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Language:
English
Series:
Part 7 of birds and brothers and other assorted synonyms
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Published:
2022-11-08
Completed:
2022-11-13
Words:
971
Chapters:
2/2
Comments:
129
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4,185
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258
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29,470

emergency

Summary:

Dickie accidentally leaves Zitka in a Metropolis restaurant. Clark comes to the rescue.

Notes:

Inspired by leafbracer's comment: I mean, imagine a scenario when Zitka is somehow left behind at a restaurant on a trip to Metropolis, and Bruce having to call Clark in an absolute panic begging him to go to the restaurant, get the elephant, and fly her to Gotham. Superman hands Zitka to Dickie and he immediately declares, while being held by Batman, that Superman is his favorite hero.

Chapter 1

Chapter Text

Clark gets lots of urgent calls from Bruce. Granted, those calls are more often between Superman and Batman. It is much more rare for Bruce Wayne to call Clark Kent with an urgent issue.

“What’s wrong?” Clark asks, already calculating how quickly he can get to Gotham.

“I need you to go to the McDonald’s on 4th street.” Bruce sounds out of breath. “There should be a stuffed elephant on a table on the left side of the room. I am begging you to bring it to Gotham as fast as possible.”

“Is… is everything okay?” Clark asks, perplexed.

“It will be,” Bruce says in a tone that heavily implies he has a splitting headache. “Once you get me that stuffed animal.”

 

Bruce was right, there is an abandoned stuffed elephant on a table. It seems extremely well-loved. Sighing, Clark scoops it up.

“Thank goodness,” a woman in a McDonald’s shirt says from the counter. “I was hoping someone would come back for that. It’s always sad when little kids leave toys behind.”

Clark nods, holding his tongue about Bruce not having kids young enough for this toy.

He flies to Gotham.

 

Clark has just gotten to the door when it swings open. Bruce, looking extremely frazzled, has a child perched on his hip.

Last Clark checked, Bruce had two children. Damian, who Clark watched grow up alongside Jon from an unsocialized and lethal child to a relatively functional (yet still lethal) adult. And Duke, about whom Clark fielded many panicked calls from Bruce about raising a kid with meta abilities. The child perched on Bruce’s hip is neither of them.

The child is young, with tousled black hair and eyes puffy from crying.

Golden eyes puffy from crying.

“Is that a talon?” Clark asks.

“Clark,” Bruce says slowly. “I need you to hand me that elephant. Immediately.”

Clark does so, wondering if he has wandered into an elephant-plushie-related hostage situation.

Bruce takes the elephant, immediately passing it to the boy. Bruce’s eyes go soft when the boy lights up, gripping the toy to his chest and glaring at Clark like he’s the one who stole it in the first place.

“Who is this?” Clark says, making his voice gentle as he does when talking to scared kids.

“This is Dickie,” Bruce smiles, rebalancing the boy up on his hip. “Otherwise known as the kid who has been screaming for hours once we realized Zitka was gone.”

Another head of black hair pops into the door frame.“Oh thank fuck,” the boy says, seeing the elephant resting snuggly in Dickie’s arms.

Clark doesn’t know this boy either. But Bruce isn’t phased.

“Language,” Bruce says tiredly. The boy just shrugs before disappearing back into the house.

Another boy peeks out from behind Bruce and makes eye contact with Clark. The boy’s eyes widen and he disappears back behind Clark’s friend.

“Uncle Clark!” Duke shouts — thank goodness, a child Clark actually knows. “Thank you so much. Dickie has been inconsolable.”

“Bruce?” Clark asks. “Who are these children?”

Duke pouts at him from the doorway.

“Oh,” Bruce says, blinking at the little talon on his hip. “I’m fostering a couple more kids. We’re keeping it quiet for now. Please, come in.”

 

“Huh,” is all Clark can say in response to Bruce’s story of how he acquired three more children. Sure, Clark knows he’s not one to caution people away from raising the strange children they find, but Dickie is an actual Talon.

An actual talon who has remained glued to Bruce’s side for the entire explanation, hugging the stuffed elephant to his chest, and refusing to make eye contact with Clark.

Clark has to admit the kid is cute.

“Honey,” Bruce says to Dickie. “What do we say to Superman?”

Dickie looks up at Bruce, very seriously. “Superman’s my favorite.”

Bruce wheezes and tries to cover it up with a cough. “I meant thanking him, but I guess that works too.”

The little talon nods solemnly. “Thank you for saving Zitka, Mr. Superman.”

Clark decides that maybe Bruce’s new acquisitions are not so bad.

Chapter 2

Summary:

the prequel

Notes:

This was supposed to be a one-shot, but I'm a sucker and Zerimar_Lukas_why asked nicely.

Also, the response to this fic has been so lovely <3 I'm glad so many people enjoyed it.

Chapter Text

They are already back in Gotham when it all goes wrong.

Bruce had been bullied into buying the kids McDonald’s in Metropolis, something they all agreed to keep from Alfred on pain of death (or grandfatherly disappointment). Dickie had fallen asleep at lunch, Jason and Tim were bickering, and in the commotion nobody had noticed that Zitka was left behind.

Dickie, unfortunately, does notice. And he does so within seconds of waking up.

“Zitka?” he asks, gazing around for his plushie. Everyone freezes. Bruce digs through his bag, certain Zitka must be in there. When that fails, Jason runs to the car to check for the stuffed animal. He comes back empty handed.

Seeing the distress on everyone’s faces, paired with the lack of Zitka, Dickie starts wailing.

“Do something!” Jason hisses, staring back and forth from Dickie to Bruce. Damian looks extremely uncomfortable at this turn of events.

“What am I supposed to do?” Bruce responds. Jason stares at him judgmentally.

Tim, who slipped away during the commotion, comes back downstairs with Teddy Bear Zitka. He offers it to Dickie, who takes it and throws it across the room.

“I want Zitka!” he wails.

“Dickie, that wasn’t very nice,” Bruce reprimands. Then, he whispers to Duke, “Can you distract him?”

“Would you like a bath?” Duke asks. “We can use all the rubber duckies!”

“NO!” Dickie yells. “I want Zitka!”

“It’s okay, honey,” Bruce says, crouching down to Dickie’s height. “I’ll drive back to Metropolis and get Zitka. I’ll leave right away.”

Jason and Duke exchange glances. It’s a four hour round trip.

Damian sighs. “Jon is off-world, or I’d ask him.”

Bruce’s eyes widen. “Damian, my beloved son, you’re a genius.”

Clark will be able to fix this.