Work Text:
Stephanie Brown was born wrong, her father always says so. She murdered her mother before she took her first breath. When she was little, she was terrified that she was going to jail for that murder. What kind of monster kills their mother? She would ask herself, unfortunately Stephanie knew the answer far too well.
Stephanie is largely on her own from the age of 4. Her father gave her the basic necessities but beyond that she was reliant on herself.
(The food in the fridge is, and always has been, rotten. Stephanie does not know this.)
She takes to scavenging with the homeless kids near her apartment. They teach her what to wear when it gets freezing, and her father cannot pay the electricity bill.
She is 6 years old, and she is being followed home from school. She knows this because the man in the red jacket has been following her for the past 20 minutes. The man speeds up and so Stephanie starts to run but the man is a grown up with much longer legs.
“Your daddy owes me a lot of money, little girl.” The man rasps out. Stephanie can spot his missing teeth.
She puts on her bravest face and says, “I don’t have any money either.”
“Let’s see how much he’s willing to pay for you then.” The man says while leering at her. Stephanie cannot help the fear on her face, her father always says she’s weak.
The man grabs her and then he is thrown sideways by a bat to the head. “Hey! Why don’t you pick on someone your own size!” her saviour, a lady dressed in red and blue. Harley Quinn. “I see you doin’ shit like this again and ill cave your head in!”
The man scrambles back, nursing his head before running off.
The lady turns to her, “You alright hon?”
Stephanie bursts into tears. The lady in front of her is panicking and then gathers her into a very awkward hug. Stephanie supposes this is just how hugs feel, it’s not like she’s had one before.
The lady leads her back to her apartment (which has heating!!!) and yells out, “Pammy! I’m home!”
“Hey, Harls.” Poison Ivy greets, before pausing and looking at Stephanie. “Babe, what’s that?”
“What’s what?” Poison Ivy just stares at her. Stephanie feels very uncomfortable. “Oh! You mean Stephie!”
“If Stephie is the small child behind you, yes. I mean Stephie.” Poison Ivy deadpans. Harley just smiles, and says, “Her dad’s a dick. She’s ours now!”
Poison Ivy just stares for a long moment and then sighs. “Hi Stephie. Would you like some hot chocolate?” Stephanie lights up and nods her head so hard she gets dizzy.
She stays with them. Her father never comes looking.
She still visits her friends in Crime Alley but now she is no longer one of them. Her best friend, Jason, frowned when she said that. “I don’t really think you can stop being one of us.”
She wakes up to a man standing over her. She screams and Harley and Ivy come running. Harley relaxes and lets the bat in her hand drop when she spots who it is. Ivy calms too but she still looks annoyed. Stephanie scampers out of bed and over to them.
“Hiya Batsy! Whatcha doing?” Harley asks the Batman.
“You have kidnapped a child, Quinn.” The dark imposing figure says.
Despite the many horror stories, she has heard of the Bat growing up in Crime Alley, she cannot allow an insult towards her new family stand. “They didn’t kidnap me! I chose them! You’re the one in our house!”
Ivy snorts, “You heard her.”
The Batman makes a sound of pure resignation.
The next day Bruce Wayne comes over and gives Harley and Ivy the paperwork to officially adopt Stephanie. He also gives them the paper her father signed, giving up his parental rights.
She becomes Stephanie Quinzel-Isley.
Theres a big party to celebrate that; all of her new parents’ friends are there. Theres a lady dressed in all leather who offers to teach her to steal, a man in a very silly hat asks her a riddle, and just like that Stephanie Quinzel-Isley has a family.
Stephanie is 9 years old, and she is followed. She’s tried to lose him, but he hasn’t even faltered, always 20 steps behind. Normally, she would press her emergency button but before she can, her coat is grabbed. Stephanie surges into action, using a move her aunt Selina taught her, she grabs the hand holding her and pushes him to the ground. She quickly climbs onto his back, almost on his neck, and asks, “Who are you and why’re you following me?”
The man beneath her grunts but before he can answer, there’s a swoosh and suddenly she’s face to face to with Batman.
Stephanie grins. “Heya Bats!”
The Batman stares at her, unimpressed. Suddenly there’s a bright figure by his side and Stephanie blanches.
“Jay?” she asks in disbelief.
“WHAT. No, my names not Jay. What are you even talking about I’m Robin. Shut up.” Robin (who is obviously Jay) rambles.
“Uh-huh.” She deadpans. Theres a groan from beneath her and she realises that she’s still on top of the man. “He was following me.” She informs them, before skipping off.
Stephanie and Jason are back to being best friends the day after. Given their recent stage of not seeing each other, Stephanie and he make a promise.
“Best friends can leave and not talk, but siblings can’t, so you have to be my brother now.” She informs him. he pauses and then nods, “Yeah, you can be my sister.” She grins.
Bruce Wayne gives her self-defence classes and Stephanie can see her future so clearly. She’ll help Jay fight crime and then she’ll go to college and become doctor or a vet, she hasn’t decided yet.
Stephanie Quinzel-Isley is 13 years old when her world falls apart. She is walking to the corner store, and she stops dead in her tracks. ‘Jason Todd dead in fire overseas,’ is the title of every single fucking newspaper. Frantically she calls Jay, then she calls him again, and again, and again.
Her mother’s sit her down when she gets home, and she knows her brother is dead. She cries in her mother’s arms.
Bruce Wayne stops teaching her to fight. He doesn’t answer the door when she knocks, and Stephanie gets the message.
She see’s Dick Grayson at the funeral. Him and Jason were on decent terms, but they weren’t all that close. Still Jason was the closest thing they both had to a brother, so she walks over.
“I’m Stephanie.” She speaks. He freezes. “I know you weren’t close with him, but you were still brothers. He was my brother too.” She pauses for a second, “please don’t be a stranger.”
Dick Grayson is silent for a long moment. “I promise.” He says it like an oath.
He keeps his oath. He visits her on weekends, and she takes the bus to Blüdhaven when he can’t come to her. They get ice cream and watch chick-flicks and trashy thrillers, and Stephanie has another brother.
Stephanie Quinzel-Isley is 13 still and there’s a new fucking Robin. She only barely stops herself from smashing his face in. If she does not acknowledge this bullshit new kid, then he doesn’t exist.
The bullshit fake bitch finds her. She hits him with a brick.
“Stephanie.” Batman states in greeting while his new apprentice is hiding behind him.
“I fucking hate you. You take on a new Robin not even a fucking year after he dies? What the actual fuck.” Stephanie spits at him, anger clouding his mind. “God he couldn’t even dodge a fucking brick, B.”
“Hey! Stop insulting me! I’m a great fucking Robin!” The fake bitch doesn’t even have the sense to stay quiet. “I’m the new Robin, deal with it!”
Stephanie sees red. Metaphorically, of course. Her mind is now in a state of pure fucking anger though.
She lunges towards the puny bitch and tackles him to the ground. He tries to pull a move that Jay used to pull on her when they sparred but she’s already countering it. She’s about to start breaking his fucking face when arms lift her from around the waist and haul her off.
“Stephanie.” Batman warns.
She wipes her bloody nose with her hand and stalks off, but not before saying, “Fucking fine. I’m leaving. But if that kid comes near me again and I’m breaking his nose.”
She breaks down when she’s in her room at home. Her mother’s both come in and she blubbers out the story through her sobs. It’s very clear that Ivy wants to break Batman into pieces but instead she comforts her daughter.
The next day she catches the bus into Blüdhaven and walks to Dick’s apartment.
“He has a new fucking Robin.”
“I know. Kid tried to convince me to go back to being Robin. I said no, guess he figured he’d do it himself.” Dick replies.
“He replaced him so easily.” Her voice breaks.
Dick just hugs her.
The new Robin’s name is Tim Drake. He lives in Bristol and is the antithesis of her brother. She hates him so much it feels like she could kill him.
Life moves on. Stephanie does not forgive Batman for his betrayal. She ignores Tim Drake when they are in the same room, despite the anger in her heart. She visits Dick often and she is so selfishly pleased when he ignores Tim Drake at a climate change gala she was forced to attend and walks straight to her.
Stephanie Quinzel-Isley is 14 years old, and she has 2 brothers. Jason Todd is buried in a cemetery that she’s never been to; She simply can’t force herself to stand on the ground where her brother rots beneath her. Dick Grayson is alive, and he takes over her self-defence training.
Life has moved past the death of Jason Peter Todd.
Or at least it has for Stephanie. She, however, doesn’t have all the information.
Enter stage left, Red Hood.