Chapter Text
The first time that Sarah ever had the opportunity to prove herself to Bruce was the first time the Manor had been broken into. Bruce had been used to living in the spotlight since his parents were alive, as were Dick and Sarah, but he’d tried rather hard to ensure they had some semblance of privacy as children.
Sarah was ten. Dick was thirteen. Dick was Robin, his Robin, and they’d been out on patrol the first time someone had attempted to break into the Manor and done so successfully.
Not a goon. Just an average thief was attempting to use the Wayne money for his benefit. Someone could take anything within the main hallway and make a small fortune.
That had been how it started.
Then someone attempted to hurt Alfred, which had broken something in Sarah that Bruce only saw whenever he’d become Batman.
It didn’t scare him.
It did scare Dick.
***
Earlier that evening….
Dressed in one of Bruce’s old sweaters with her hair tied messily behind her shoulders, ten-year-old Sarah Grayson hummed quietly to herself as she walked down the hallway from her room toward the front of the Manor. Alfred would’ve made dinner by now.
He always went out of his way to make things she liked. If Sarah didn’t like them, Alfred always found a way into persuading her to like them. It was one of the many things she’d come to love about him.
If Bruce had come to be her dad… Alf was her grandfather. That was something she needed badly in a life without her parents around.
“Alf? Did you save me a-“ Sarah stopped herself short at the sight of the kitchen in front of her. Alfred was always meticulous in his cleaning, stopping at nothing to ensure every room of the Manor was immaculate. This was very uncharacteristic of him. “Alfred? Where are you?!”
The first clue was the baseball bat thrown across the room and the shattered remains of dishes on the floor.
Sarah paused and ran her finger along the rim of the sink. Scarlet.
Her stomach sank.
“Okay, okay… what would Dick do?” She whispered, taking a deep breath to steel the nerves growing in her stomach as she peered around the corner and into the hallway. “Listen. Find the source, take care of the problem.”
Do you realize how stupid you sound? You’re ten. What is a ten-year-old going to do?
Her thoughts halted as a yell echoed down the hallway, and Sarah took off before she even realized what she was doing. There was only one thought. Protect Alfred.
Can’t lose Alf. He’s too important. We need him.
The thief in question was tall, standing nearly two heads above her with beady eyes and dark hair that was closely cropped to his skull. Alfred lay unmoving at his feet. His grey hair was matted with red - most likely from a resulting head injury - and his hands were trembling where they lay cradled to his chest in front of him.
Sarah didn’t know what he was trying to do or what he was trying to achieve. All she knew was that someone was trying to hurt Alfred.
She wouldn’t let them.
***
Alfred woke with a start from his position on the floor. He had originally thought the man above him was here for money, as that was what most people sought from Bruce, and he usually would’ve been able to fix the problem with ease.
Until he’d been hit from behind. Evil to hit an old man from behind before he can even defend himself.
The hit had been hard enough for him to double over and see stars. Alfred had put up as much of a fight as he’d been able to - without the use of a real weapon like the shotgun he usually kept in the kitchen - but it was growing increasingly more difficult to stay awake.
Need to keep him away from Sarah.
Alfred had lived a long time. He had been Wayne’s butler for decades, choosing to remain behind to raise Bruce after the loss of Thomas and Martha. He had been close to leaving multiple times after allegations of Thomas’ association with Carmine had surfaced.
Bruce had kept him from doing so. Bruce needing him had kept him from doing so. Raising Bruce Wayne had been one of his greatest treasures, and he felt an equal need to protect the Grayson siblings.
Which is why he needed to find a way to get up and protect Sarah.
What Alfred hadn’t been anticipating was the baseball bat that went flying across the room - only to nail his attacker right at the base of his neck, enough to catch his attention and draw it toward the door - followed by a small form clad in beige launching itself toward the chandelier.
He watched on in wonder. Bruce had been wary about letting Sarah anywhere near the Cave, let alone her persona he’d created because children did not need to be child soldiers.
Bruce had not seen what Alfred was looking at now.
With a cry as fierce as a lion, Sarah Grayson threw her entire body into the chandelier and maneuvered her legs around it while the upper half swung back and forth several feet above her attacker. He was still trying to pull her down from the rafters.
As soon as the momentum had been gained, Sarah launched herself toward her attacker and wound her legs tightly around his throat. “Alf!” She cried as the pair began stumbling about the parlor. “I need the bat!”
Despite the fact his head was pounding, Alfred managed to crawl just far enough away to curl his fingers around the hilt of the bat and toss it as high as he could.
Little fingers wrapped around the hilt and rammed down against his head. Hard.
Disoriented, the attacker’s movements slowed as Sarah tightened her hold and used her body weight to throw them both back to the floor.
She rolled before he could fall on top of her.
When Sarah looked back down at their attacker, the man was unconscious. Her eyes flickered between him and Alfred who still lay on the floor on the other side of the parlor.
“Little one,” He rasped, bright eyes landing on her shaking form. Sarah hadn’t quite yet noticed the trembling of her hands or the way she couldn’t take her eyes away from the unconscious thief at her feet. Bruce and Dick were going to have a field day with this. “Miss Grayson.”
The adrenaline was beginning to wear off.
“Alf?” Sarah murmured, gasping as she rushed across the room and removed her sweater - thankful for the warmth of her Wonder Woman tee-shirt underneath - to press it against Alfred’s head. “Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere else?”
“Our thief got the better of me,” Alfred muttered dejectedly. “I was in the middle of preparing your favorite dinner.”
“Screw dinner.”
“Language, Sarah Grayson.”
Sarah snorted and stood to her feet. “Where’s the first aid kit in here? I need to clean your head… after we bind our friend.” She kicked his ankle hard for good measure and ambled over to Bruce’s desk in the corner. Somehow it was the only thing not broken in the fight. “Keep your eyes open, Alfie. You probably have a-have a-“
She couldn’t think of the word.
“Concussion, dear heart,” Alfred murmured. He’d managed just enough strength to lay his phone at his side and text the emergency word to Bruce. “I think it would be best if you tell me one of your infamous stories about your days in the circus so I stay awake. Can you do that?”
Sarah set the kit down beside Alfred before turning to their friend and tightening her hands around the rope. She’d learned how to tie knots at four years old at the circus. She could do this.
I can make Bruce and Dick proud.
“There was a time when I was so little that I wanted to ride the white tiger at the circus for one of my first acts. We called her Ghost…”
***
Bruce was having a difficult time maintaining his focus on their way back to the Manor. Dick had seen the emergency word through his domino - Intrusion - and had been jabbering senselessly the entire way through Gotham and onto the back roads that led into the Cave.
The autopilot on the car was what stopped it as they both flew out of the doors and up the stairs to the grandfather clock.
“Alfred!”
“And then Dick rode on the back of Zitka with me, and it was awesome-“
Batman and Robin skid to a stop at the doorway of the parlor. Their thief was sitting in the corner, tied at the hands and ankles with a gag in his mouth that prevented him from speaking. He looked… annoyed. Like the voice of a ten-year-old girl telling stories to keep her grandfather away was grating his nerves.
“Wait-Wait-“ Dick threw his hands up dramatically, the confused and slightly high pitch of his voice drawing the attention of the pair. “Sarah… Little Wing.. did that?! He’s a fully grown man and she’s not even trained!”
She’s not supposed to be me. She’s innocent. She’s just a kid.
Completely neglecting the fact that they were still in their armor, Bruce rushed forward to attend to his oldest friend, “Are you all right?” He said softly, to which Alfred nodded. “Seems our littlest bird has done her job well.”
“Just a killer headache. You would do well to contact Gordon to collect our friend here.”
No names. Can’t risk identities.
“Robin?” Batman glanced over his shoulder to gruffly address his Robin. “Contact Gordon at the GCPD and have him send a car to collect our intruder.”
Dick swallowed the knot in his throat and rushed off, desperately trying to blink away tears. That should not have scared him. It should’ve scared Sarah.
She looked… calm.
A ten-year-old who had just taken down her first assailant should not have looked that calm.
Dick shivered and continued toward the phone. That would have to be a problem for later. Right now he needed to call Gordon and get that guy out of his parlor so he and his sister could take care of Alf.
They needed to take care of Alf.
****
Sarah yawned and slowly lifted her head from the back of the sofa to gaze around the parlor. Someone had put it back together when she was asleep, cleaning up the debris from the fight and setting the furniture back in its original positions.
Their assailant was gone, as were Dick and Bruce. The only sign anything that happened was her fingers wound in Alfred’s hair - the way her mother used to do for her when she was having trouble sleeping - and the bandages from his head wound.
Sarah yawned and curled closer to his side. B must’ve started a fire while they were asleep too… she was too cozy to move.
This might have been the first time she’d ever seen Alfred relax.
“Sh..” Then someone’s fingers were in her hair, and she was far too tired and sore to argue as Bruce peered over the couch to look at her. “Go back to sleep, little bird.”
She did.
****
Dick leaves...
Sarah - 14
Dick - 17
Several years go by once again. True to his word, Bruce forces Sarah to wait until she was around the same age Dick had been upon becoming Robin to become Spectral. Once he'd begun to train her, she'd taken to the role naturally
There was too much Bruce and not enough Batman in his reaction to Dick being injured. It hadn't even been a lethal shot. Just a shoulder wound.
All he had thought about when it had happened was his parents. There'd been too much time lingering in the shadows of memories of Crime Alley, barely nine years old and unable to tear his eyes away from the river of scarlet running at his feet.
He'd been sure not to include much red in Wayne Manor when he was older.
"You don't have the right!" Dick screamed. His voice was raw and agonizing and oh, Bruce hated to hear that because he was the cause of it. Dick was so much older now. He was his own man. Bruce would not let him die because of his mistakes. "You're the one who took me in and trained me for this! You are what made me Robin!"
Bruce whipped back around to face his partner and tossed the cowl toward the Batcomputer. Both of them were oblivious to Spectral in the corner by the medbay, keen blue eyes staring through her domino as she engaged her newly acquired cloaking device they'd incorporated into her suit.
Her breathing hitched as she took in the sight of her brother. They'd grown so much over the last couple of years. Between entering the upper levels of Gotham Academy, Sarah's growing talent with her art - which had won her multiple awards since she had started at ten years old - and Dick's continued improvement with his acrobatics and hand-to-hand as Robin.
Spectral only emerged when she was needed. Robin was the most well-known, the apparent favorite.
It had been that way her entire life. Spectral and Robin, Sarah and Dick, it didn't matter. Sarah was okay with it.
"I will not let my Robin die." Bruce snapped. "Not at the end of a gun, not by the hands of him. I said it once and I said it again. You're done, Dick. Get out of my cave."
Sarah gasped quietly as she materialized. Was he about to-
"B-"
Her voice was silenced by Bruce's yell as Dick slowly backed towards the staircase that led them to the grandfather clock.
"GET OUT OF MY CAVE!"
Something broke that day. What it was, none of them could tell you, but Alfred held Sarah just a little bit tighter as they watched Dick flee Wayne Manor, unaware of who they'd meet not long after.
Bruce, now dressed as Batman, got back into the car and drove until he could no longer see straight.
I just lost my son. My son. My Robin. My son.
He stopped the Batmobile in the nearest alleyway and parked it, unaware of the thirteen-year-old boy who lingered in the dark.
My son.
Jason Todd waited until the masked man disappeared to creep forward. Now was his chance.