Work Text:
It started, as most Batfamily catastrophes did, with a villain trying to hard.
This time it was a low-tier meta named Rift - an ex-CADMUS experiment with the charming ability to tear holes in space-time. He was trying to flee capture in Gotham, juggling wild bursts of interdimensional energy like a toddler with a flamethrower. Bruce had warned the others not to engage, but, of course that meant the full Batfamily did, except Duke who had the dayshift earlier. Even Alfred had prepped the medbay just in case.
The fight ended when Robin jabbed him with a sedative mid-rant. Rift, offended and half-delirious, screamed, and reality quite literally shattered around them.
*************
They woke in snow.
"I swear to god" Jason groaned, pushing off a frost-covered log, " if I've died and came back again I'm gonna scream"
"Unknown landscape. Zero tech signal. Architecture appears medieval." Tim was already cataloguing their surroundings. " Yup. Alternate dimension. Again."
A castle loomed in the distance, its stone towers rising like silent sentinels above a sea of white. The Batfamily exchanged looks - then promptly started about who'd lead recon.
"Obviously I go, " insisted Dick. "I've got the best smile"
"You're not going to charm a castle into giving us answers, Richard," Damien snorted. " We need someone subtle. Tactical."
Jason raised his hand. "Why don't we just knock and say hi? If they're hostile, we punch our way out."
Bruce, who had been brooding in silence, finally said, " We move in pairs. Stay hidden until we know the situation."
"Yay", Steph muttered. "More cryptic dad-planning"
**********
Sansa Stark had seen many strange things in her lifetime, but she wasn't prepared for seven, clearly noble individuals somersaulting over the walls of Winterfell like it was a casual Tuesday night.
They were captured, obviously. But not before the small one disarmed four guards, Another vanished entirely into darkness, and the two dressed in red stopped engaging with the guards to instead argue with each other for some reason?
At the hall, Jon Snow, now King in the North, eyed the group warily.
"you say you are.... from another land," Jon said slowly, unsure if this was a trick.
"No," The one who introduced himself as Nightwing - strange name - grinned, " We're from another world. Big difference."
Sansa raised an eyebrow "You dress like assassins."
"I mean..." Hood shrugged. "You're not wrong."
Then came the real culture shock.
"You let your daughter fight?!" a Northern lord gasped when Cass flipped a batarang during lunch.
"Why wouldn't she?" Bruce replied coolly.
"She's not married," another murmured.
Steph spat out her water.
Damien looked offended on her behalf. "Why is that relevant? Tt. She's probably fought more men than your entire army. And won every time."
Sansa's eyes widened. "You.... fight men?"
"Only the ones who deserve it," Tim muttered. "Or kidnap us across space-time. You know. The usual."
Jon's expression shifted, " You fight. For a King?"
"No. We serve Gotham," Bruce said.
"Is that a house?" Jon Asked.
"No," Tim smirked, "It's a nightmare."
**********
When Jon overheard his guests known as Robin and Red Robin arguing about inheritance - which went something like:
"I am the rightful heir to Fathers legacy!"
"You were literally grown in a lab and have tried to kill me. Multiple times."
"It's tradition"
"You stabbed me. The only reason I'm not dead is because my amazing reflexes stopped you from hitting something vital. Batman doesn't kill people Robin."
"You got better."
- he honestly though they might try and kill each other.
Sansa whispered to Arya, "Is this some kind of barbaric courtship ritual?"
Arya, watching Cass scale a wall and disappear into the darkness that appeared out of nowhere, "I have no idea. But I like them."
Later, when the family discovered Jon was treated like a second-class citizen due to his parentage, Damien snapped:
"Why does anyone care if he's a bastard? That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard."
"Your legitimacy determines your place." Jon replied, confused.
"No," Dick said, very seriously," Your actions do. That's the whole point. I'm the eldest, but I gladly gave up my position as Heir to the Bat. Honestly, I'd rather die than put that cowl back on."
"I did die," Jason added, raising a hand.
"I've lost my spleen," Tim muttered.
"Father was lost in time once," Damien pointed out.
Bruce pinched the bridge of this nose.
"Wait.... when did you lose your spleen?!" Dick exclaimed.
********
Things started to escalate when the BatFamily decided to start fixing things around Winterfell.
Steph started to teach the peasant girls to fight, while Cass challenged knights to duels and obliterated them.
Jason introduced literacy to the street kids and prostitutes. Dick decided to train anyone who was interested in gymnastics.
Tim and Bruce tried - unsuccessfully - to establish a rudimentary justice system with less beheadings.
Damien managed to adopt a direwolf. No one knows where he got it from.
Meanwhile, the Northern Houses were in chaos. The batfamily didn't care about marriage alliances. Didn't give a damn about bastardy. The lord of Gotham lets his daughters speak freely. They encourage people to be educated and happy. What sort of insanity was this?
"Are you sure they're not some type of black haired Targaryen's? I heard that family were all as insane as this one," Someone whispered.
"They do have a dragon," a guard muttered, gesturing to Bruce who was lurking near his family like a dragon protecting it's hoard, "Kind of".
***********
Eventually, Daenerys arrived.
She took one look at the strangely dressed family - an unmarried father, a daughter who refused to bow, sons who disrespected authority, and a literal ninja in the ceiling - and said, " your either here to kill me.... or help me."
Bruce replied," We're here to save people."
Jason added," and maybe punch a few ice zombies."
Arya whispered to Cass," Do you think we would be friends in another life?"
Cass nodded," We are now."
As the Batfamily changed Westeros one flipped table at a time, they realised something important. This world was broken - but maybe, just maybe, they're just as broken family could be what it needed to heal.
At least until Rift's portal opened again.
"Do we have to go?," Damien asked, his direwolf standing beside him.
Dick, clutching a peasant child he'd sort of adopted, sighed, "I hate dimension travel."
Jason, sharpening his newly acquired sword, grinned. "Lets at least leave this place with a bang."
Bruce watched the portal flicker, his children bickering behind him - and for once, allowed himself a smile.
"Next time," he muttered, "we're not bringing everyone."