed to shield him enough that when I got there he was alive,” Bruce says, trying and failing to lean into his Batman persona.
“Good,” Duke says, letting Bruce push them back down. He sits besides them, watching carefully, and takes their hand in his own.
“Duke…you died,” Bruce turns away, the words sound painful for him to say.
“What?”
“You died.”
“Oh.”
They died. They died saving Jason. Duke…Duke isn't sad about that. They don't want to die, but they'd sacrifice themselves in a heartbeat if it meant saving family. Especially if its the Joker they're saving them from.
“Do you know how you came back?” Bryce asks, uncharacteristically hesitant.
“No,” It's true, Duke didn't know they even could come back to life.
“It'll be okay, you'll be fine, both of you will. I'll deal with it,” Determination fills Bruce's voice, its comforting, in a way. He's always been unbreakable, Duke can't imagine a world where he isn't there. Bruce is steady and sure and, for all his faults, Duke knows they can rely on him. They didn't at first, but Bruce proved it time and time again. So when Bruce says;
“Get some rest, sunlight, I'll be here when you wake up.”
Duke closes their eyes, letting the feeling on Bruce's hand in theirs sooth them to sleep.