Work Text:
The bats were worked up. Not… exactly an uncommon occurrence for all that they most often kept to themselves. Diana could respect their decision, especially as it often meant that they likewise kept out of her affairs. Well, most of them did. Batman was his own event but her fellow league member knew the risks he took and so she didn’t begrudge him the rewards, or the consequences.
Looking out across the hidden grove that should have seemed empty, she wondered if the figure there would be regulated to the same category. A man, most certainly, and one who was large and muscular at that, crouched in roughly the center, gloved hand out and brushing over air. Well, it gave that appearance anyway. No doubt he knew better, as did she.
“Who dares to approach this space?”
The man didn’t exactly flinch, but his back straightened. Then, he turned and she was graced with dark hair split by a streak of ghostly white and a domino mask fitted to his face as cleanly as any of the shadow clad brood. The shade of it matched the emblem across his chest armor, the jacket hiding the edges but she had seen its gray and black counterpart often enough.
No one had said there was a new bat, and it was not Bruce’s tradition to take one such as this. Alternate timeline? He bore a similar stature to Bruce but far enough from exact that it was only a passing resemblance and not easily the man himself. Time Travel? His first son was into adulthood now and would not reach this size without intervention. His current Robin was a slip of shadow and gleaming intelligence and if she understood how most aged he would likely stay similarly shorter than the one before her.
The figure… smiled… and Diana felt her breath catch in her throat. That was a smile she knew . Magic then, to return something stolen from the batclan, and from all of them. Illusion or Truth? An alternate dimension was still a distinct possibility, or magic that could bring the dead to life, or someone playing a very deadly game by making them appear as someone they were not. She started across the field, as yet undecided on her course of action until the other played their hand, but hope rising all the same.
“Wonder Woman.” The voice was deeper, an adult now rather than the joyful chirping that had taken place before. The accent was the same though, breaking through in thicker portions as his hold on the excitement slipped. “Hey, definitely not here for a fight. Kinda… well, figured that Big Blue was already snooping around after the whole tractor tire incident and… honestly I’d prefer if you were the first to full out officially know outside the fam.”
She stopped before him, taking in each of the details from the leather jacket to the thick armored pants to the sheer difference . “If this is a trick, be aware that the rules of justice I follow are far different from Batman’s.”
The reply was… soft . “I know.” Slowly his hand came up, peeling off the mask with an ease that suggested it was not attached nearly so well as they normally were. He truly must not have expected to need to fight, or to keep his identity from her knowledge. “You were always my favorite of the League. I… Agent A kept my room the same so… I still have that first autograph.” She remembered. She remembered the boy shining with joy and wonder who had finally emerged from the darkness of Batman’s cape to ask her for an autograph upon a magazine cover.
She remembered too, the photo they had taken together as the boy grinned with his missing tooth and Batman lurking behind with the faintest ghost of a smile on his face.
She didn’t see that light now, but all of them changed. The forces that worked around and against them saw to that. “Who are you now?” The light and magic was gone, swept away by death itself at the hands of a madman. A tragic price, but if there was a chance to have one so precious returned, then it was not the worst one that could be paid.
“Red Hood. Not… not exactly a hero . In fact officially I’m a crime lord but I promise there’s a plan, and it’s working .” As expressive as ever, his hands came up and the emotions displayed across his changed face. It was enough for her lips to twitch into a smile. Truly… Truly this was a miracle. Truly looking at him, seeing what he had become she could acknowledge the changes, could believe more in them than she could in someone who would come before her without a mark from the passage of time. The teal green-blue eyes spoke perhaps to whatever process had brought him back, certainly it would not be the first time magic wrought such an effect. His scars were shifted and changed, the one on his lip gone without a trace but the freckles splashed here and there so familiar.
“We each have our own method. You have grown into an admirable warrior…”
He flushed as easily, rubbing the back of his neck. “T-thanks… It’s uh…. I mean it’s more than I could have ever expected. So, you’re cool with this? Don’t want to play 20 questions about what I do and don’t remember?”
“I most certainly wish to converse with you, perhaps know of what has happened that you are willing to share, but I believe you are who you say you are.”
Tension eased out of his shoulders, “You always were my favorite.”
He too… was perhaps hers, especially when, after a moment, there was a glint of that mischief that all Robins wore as part of their mantle as surely as Superman wore confidence and Batman wore shadow. “I don’t suppose you’d be willing to have that conversation while helping me out a little bit? We were going to use the batplane but having something invisible and having a heavy hitter on standby would be quite a bit better. If you’re willing to put up with my siblings too though…”
Her eyebrow rose. “What task is it that requires such a force?” The bats cloaked themselves in shadow and most often worked individually. They sometimes got along better than others, but for multiple of them to be actively working together and considering outside help…
She almost would have felt pity for whoever had brought such a thing upon themselves. If she had even the slightest doubt about the collective righteousness of the bats, she would have considered that pity.
Jason Todd, grown, returned, and apparently once again part of the batclan flashed a smile at her that sat somewhere between his childhood grin and his older brother’s smirk. “Fetching a baby bat from the League of Assassins.”
One of their own being in danger was certainly a way to bring about the side of the batclan no one wanted to see. That it was the League of Assassins made it even more of a situation, and though she should probably know more about why Bruce wasn’t handling this… she couldn’t deny that it would be reassuring for her to be on hand for the flock of highly trained but ultimately still human birds. She could also see the rarity of things, that she was being asked to help at all and could hardly snub that. “Most certainly.”
Red Hood grinned, drawing a different mask from his jacket to apply as she commanded the plane to let them aboard. Red Hood relayed the meet up point where his brothers were preparing that was rather distant from the Batcave interestingly enough, and as smoothly as that they were lifting away from the clearing. “Hey so… do you have like… a spare tire for the plane or anything? I was feeling it out earlier and it didn’t seem to have any lugnuts or any attachments I’m used to but there’s this thing that I’m doing and it would be hilarious if I had one of the invisible tires to put in just the right place…”