Chapter Text
The sun seemed to never rise in Gotham City. When you grow up watching sunrises and sunsets from Italian orchards, Spanish beaches, and Brazilian streets, Gotham will never fully satisfy you. Yet Carmen, with her never-ending optimism, always found something intriguing in this city. She didn’t know exactly what. She didn’t know when she was seven years old and arrived here for—what she didn’t yet know would be—her last performance. She didn’t know exactly even as Robin, immersed in the cruel side of Gotham that wasn’t visible at first glance. And she still doesn’t know, being 11 years older than she was when she first met Gotham, no longer the 7-year-old lucero but twenty-one-year-old Carmen—Duende—Wayne. Ever since Carmen learned how to walk and smile, she had been the little spark of La Manada Errande. She performed as a dancer, an acrobat, a singer, even played instruments or performed with fire. Every time she joined a performance, she was announced as lucero. This was because she always lit up any room she entered. She brought smiles and made every flame seem to fade in comparison to her smile and grace. Yet even though she loved being the Spark of La Manada Errande, she always dreamed of having a surname. Something seemingly so simple and obvious, but Carmen always felt that a part of her was missing.
Carmen gazed dreamily out the window in the large dining room of the Wayne manor. She was eating breakfast with Tim, who wasn’t very talkative, having lost his battle with Alfred over a third cup of coffee during the last five hours. The girl had tied her messy,almost black curly-wavy hair into a sloppy bun and was still wearing her pajamas. She had on simple black shorts and a faded gray T-shirt stretched over her shoulders with a Superman logo on it. Dick and her unironically loved all Superman merch ever since they were kids. It took Bruce a moment to swallow that fact, but eventually he accepted it.
After a moment spent in silence, Bruce Wayne himself walked into the dining room. He went to the coffee pot, filled his mug, and began heading toward the exit.
“Good morning, B,” Carmen said.
“Mhm,” Bruce muttered under his breath.
“Nothing like a family breakfast,” Cari concluded and walked out of the dining room.
It wasn’t often that all the Waynes sat down together for a shared meal. Usually it happened when Dick came back from Blüdhaven. And even then, B didn’t often join them. It had been this way ever since the Joker escaped from Arkham again about three months ago. Everyone was tired of constantly walking on eggshells and dealing with Bruce, who was either absent or irritated. Carmen remembered the first time something like this had happened. It had been caused by Jason’s death. She had lost her little brother then, but she felt as if he had dragged their father to the grave with him. Alfred had taken over all of Bruce’s responsibilities regarding Dick and Carmen at that time. The worst part was that every time the Joker escaped afterward, things only got worse, and B never wanted help.
Cari usually started her patrol when the sun was dipping toward the horizon. Until it fully set, she could count only on Duke’s company. She didn’t complain, because the newest adopted son in the Wayne family was often quite talkative, which was a pleasant change after a whole day spent in a ghost house. Damian had gone to Smallville to spend time with Jon, Tim took his eyes off the Bat-computer only when Bruce took his place and was surviving solely on coffee. Steph and Cass preferred spending time at Barbara’s apartment, where they had practically moved in after the Joker escaped. Although even under normal circumstances, they didn’t talk to Carmen all that much. Jason had been sent out of town by Bruce just in case. Thank god Duke was always willing to talk, otherwise the girl would probably go crazy.
“I’ve actually started to miss Dick,” Cari said jokingly during their Subway break on the rooftop. It was their unspoken tradition.
“Well, it’s been pretty hard on everyone, but I’m worried about Bruce,” Duke replied.
“Relax, he’ll get over it. He always comes out of it eventually.”
“I don’t know how you managed to get through this when you were only 16, Duende. I mean I have you and everyone else but you didn't have that”
“I had Dick and Alfred. We handled it the best we could.”
“What about Barbara? She was Batgirl already, right?”
“Yeah, but back then, you know… her dad was still alive, so she could live with him. She was a bit down too and preferred staying at home. I didn’t see her much then. Honestly, it’s hard to say she was ever the big sister to me that she is to Cass and Steph,” Carmen said — then realized she might’ve said too much.
“What do you mean?” Duke asked, confused.
beep beep their communicators chimed. Thank god, Cari thought with relief.
“Get up, Signal. We have to go.”
“Roger that, Duende,” Duke replied, still a bit shocked.
The call turned out to be just a simple burglary. Simple for Gotham, of course. Daytime break-ins happened more often than one might think. Signal and Duende dealt with the burglars quickly. While they waited for the GCPD, Signal played their song on the private comm channel they used. And that song was The Only Girl in the World by Rihanna.
“You make me feel—”
“Like I’m the only girl in the world,” they sang back and forth.
Halfway through the song, another person joined their channel. With a cold voice that sent chills down Duende’s spine and triggered her PTSD, B spoke:
“Duende, what do you think you’re doing?! You know how dangerous Gotham is right now. The last thing you should be doing is fooling around on patrol. We’ll talk about this when you return.”
Carmen genuinely wondered if she should just not go back home. Conner and M’gan would always take her in. Or maybe she should go to Dick in Blüdhaven? No he would find her easily there.
“It can’t be that bad, B never punishes us too hard for little things like this,” Duke said, now much less certain of his own opinion after seeing Carmen’s reaction.
“Maybe not usually, but in this state…”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Bruce,” said 18-year-old Dick. “I took care of Penguin’s men, and Carmen helped me.”
“You disobeyed my orders. You both could’ve died!” Bruce answered, shouting.
“We’ve been in this fucking business for almost ten years! We know what can kill us and what won’t!”
“You can never be sure! The most important rule is to never ignore my orders!”
“You have to stop living in Jason’s death! Because of your fucking orders Carmen could’ve gotten hurt and those thugs would’ve escaped! Is that what you want?! Because Jason sure as hell wouldn’t!”
And then it happened. A tightly clenched fist shot forward with full force into Grayson’s face. Carmen’s vision blurred. She screamed in fear. Dick wasn’t surprised. It wasn’t the first time. Rage filled his eyes and he lunged at Bruce. Carmen stepped in to separate them, but Bruce shoved her aside with a punch to the jaw and landed another one straight into Grayson’s stomach. For a moment, everything went dark for her.
Dick didn’t stay down long. He got up and stumbled over to the girl. She leaned against him and they started leaving the room. Even though it wasn’t the first time, Carmen never got used to it.
“You’re not the only one who lost him, you know?” Grayson muttered weakly. Then they left.