Chapter Text
The Gala was in full swing, much to Jason’s disgust.
Why Jason had agreed to this was beyond him. He hated Galas. He hated rich people parties. And he honestly hated the weight that came with the Wayne family name. But things had been getting better, he supposed. And for whatever reason, Jason had agreed over a weird family dinner to become Jason Todd-Wayne again.
You know, come back from the dead legally and all that jazz.
He was 56% sure he’d been bewitched or possessed or something when he agreed, but then Damian had issued a challenge that Jason keep that bet. To which Steph backed the Demon Spawn and here he was. Going through with it.
Sometimes he hated this family.
Like right now as a deep sense of dread came over him. His “family” has been pulled in different directions, leaving Jason alone for a moment. A moment long enough for an overly eager red-haired man to approach Jason with his wife and daughter.
“Ah, Jason Wayne! The man of the hour! It's a pleasure to meet you. I’m Winston Dare, head of Dare Enterprise, and this is my wife, Veronica.”
“A pleasure,” Veronica greeted through too white teeth and a too sweet smile that screamed she wanted something. “We’ve heard so much about you, Jason. And have you met our daughter yet?”
The red haired girl standing slightly behind her parents was a mask of calm composure. But Jason wouldn't be a bat if he didn't catch the momentary flash of annoyance that crossed her face. Her freckled nose scrunched in slight disdain, and her lip quirked upward into almost a scowl. It was quickly replaced by a pinch to her brow as she sized Jason up and down, before once more shifting to that neutral mask.
“Rachel,” she greeted, offering an off-pleasant smile.
“Ah. I see an old collage. I fear our conversation would bore you, Rachel,” Mr. Dare waves off his daughter. “Why don't you stay by Jason? We’ll be back in a moment.”
And then Mr. Dare just left. With his wife. Leaving his daughter.
Well, if that wasn't painfully forward Jason would eat his shoes.
Rachel, for her part, sighed. And then snorted.
“Sorry, sorry,” Rachel flapped a hand in Jason’s direction when he stared at her incredulously. “He's just so desperate, it's really funny. Hi. I'm Rachel Elizabeth Dare. As you can see, my dad is most definitely trying to marry me off, and I'm being a pain about it. Sorry you got swept up into the family drama. My dad won't take ‘I swore an oath of maidenhood’ as an excuse.”
She offered a hand, which Jason took.
“Jason Todd-Wayne,” Jason couldn't help but snort as they shook hands. “And if that's the worst family drama I see all night, it will be a miracle. What, your parents think we live in some sort of Austin level storyline?”
Rachel grinned, pure and genuine and extremely amused. “Don’t knock the classics, Mr. Todd-Wayne. They can be useful at times, too. Especially if you date back far enough.”
“Like your vow of maidenhood?”
“Got it in one,” Rachel winked. “So, what do you say, Mr. Todd-Wayne? Wanna help a girl aggressively avoid the marriage market and keep her vow by acting as my new bestie-escort for a little bit?”
“Maybe,” Jason hummed, crossing his arms as he felt a mischievous grin creep up his own face. It would certainly be entertaining, if nothing else. “Though I'll warn you. The rumor mill will run rampant.”
“All the better for me, then,” Rachel grinned, mischievous and clearly not caring one bit how bad her reputation got. “My dad might just have a field day and slip long enough for me to max out another credit card on charity. Shall we, Mr. Todd-Wayne?”
That was a lot to take in at once.
“Jason, please,” he offered Rachel an arm, then he finished processing that declaration. “Care to unpack that statement, Red?”
“Yeah, don't call me Red and I won't call you Todd-Wayne,” Rachel hummed, doing on odd little sweep of the ballroom. “And I'm an active environmentalist. Real big on preserving the wild and keeping the air breathable and cleaning the ocean. But, well, Poison Ivy’s schtick is not my thing. You can be an eco-freak without the terror. Only problem is, my dad happens to own one of the biggest companies in the world that contributed to the destruction of Earth’s eco-system. One of the many reasons we rarely get along. A while ago I started stealing credit cards and maxing them out by donating to different charities that support preserving the planet. And my dad has a public image. Taking all that money back would just ruin that, so my credit card privileges have been revoked and my dad has made some lovely donations to organizations he would otherwise laugh at.”
Jason would admit he was somewhat impressed.
“I have a list of charities if you wanna join the cause,” Rachel gave him an all too innocent smile, wiggling her brow to make it less convincing.
Jason did laugh at that. “I might just take you up on that time the next time Bruce ticks me off.”
“Oh, a way to mess with Bruce when he's a pain? Count me in,” an amused voice said from behind Jason.
“Kate,” Jason grinned at Bruce's cousin. “Actually, I think you might be able to use this one on old Betsy. Meet Rachel Dare. A menace to high society. Rachel, meet Kate Kane, Bruce’s cousin.”
Rachel flashed Kate a peace sign and an eager grin. “I think that makes you and Kate first cousins once removed.”
Jason blinked. “Does it?”
Rachel hummed with a bit of a grimace. “Yeah. I have a friend with a complicated family tree. His girlfriend was trying to explain how he was related to some distant family. It was very educational.”
Rachel looked all the world like she regretted her life choices as she nodded forlornly along with her words. Jason got the feeling of someone who has accepted their fate and their unwanted knowledge all at once.
“Right…” Kate drawled out. “So, what is this tried and true method of chaos?”
“Not today, Kate,” another familiar face called out, putting a hand on Kate’s shoulder. Kate turned to glare at her dad. “I think the party for the dead come back is enough chaos for today. Jason. It's good to see you again, son.”
“Uncle Jacob,” Jason shook the man’s hand. “It… feels good to be back, I guess.”
Jacob Kane smiled at Jason, warm and soft. Jacob was always the more sensible of the Kanes outside his daughter. But that was a low bar. Especially as the potential victim of their earlier discussion opened her mouth.
“It's unnatural is what it is,” Betsy Kane scoffed from her wheelchair. “People coming back from the dead. It's a curse, I tell you.”
“Mom!” Jacob hissed.
“I mean it, Jacob,” Betsy plowed on. “First Martha married that man. Then she died. And heaven knows Bruce has lost too many kids to count. Gabi and Beth died. Nathan married that Russian woman. Now Bette has a child out of wedlock, and this boy is back from the dead! It's a curse. The Waynes have cursed our family. Next you’ll tell me that Perseus boy joined a cult! I knew-”
Jason was suddenly pulled from that conversation by Rachel’s grip on his arm growing tighter and yanking him away. Betsy didn't seem to notice the disrespect as she continued her rant. Kate watched him go jealously but Jason wasn’t the least bit sorry and all too willing to get away.
Jason cleared his throat as he matched Rachel's fast pace.
“Listen, I'm sorry-”
“If I had a nickel for every friend who came back from the dead, I'd have three nickels,” Rachel cut him off, still steering them to some unknown location. “But if I had a nickel for every soul I know will never come back, I'd be able to buy out my dad's company and shut it down. That old coot has no idea what she's talking about. Coming back from the dead is a blessing few are allowed.”
Jason found himself once again floored by Rachel Elizabeth Dare.
“You know people who came back from the dead?”
Rachel nodded but didn't elaborate. They had apparently arrived at their destination, anyway.
“Hey, Rachel,” a young, bright blonde-haired boy with even brighter blue eyes greeted. “Finally escape your parents?”
“You know it,” Rachel grinned. “Jason, meet Will Solace, son of Naomi Solace. Will, meet my escort, Jason Todd-Wayne.”
Will went from looking amused to exasperated in the blink of an eye. “And I thought we agreed to not get into trouble tonight.”
Rachel stuck her tongue out at Will.
“The others are over here,” Will beckoned. “I drew the short straw and got nominated for look-out. So Jason, care to join our ‘ditch the parents but not the party’ club?”
“Sounds like my kind of party,” Jason readily agreed.
It appeared that this “club” of people was a mix of teens and young adults. They’d commandeered a wing of Wayne Hall that was meant as a break room and were sprawled along the couch. Though there was one girl pacing and ranting.
“-and the Diaz family is here? Did you see them? Like their daughter hasn't been a runaway for the last two and half years! They tick me off! Valentina deserves so much better! I want to go out there and give them a piece of my mind!”
Jason mentally filed the name Valentina and Diaz away for later research purposes. He was a Bat, after all.
Two Native American girls were stretched across a chase lounge. Leaning into each other rather intimately. The one with the shorter, more brown-ish hair hummed.
“We both know you giving anyone a ‘piece of your mind’ will explode into a scandal, Drew. Which is not the sort of chaos our little sister needs. You can glare at them all you want, though. Maybe Mom will finally bless you with laser vision.”
“Shut up, McLean,” Drew, the ranting girl, snapped. “You don't understand!”
“Low blow, Drew,” an Asian looking guy in the corner, leaning against a brunette, scoffed. “Last I checked, you and Piper had the same brand of daddy issues.”
Drew rounded on the guy. There was murderous rage there, and Jason was half convinced he was about to have the show of a lifetime as the girl opened her mouth. Only for Will to clap really loudly.
No, seriously, his clapped seemed to have its own cadence, and it echoed.
“Can we not fight about who has suckier parents right now,” Will sighed. “Yeah. I saw the Diaz family, too. You can come up with creative ways to curse them after the Gala. I brought Rachel and her chosen company.”
Six heads swiveled to look in their direction and immediately blew wide. There was a lot of gaping from the others, to the point Jason was feeling uncomfortable, when the Piper McLean girl burst into laughter.
“I thought we agreed not to cause trouble tonight!” A kid flopped on the ground grumbled.
“That’s what your brother said,” Rachel gave the girl a cheeky grin. “But in my defense, my dad basically dumped me on Jason. And I had the displeasure of being in his company when the Kanes came to say ‘hello’. His dear grandma in law was a delight. So he's stuck with me now.”
“Good luck getting rid of that,” Piper McLean grinned at Jason in a way that could only be likened to the Cheshire cat. “Once she latches on, she doesn't let go.”
“It's true. I won over my not-ex’s girlfriend that way,” Rachel said like it was some sort of triumph. “And to think she hated me and my blue plastic hair brush at one point.”
Half the room snickered or snorted; probably some inside joke then.
“Well. You already met Rachel,” Will was kind enough to kick up introductions. “And myself. On the floor there is recent Olympic Archer winner, Kayla Knowles. We’re half siblings, believe it or not. Over on the chase is Piper McLean, daughter of the famous Tristan McLean. She is accompanied by her lovely girlfriend Shel Taylor. The girl pacing is Drew Tanaka. Believe it or not, she and Piper are half-siblings, too. And the couple on the couch is Miranda Gardiner and her boyfriend Sherman Yang.”
Okay, that was interesting. Jason recognized some of those names, or at least the last names. Who didn't know Tristan McLean? Especially after the scandal he went through. Drew Tanaka was probably related to Michael Tanaka, who was making waves in the cosmetic world, and had recently opened a branch in Gotham. The fact that Piper and Drew were siblings was news Jason hadn't heard yet. Miranda Gardiner’s father was a rich socialite in Starling City, famous for his agricultural work and his silent affair resulting in Miranda. And oddly enough, Kayla Knowles was an up-and-coming Olympic prodigy in Canada, beating out Cissie King-Jones, who had also been invited to this gala. Bruce really had gone all out with the guest list, trying to find excuses to make the night more bearable by inviting people Jason actually liked. But it had opened things up to an interesting cast of characters. Including those in this room.
“Fun crowd,” Jason shrugged. “Bit of an odd mix.”
“Oh, we know,” Miranda snorted, standing up with ease. “Especially with how some of us are related. We all go to the same Summer Camp. Even if we don't always get along at camp, it's nice to know someone you know is going to have your back out in the wild. Especially in the socialite life.”
Yeah. Jason could agree to that. Which was why he was more than a little ticked about his family leaving him to the wolves.
“Care to join our band of weirdos?” Kayla spoke for the first time. “It'll be funny to see how long it takes them to miss the guest of honor. And I have Uno.”
“Why do you have Uno?” Drew wrinkled her nose.
“Cause I knew it would get boring. You in or not?”
Oh. Jason was definitely in. Uno with a bunch of strange teens who knew each other and were semi-related beat out stuffy galas any day.
—---------
Will Solace was a menace to society. Or just to the laws of Uno. How the brat kept winning was beyond Jason. But it was hilarious to watch. It was also comforting to learn that threats of bodily harm were common among more than just his family when someone was suspected of cheating.
Jason was having the time of his life when Dick snuck up on them.
Or, attempted to.
“Party crasher,” Sherman warned, jabbing a thumb at the doorway despite no one being there.
The others groaned and began collecting cards. Jason hadn't even noticed Dick approaching, how had this Sherman kid?
“Hey Little Wing,” Dick stuck his head in the door. “What's going on in here?”
He knew Dick was scanning the room for threats, and could see the slight tick of confusion in Dick's posture as he came to stand fully in the room. Kayla, for her part, held up the box of cards she put away.
“A couple of sick games of Uno,” she declared. “Too bad you missed out.”
Jason pushed himself to his feet, helping Rachel stand up in the process, and offering the same courtesy to Kayla and Drew. With quick goodbyes, Jason made to move towards Dick and back into the fray. He was glad when Rachel followed as he was liking her company.
“You okay, Shermy?” he heard Miranda ask as he followed Dick out. “You’re really tense.”
“Yeah. I dunno,” Sherman muttered. “I got this weird itch. Like someone’s gearing up to start a war or something.”
Jason didn't hear the rest as he exited the room, but Rachel was frowning.
“You're supposed to be on the floor, little wing,” Dick teased. “You are the main attraction. Who's your friend?”
“My rescuer,” Jason shrugged. “Meet Rachel Dare. She doesn't want to be here anymore than I do, and she got me out of a conversation with Betsy.”
Dick winced, but Rachel just shrugged.
“It was a mutual rescuing. I got Jason out of a terrible family reunion, and Jason got me out of my parents parading me about like I’m the world's most eligible maiden.”
“Well, I am glad you got away. Kate told us what Betsy was ranting about. You okay, Little Wing?”
Was he okay?
He’d been ignoring her comments since she opened her fat mouth. But now that Dick was confronting him about it, parts of what she said stung.
And that last part…
“She brought up Percy,” Jason said, voice low. “Claimed he was cursed. Did Kate tell you that?”
“...Yeah. Kate mentioned it.”
Jason let out a slow breath through his nose, trying to ground himself.
Percy wasn't a joke. Not to the Waynes. For all the Gotham Gazette and every tabloid in a six hundred mile radius likes to drag Percy through the mud for being a “troubled” kid, Percy wasn't something to laugh at. He was a Wayne. The only Wayne that had never been a bat up until Helena was born.
It had been years since Percy went missing. Shortly after Jason's death. And the last known sighting was a gun fight on the beach on the West Coast. Which his little brother had supposedly won. Then he vanished from police custody within an hour of being brought in and giving a beautifully public speech to make Gabe Ugliano rot.
Gabe Ugliano had gone missing shortly after that and still hadn't been found to this day. It was suspected he had orchestrated the kidnapping.
It was one of the few cases no Bat had been able to solve. And Jason was well aware all of the bats had taken some sort of swing at the issue. Bruce had never forgiven himself for failing Percy.
Jason hadn't forgiven himself, either.
Percy had begged him not to go that night.
He hadn’t listened. Only one of them ultimately came back from that. And it wasn’t Percy.
Jason shook the memory from his head. He promised to be civil, and a couple rounds of uno did wonders for the soul, apparently. Jason wasn't as angry as he felt he should have been.
“I’m fine,” Jason answered, and he found he actually meant it. “I’ll let Bruce know I’m alright so he’ll stop panicking.”
Dick beamed, and Jason had to look away. Because coming home had affected the family in a way Jason hadn’t been expecting, and every time Jason acknowledged that he was home, something shifted in the family. Something good. Something too much. Dick fighting back tears as he couldn’t stop the grin from stretching across his face was one of those things Jason couldn’t handle.
But Rachel was still there. Watching him, and it was easy to offer her a hand.
“Care to really set off the rumor mill, Miss Dare?” Jason gave her a cocky little grin.
“Why Mr. Todd-Wayne, I thought you’d never ask?” Rachel took his arm and immediately burst into giggles.
Her laughter was infectious, and Jason found himself chuckling along. Arm and arm, the pair glided across the ballroom floor like a beaming couple. Giggling and leaning close to pretend to share simple whispers. He’s aware that the press in the building will be frothing at the bits for this, and that had Clark been here, he would probably be having a field day knowing there was nothing where Jason was giving everything.
It was with thoughts of Clark Kent that Jason found Bruce talking in a hushed tone to Kate and his many children.
Kate caught his eye first, giving him an amused grin as she caught his act, before patting Bruce on the shoulder and moving away to go find someone. Probably her cousin Bette. Dick reached Bruce and the family seconds before Bruce found Jason, looking very confused for a second. Dick said something to Bruce that had the man quirking a brow and temporarily looking at his eldest before turning back to look at Jason with an exasperated sigh.
Damian stood beside Bruce, scowling, and Dick moved to pat a bewildered Duke on the back and stand behind Tim, who was analyzing Jason and Rachel beside Cass, who was doing her own analysis. The sight of most of his siblings standing together with Bruce, watching him like he’d grown a second head, was kinda funny.
But there was a hole in that formation that Jason had been painfully reminded of. Just the thought of his little brother had Jason’s smile drooping. No longer reaching his eyes as the weight of the loss settled in his chest.
“So,” Rachel began, absolutely failing for casual as she pulled them to a stop. “This Percy you keep mentioning. Is he… special?”
Jason snorted. “Real subtle, huh?”
“Well, everyone keeps bringing him up,” Rachel shrugged. “And I know a Percy. He’s an idiot. But I almost dated him. Except he was actually in love with his best friend, and just in active denial about it. Then I thought he was going to die, so I kissed him. And then he almost did die, and then he didn’t, and he started dating his best friend. Hence my vow of maidenhood.”
“Dang. Your Percy really dipped on you before anything happened, and you swore off all other relationships? This guy really that good?”
Rachel nodded solemnly. “I’ve never met anyone quite like my Percy, and I don’t think I’ll ever meet anyone like him again. But his girlfriend and I are besties now. Piper and I like to abduct her whenever we’re all at camp just to spite him. What about your Percy?”
“Well. Mine sounds like the opposite. Real troublemaker. Not his fault, though, even if no one believed him but us. He was once instructed to pull a lever by an aquarium guard that dropped his entire class into a shark tank. And another time, he was forced to stand at a loaded cannon to “demonstrate” how it worked and he fired it into the school bus. He kept… getting into strange situations and being punished for them. He was a good kid, though. Dyslexic. Severe case of ADHD before that was a thing to properly diagnose. He had a quick, snappy wit about him that always got him in more trouble, but a great sense of humor. He was… he was technically a distant relative of Bruce. Orphaned. But we grew up as brothers.”
“You loved him.”
“Still do,” Jason said with a fond smile. “And who knows. He might not be dead. He was… kidnapped. On his way home.”
“Well, then, maybe you’ll find him,” Rachel shrugged. “Maybe he’s closer than you think. Or maybe he wants to come home but can’t.”
Jason had considered it. He’d considered a lot about where Percy had ended up. None of these thoughts brought Jason any comfort anymore. Seven years since anyone had last seen Percy fighting his captor, and as each year went by, thoughts rarely brought comfort.
But the way Rachel said it, they felt like a promise.
Like she knew something.
Jason turned to face Rachel, a frown on his face, when something suddenly hit the ground between their feet. Hard. Jason barely had time to register what it was when it burst open and began leaking gas everywhere. Jason quickly grabbed Rachel by the arms and pulled her to his chest, hoping to muffle the smoke inhalation, and attempted to kick the canister away. He was already beginning to collapse, though, and he lost his footing.
A brief moment of panic hit Jason as he tried to find Bruce, but all he could hear was the laughter.
His knees hit the ground, and the Joker’s laughter just got louder.
“Well, looky here!” the Joker crooned into the hall as more canisters appeared all over the ballroom. “Why, Dr. Thorn, I think we’ve got a few sick patients here! Maybe we should take some of them off the good doctor’s hands. A bad doctor is better than no doctor, after all!”
“Of course, Joker,” a sharp, posh voice agreed. “And I think I see the perfect specimens right in the center. I’ll have our men pick them up, if you don’t mind. There are a couple more things I need from this event.”
“Of course. Of course!” Joker cheered as purple flashed in Jason’s vision. “But make it quick, though. We have a little finale to build.”
And then green gloves were grabbing his chin.
“Don’t we, Boy Wonder?”
A shiver went down Jason’s spine as his body quickly began to shut down and his vision went a little fuzzy. But right before the weird mist knocked him out, he watched the lovely, amazing, and talented Rachel Elizabeth Dare kick the Joker where the sun don’t shine before she fell limp.
Jason might have fallen a little in love as he was dragged deep into the darkness of his own mind.