Chapter Text
The last thing Dick had expected to encounter as his patrol was starting in Bludhaven was the blinding sunlight and a French accent. He got over his disorientation pretty quickly after his eyes adjusted only to have to deal with his mind fighting to pull from unused language sectors as he hadn’t spoken French in many years. Being introduced to his unknown daughter was followed shortly by participating in one of the strangest fights he had ever taken part in. Then less than half an hour later he found himself on the same rooftop he had been on before the whole ordeal had started. He allowed himself a moment to process everything before responding to the barrage of noise that was now his comm unit in his ear.
“Nightwing Report!” Batman’s normally near emotionless voice was now filled with urgency as it carried over his brothers’ and Oracle’s inquiries.
“I’m fine! I’m back, sorry I guess magical interference made it to where you couldn’t reach me,” he answered.
“Magic? What are we dealing with?” Bruce asked.
“Nothing in America, I promise. I was pulled to France momentarily, but the problem has been corrected. I will give a full debrief after patrol.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to call it for the night and get checked out?” Tim’s voice asked.
“Negative. It was honestly nothing problematic to my person, although I got some pretty big news that I need to process. I will explain more when I return to the cave tonight.”
“Alright, as long as you’re sure. Keep the line open though. We will be monitoring you closer than normal so don’t go dark tonight.” Bruce said.
“Understood,” he responded.
Luckily for Nightwing his patrol was pretty uneventful, so his mind had plenty of downtime to think through what he wanted to say when his family eventually pounced on him when he arrived in the cave. The biggest part of his thought process was devoted to what he wanted to do with the knowledge he had been given and to plan how to put those desires in motion. He also needed to make a call to Starfire to let her know what he had discovered. He wasn’t looking forward to explaining that to her, especially with how stressed she had been lately with the politics for her home world that she had to deal with already alongside taking care of Mar’i. He hoped she would take the news that he had a sort of daughter that he would be looking into helping without too much issue.
The cave was filled with the whole team by the time that Dick made it back for the night. Domino masks had been discarded, but otherwise the rest of the team was still suited up as they sat around a debrief table. All eyes looked at him expectantly and he took a deep steadying breath as he made his way over to join them, debating if he wanted to leave his mask on for its added layer of emotional protection. As he sat down he decided to discard it.
“How aware are all of you on the Paris situation?” Dick asked as he looked around the table, trying to gauge how in depth he would have to go for his explanation.
“Magical weirdo with butterflies and a few magical heroes with specialized skills to combat it. The original Hawkmoth was defeated about half a year ago, but his power was not recovered and now his successor is terrorizing the city. Gender of the successor is unknown and most have simply referred to the villain by the same name. The Mayor has asked for no one with powers to enter the city due to the villain’s specific skill set,” Bruce filled in gruffly.
“Were you brought there because of this second Hawkmoth?” Tim asked.
“Yes and no. The explanation is two fold. Not many of you know this but about seventeen years ago I donated to a fertility clinic. Apparently someone in Paris utilized that donation and I now have a daughter in Paris. The Akuma, that’s what they call the possessed villains, was bringing people’s fathers to them. My daughter got hit so I was brought to her.” Dick said in one breath.
“So you got to meet some unknown family, cool. What’s her name,” Jason asked.
Dick cringed, “Ladybug.”
The whole cave was silent for a few moments as that sank in before the whole family began laughing apart from Dick.
“Of course she’s your daughter,” Tim said between chuckles, “When do we leave?”
The family quieted down as they waited for his response. Dick was blown away by the support they seemed to be giving him and his daughter.
“As soon as I can work out the details with Kor’i and Mar’i. I don’t know how my wife is going to react to the idea that I have another daughter.”
“I can help explain what fertility clinics are used for to her if that helps,” Barbara offered.
“It does actually, thank you,” Dick nodded.
“Not to be that guy, but you might want to take a step back here Big Bird,” Jason said, “I will support you through this, but since this was a donation situation you won’t really have any leg to stand on if you are trying to become a part of her life. She is almost an adult already, and we only know her by her alias right now. If she doesn’t want you to know her civilian ID then hacking the fertility clinic’s records to find it will go beyond illegal invasion of privacy. It could damage your relationship before it begins. I don’t want you to get off on the wrong foot with her.”
Dick nodded, “Your right. I planned to do just that, but what would you recommend? I can’t really show up in mask again because even though I’m not powered, I am associated with powered people. It could draw undue attention to me when all I really want to do is help her.”
“Does she need help?” Damian asked.
Dick sighed and hung his head, “Probably not. She handled herself well and led her team to a handy victory despite the fact that her partner was having what she referred to as an existential crisis for the fight. She is also fighting against a magical opponent which is outside of my repertoire and directly within hers, but she is also very young with no mentor. She is the leader of her team from what I could see and she can’t be older than seventeen.”
“Be careful when offering unnecessary help,” Jason said, “It’s also something that won’t go down well with high achieving teenagers.”
“So what do you suggest?” Dick asked.
“A family vacation,” Jason offered smiling, “One with the entire extended family, where we can gather intel in the city without looking too hard into the identity of the local heroine. We could observe and research covertly and if it looks like we could help or that help is needed then we offer it. You could also reach out anonymously to the heroine or even as Nightwing after you have gathered enough information if you feel it would be well received ed at that time. Who knows, maybe she will reach out to you. She is your kid after all. She got enough of your genetics to be her city’s heroine; her inherited traits might extend even further.”
Dick smiled and nodded, “Yeah, I think that would probably be best. So once I discuss things with Kor’i who all wants to come with us to Paris?”
Around the table everyone but Bruce and Barbara raised their hand, which Dick expected. Bruce would not leave the city unguarded when the majority of his family were to be leaving it, and Barbara wouldn’t feel the need to hop the pond to chase her friend’s whims unless she was personally asked to.
“I will call you all tomorrow when I know better what our travel plans will be,” Dick said.
“Alright,” Bruce said, “Keep us all posted please.”
“Of course, B,” Dick said as he stood from the table.
The group stood after him and they made their way to the changing rooms to get out of their gear. It had been an eventful day, and Dick was looking forward to sleep, even if he wasn’t looking forward to the drive back to his apartment in Bludhaven where his wife and daughter were hopefully sleeping. Changed and washed he bid his brothers goodbye before heading up into the mansion to get to the garage and make his final way home. It was two in the morning by the time he walked into his apartment.
The silence that greeted him was reassuring, and after checking the monitor in his daughter’s room to see that she was in fact asleep he made his way to his bedroom and carefully climbed into bed to not disturb Kor’i who was breathing lightly in sleep. Moments after his head hit the pillow he joined her too in sleep.