Chapter Text
The flash of unadulterated power shined through the theater.
Jason’s heart sped up as he raced to the stage.
It was supposed to be a recon and capture. The suspect, Darwin Polesedeick, a winery old man who was the main culprit for a trafficking ring. The original plan was espionage and track the man’s whereabouts, all until he went to the meeting point where the bats would capture the heads of the operation.
But like all bat plans, things went to shit very quickly when magic is involved. The guy who was supposed to be just a culprit for trafficking, also just happened to be a magician who, by all evidence, probably was one of the people to convert and mind control the victims in the ring.
It made sense but damnit, it was annoying as hell.
Out of the blinding smoke of light, appeared Red Robin, but he wasn’t the twenty-two year old sassy smart-ass Jason had came to know over the past 6 years. No, the kid was definitely smaller, muscles lean and flexible, with a surprisingly amount of baby fat clinging to his sides. The kid’s weird cowl engulfed his head unnaturally, almost like Tim’s head morphed into a square suddenly. A square head of a child.
Hood met Red Robin’s eyes. In an instant, he signaled with his hands the situation.
Caught. Magic. Age. Down.
Well, that certainly was what Jason was thinking too. The now magician Darwin Polesedeick probably caught onto Nightwing and Spoiler trailing him, essentially made a trap to explode when a certain threshold was reached. Then while Tim and Damian went to support the two, Polesedeick had interfered and cast a disorienting spell, effective to make his escape route.
Jason scanned the fog and found the teenage-shadow of Spoiler. Her long dirty blonde hair suddenly came to her shoulders, bangs gone too. For the most part, her physique stayed the same except for her muscles who seemed to have shrunken. Spoiler made her way over and signaled her side.
Wing and I intercepted. Panic. Desperation. Youth. Purity. Important.
The same story then. Nightwing and Spoiler were closer and therefore, had the time to have a head on confrontation. Out of all the bats, Spoiler had the best statistics of disengaging a combatant while Nightwing had the best instincts, creating a decent reaction time that would’ve definitely thrown the magician off.
Spoiler signaled again. Suspect injured. Electrocution. Dazed.
Nightwing’s doing.
Red Hood stalked forward, trying to find the remaining two members in the sea of fog. The unnatural light of the stage enhanced the fog’s dreary atmosphere, making everywhere seem like someone but a white glass over their eyes.
A beep. Batman’s signal. “I have eyes on Polesedeick outside. I’m going to track him. Recuperate and head back to the cave. We have enough evidence to implicate him.”
“Aye, B,” Tim’s younger voice sounded. A pause. “We have some side effects from Polesedeick. All physical though, no memories seem to be tampered.”
Batman clicked, “Copy. Send word to Zantana or Raven. We’ll see the effects.”
Red Hood made out the lean figure that was Robin. All in his rough yet bright fury, Robin’s cloak seemed to be tattered and worn. Probably overdue for a new suit. The kid had been shooting up like a beanstalk in the past few months. Heck, he’d already passed Cassandra’s height. The kid was probably going to pass Tim’s and Stephanie’s shared height of 5’9 soon enough as well. Honestly, given his genes, Jason saw Damian being the tallest eventually, not that he’d ever admit that to the bats, lord knows he’d be teased relentlessly.
“Polesedeick’s done.” Robin’s voice was clear, free from any confusion or uncertainty. He saw the magician leave. “Nightwing was the last person he cast a spell on. It had a greater impact. I don’t feel or see any effects on me.”
The unsaid word of strange hung over the air. Given Tim’s and Stephanie’s de-aging, Jason had assumed the same would go to Damian. Jason was in all honesty prepared to face the unruly and childish gremlin wrath of eleven-year-old Damian. Perhaps Damian didn’t meet the criteria. The magician surely had requirements to de-age to a certain age. It could’ve been the age of the first time you rode a roller coaster or the age of when your parents died. The magician himself didn’t seem all that strong so it was certainly not without drawbacks.
“Nightwing!” Red Robin’s voice echoed from across the stage. Hood and Robin immediately turned and crossed the stage.
In the midst of all the fog and lighting, Hood found the smallest ball of black and sky blue next to Red Robin’s concerned form. The kid underneath the now-baggy suit was a tiny thing, skinny limbs rolled together with messy curly hair. The youthful face so tiny in comparison to that of an adult’s that his mask was falling down. All in once, Jason realized, that was Dick.
“Nightwing, report.” Red Robin crouched down next to the blob that was Dick, all concerned eyes and overprotective ears.
Dick’s small face blinked and god, Jason couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Dick couldn’t have even been a teenager.
An airy, startlingly high pitched voice. “I’m all good baby bird. Besides the obvious regression, I only have a few cuts and scrapes.”
So Dick has maintained his consciousness. It was definitely off-putting but it was manageable.
“‘Ight big wing, c’mere, gotta recuperate.” Jason knelt down and scooped the mass of Dick Grayson up easily. Dick has always been on the lighter side, he needed to for the sheer amount of acrobatics he did on the daily, really, but man, this kid form was just so off-putting. It made Jason feel like he was dirty almost. What criteria could this magician even want? Heroics? Dick could probably pass as a 9-year-old maybe. Tim and Stephanie were definitely young teens. It just didn't make sense that Damian hadn't shrunk into the ruly arrogant fury of eleven.
Dick’s small hands, shrouded in Nightwing’s long elastic suit, lightly clutched Jason’s jacket. It made his heart squeeze as he felt the chubby fingers on the inseam.
Together, the five of them zip lined and flew across Gotham. Tim and Steph, now teenagers were about Damian’s age. Really, flying with three teens and a baby made Jason feel old as fuck. In his eyes, they were all kids. Especially Dick, the oldest bird, in all his skinny child glory, made Jason really feel how old twenty-five was.
They made it to the cave in one piece. Tim, Steph, and Damian dispersed easily, each fading into the shadows to check up on their own wounds and go through the lengthy process of magic interference.
Jason kept holding the tiny figure that was Dick Grayson and made his way to one of the empty slots in the med bay. He started the machine to analyze magic on Dick and turned to clean up his own scrapes. When he was finished, he met the small Dick Grayson in now a clinical gown, seeming still shrouded in cloth. His wide sky blue eyes met his and he felt even older than his years.
“Hey lil wing,” the acrobatic pointed to the machine, “soooo ya think I’m free to go?”
The machine really showed no discrepancies. Everything from Dick’s DNA to his brain showed that only his body had regressed. His idiot brain seemed to be the exact same.
“Yeah,” Jason took of his helmet, “seems your big bird head is the same as always.”
Dick smiled, his charming whites lighting up his face. It was almost uncanny. Dick’s cheeky expression was so familiar yet foreign. He could see the baby fat under his eyes, his full cheeks, and the youthful, curlier hair than Dick’s adult’s waves.
Suddenly, the opening to the cave sounded out. Batman had just arrived. Jason and Dick finished the last of their cleaning up and headed to the main entrance. He saw the three teens were already there with Tim’s signature laptop open with databases.
Batman entered with a long sweep on pitch black cape. His cowl was tugged off immediately and the tired, haggard lines Bruce’s face appeared. Really, for all the media glazed Bruce Wayne for his impeccable looks, they really didn’t understand how much effort went into it with the late nights and stressful cases that aged Bruce everyday.
“So called up Z,” Tim started, “she’s currently in another galaxy actually. She has a couple cosmic entities to tie up and logomancy isn’t working too well. Doctor Fate is with her. Called up Raven but she’s in hell working on a different case. The only person who’s experienced enough in magic we can call up right now is Wonder Woman. But I doubt the amazonians will know much about standard magic de-aging, which I think is home-learned occult magic.”
“Great, so we’re dealing with ritual bullshit,” Jason sighed. He stretched his arms and let himself fall in what is going to be a long ass time of annoyances. Really, occult magic is a pain, nothing is ever free or one and done, you had to be cunning and tricky and mindful all in one. It was even worse if there were blood pacts involved.
“I found out what Polesedeick casted on you.” Batman’s voice was weary, almost exhausted. That was not a good sign. “Tracked the man down. We have his location and hacked into his database. I’ll send over the files I found. I ended up finding the runes he used. Translated them automatically and…”
“And?” Dick’s tiny voice spoke up. It was a harsh contrast to Batman’s gravely, tired tone. Bruce’s face suddenly got tight, impenetrable like he was facing the enemy head on in spite of the tragedy befalling around him. Jason felt his hands clam up.
“And, it’s purity centric. Polesedeick is apart of an occult primarily used in degrading and using ‘impure’ to him and his colleagues. He uses arbitrary categories like lawful pleasures, affinity with chakra, speech, and purity.”
“That makes sense,” Tim thought aloud, “it would mean the trafficked people are a prime source of degradation and how he’d categorize and manipulate them with magic since they fit this arbitrary checklist. I’m guessing he priorities and reveres youth since purity is most prevalent in that.”
“That would figure how Damian is unaffected,” Stephanie added. “Which means, well, Dick…”
“Yeah, I got it,” Dick’s baby self sighed, “I’m the most impure.”
“It’s not really based on purity anymore,” Batman’s voice was suddenly steel. It was monotone and emotionless. “Polesedeick was desperate. He was cornered and surprised. He’d only been in the trafficking business for about a month despite his family’s involvement with crime. He used the spell with the simplest requirements in order to disorientate us. If we weren’t vigilantes who started at a young age, it would be catastrophic.”
Jason nodded, following along. “So basically he used a de-aging spell with occult magic. There’s probably only one requirement for activation and it varies on person, related to arbitrary purity culture.”
Batman nodded. “Yes, specifically with sexual experience.”
Oh. Well that made sense. For as long as Jason had knew Dick, Dick was always gathering attention from somebody. From the titans to his villains to civilians to the JLA to pretty much anybody who liked pretty boys. Dick was a charmer like that, almost everyone liked him. Tim and Steph had a decent amount of experience respectively. Jason wasn’t privy but he could make up assumptions. Damian probably didn’t age because he didn’t have any experience. Still, it didn’t quite make sense. Sure, if it was based on sexual experience, Dick was definitely getting the worst punishment, but why age him till he was a kid? Surely the gap between Dick’s experience and Tim’s experience wasn’t that steep. Yeah, Dick slept around but he kept most things to a minimum. Tim only aged like maybe 5 years. Dick aged almost two decades. It didn’t add up.
Suddenly, Dick’s kid form froze, realization dawning.
“What’s up?” Jason looked towards Dick, expecting. He had a sinking feeling in his stomach.
“It’s sexual experience, right,” Dick met Bruce’s eyes, “but it’s not quantified. It’s based in ages so no matter how much you’ve had…”
Jason followed Bruce’s face. The corners of his mouth straightened in an almost tired way.
It wasn’t Bruce anymore. It was Batman speaking. “I want an explanation Dick.”
Dick’s face went blank. His impenetrable mask was weird looking on the baby Dick. It felt too adult on such a young face.
“Dick,” Batman’s voice was soft and calming, the same one he’d use when talking to victims.
“Dick, please don’t say what I think it is,” Spoiler's worried voice called out. She looked scared almost, like she was reaching the end of a cliff and hoping for some reason she wouldn’t fall.
“I don’t understand. If it’s about promiscuity, I think it shouldn't be shameful. Grayson has a choice in how much he pleases.” Damian’s brows furrowed, his lips straight.
Oh, they weren’t slut-shaming him. Jason realized with a jolt. They were scared for learning the age…
“Dick.” Jason turned his eyes over to the small boy because really, if it was what he and Spoiler and Batman thought it was, then Dick would’ve been just a young boy when…
They were all looking at Dick for an answer.
“Look,” Dick’s voice was painfully childish and high-pitched. He would’ve been that age when his parents died. When he started as Robin. When he apparently started to dabble in sexual relations. “I know it seems bad but it’s not as bad as it seems.”
Tim’s computer started beeping rapidly and suddenly his fingers were flying over the keyboard. “Hey, I got the files you sent. Looks like it’s actually pretty easy to undo.”
Batman looked at Dick. “We’re going to talk about this soon.” Batman then faced Red Robin.
Jason saw how Dick’s body filled with relief. Sometime awful and green filled his heart as he saw once again how tiny Dick was in comparison to everyone else. It made him sick with rage like everything did when he thought about those kids in crime alley with nothing but scraps of clothing and smeared on makeup.
Jason needed to get out of this goddamn messed up family.