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“What the fuck?” Were the first words out of Jason’s mouth, gaze flickering between the two figures, Tim silently doing the same. One of the figures, of course, was Nightwing, who had frozen stock still, eyes wide. The other, who’d appeared after Dick had been hit by a stray spell (seconds before Jason incapacitated the Mage.) was wearing a dark garb, black and golden with claws and goggles and a stance that screamed threatening at a tiny height. A child ? Jason hated magic.
“Th-The fuck.” Jason hissed again because the bird-like child was glaring right at him, or at least it felt that way, it was hard to tell under the mask, but his gaze was locked firmly on Jason. Dick wasn’t moving and what was happening?
The kid moved first finally but Dick a second later, performing the same flip with eerie similarity hands both reaching for their weapons, knife meeting escrisma.
"What the fuck." Jason whispered again because nobody matched Nightwing like that, no one could keep up with his freakish acrobatics where it looked like his body was water and not flesh. But this kid could. Perfectly.
"You've said that already." Tim unhelpfully inputted, critical eye assessing the situation.
"Uh, Lil' Wing you might wanna call B." Dick finally spoke, still locked in a competition with the child where neither was backing down on pushing their own weapon against the others, a test of strength. A test that, if the frown on Nightwing's face was anything to go by, he was using his full strength. On a child.
"Uh-" Jason fumbled, because sure, he was used to the weirdness of Gotham but it was adults in dumb costumes most of the time, not bird children with crazy strength and… knives, lots of knives. Okay actually no that just sounded like he was describing Damian, never mind.
"O, you there?" Jason asked, feeling dazed, hand one resting on the side of his hood.
"Yep, already getting B for you." Because of course, she was always listening.
"Thanks."
And then the comms crackled and the familiar gruff voice flooded their ears, Jason scrunching up his nose. He couldn't say he was on the best of terms with the Bat even after everything. Bruce on the other hand… It was weird, since they were the same person but Jason's Pit seemed to only be angry at Batman and not Bruce. It made manor visits easier at least, he could see Alfie without worrying about flipping out. It was still weird though, to only hate half a person?
"Hood? Red Robin? Nightwing? Report."
Jason attempted to kill the growl in the back of his throat before he replied.
"Wing got hit with some spell or something and now he's fighting.. A child? Dressed as a bird? And the kids pretty competent, giving him a run for his money, more knives than the Demon at this point." Jason relayed and he'd thought he'd hallucinated the sharp intake because nothing fazed the Bat, not any of the rogues, not the Joker, not even Hood when he'd pulled a gun on him and demanded he choose. But apparently a murder bird was enough to have him lose his composure.
"ETA 4 minutes, Nightwing."
And then he was gone. Jason raised an eyebrow under his hood, that was quick to get from where he knew Bats was patrolling that evening, as though the man was going full speed across the rooftops. He watched Nightwing visibly flash a relieved look before he steeled himself once more to the blank look he'd been giving the bird child the entire time.
"Do you know what that was all about, O?" Jason asked.
"No idea." It had to be bad if even Oracle didn't know. "But from the feed, the kid does look reminiscent of the design of The Court of Owls Talons."
"Oh! I read a file on them once, B took them down with 'Wing in the early days." Tim explained as the child finally broke backwards, stance leaving no gaps, knives in both hands ready.
"Who.. You?" The child asked, voice hoarse and accent funny. "Where..? Court?"
Nightwing flinched, dropped his escrisma's and held up his hands in surrender, edging slowly forward, so very slowly that Tim and Jason weren't sure how to react. The child hadn't moved from holding its knives out in warning but Dick paid them no mind, moving closer even when Batman finally touched down behind the pair of brothers.
"Nightwing get back." Bruce ordered but Dick shook his head.
"S'kay, B, he won't hurt me."
"You know that's not true."
"It's true." Dick waved Batman off, even when the child had flinched and dropped even further into a defensive stance at the arrival of Bats, eyes flickering from the trio to Nightwing and back again, though hidden behind his mask.
The kid took a step, ready to pounce and Nightwing finally dropped his arms and frowned.
"Gray Son." Nightwing spoke, Jason froze, what was he doing?
The child tilted his head.
"Court? Grandmaster?"
"He is." Nightwing turned and pointed at Bruce who looked visibly uncomfortable but didn't object. Tim and Jason looked ready to question or object.
"Grandmaster." This time wasn't a question, instead it was the child dipping his head, bowing it and returning his knives to his holder's.
"There. Now he won't." Dick turned and offered a sad smile, Bruce instantly crossed the distance and pulled Nightwing into a hug. Jason and Tim were still speechless, what the heck?
"Grandmaster?" The Talon interrupted and then flinched.
"Go ahead, you can speak freely." Bruce replied, still looking uncomfortable as he broke away from the brief hug. Nightwing moved across to Tim and Jason.
"We need to head back to the cave till we can figure out what to do with him." Dick explained.
"He's.. A Talon?" Jason asked, earning a nod from Dick.
"How'd he get here, there was that spell and then?"
"Dunno." Dick shrugged because he didn't know how the spell worked but it probably divided him from his younger self? Not that any of his siblings knew that. Any information that proved Dick had spent two years under the thumb of the Court of Owls was buried so deep by Bruce he didn't think even he himself could find it anymore.
Only Alfred and Bruce knew about his time as a Talon, about how much of a handful Dick had been as they attempted to undo all the brainwashing and return him to Dick Grayson and not the Gray Son of Gotham he'd been. He'd been a terrible child but Bruce hadn't given up on him, no matter how many times Little Him had tried to stab the man with any range of objects.
"You said Grayson?" Tim asked curiously.
"No, I said Gray. Son." Dick stressed while Bruce was ordering the Talon to follow, not happy with the developments of having to command the child but Dick knew from experience that it worked. Even to this day, Bruce was his Grandmaster, a tiny part of him was still eager to follow his commands, not that he'd told Bruce, the man would never forgive himself if he realised all these years later his commands stuck. It had been an accident the first time though, with the Court in ruins and the looming Bat figure the cause, little Talon Dick had instantly assumed that the Batman was his new Grandmaster having defeated the previous. That was how it worked for him. Bruce hadn't liked it then and he didn't like it now. But it was necessary.
"Isn't that the same thing?"
"No." Dick responded instantly, coldly before he apologised. "Sorry. I… didn't want to ever have to talk about… that." Dick nodded at the now subdued baby Talon who was at Bruce's heels, head down and hands pliant at his sides. Dick couldn't stop the shudder that ran through him, feeling his younger brothers calculating gazes nor Bruce's look of concern behind the Batcowl.
"Lets head back. Hood can you bring-" Bats nodded at the still unconscious mage.
"Yeah." Jason replied, still utterly confused at what was happening, all he knew was Nightwing had never looked this shaken before, ever, and he wasn't going to abandon him even if it meant going back to the Cave with the Bat. The Green didn't like it. Not one bit.
"Sorry Lil' Wing." Nightwing shot him a look of understanding because of course he'd noticed how tense Jason had gotten at the order of heading to the cave. Tim had too if the hand sliding into one of his own for a brief reassuring squeeze was anything to go by.
"S'fine." Hood's gruff tone answered, reaching down to pick up the mage after Tim let go again.
The time travelling back to the cave was silent, tense and beyond awkward but once they'd finally gotten there, the submissive stabby child still following Bruce like a puppy, they'd deposited the unconscious mage into a holding cell. With him out of the way and under Oracles watching eyes the attention went back to the child.
"Gray Son." Bruce called, the Talon perked up, head raising only a little, eyes still downcast under the mask. "From now on if you want to say anything, or ask anything, you can speak freely." Bruce offered after he'd pulled back the cowl.
The child tilted his head curiously.
"Not a trick." Dick offered from where he was tugging off his boots.
"Court?" The child asked, gaze flittering from Dick to Jason to Tim and then to the entrance to the cave where Damian stood, critically assessing the situation.
"My children." Bruce answered instead and the Talon nodded.
"Protect." He declared, the same funny accent still present, vocabulary limited.
"You need not protect them, they are all capable. You don't need to kill anymore either." Bruce explained slowly, sounding out the longer words in a way that had Damian frown.
"Does the child not speak English?" Because he recognised the tones, the same way people spoke to him when presuming he didn't speak English based on his skin. Ignorant fools.
"Not as a first language, no." Dick offered.
"How do you... How do you know that?" Tim asked, having already pieced it together but needing the verbal confirmation.
"You know how." Dick shrugged, and Tim nodded slowly, because yes, he did, he'd worked it out but he hadn't wanted it to be true, wanted with every part of him that he was wrong from what he'd read on Talons and the Court.
"It's you?" Tim asked though. He needed to. "Child you."
Dick nodded and Jason frowned, his hood long since removed and placed onto one of the counters.
"A stabby murder child? Are we sure it's not Damian instead?"
"Hey!" Damian shouted in mock offence.
"Nah, that's me." Dick solemnly admitted, as Bruce held up a hand, knowing the flux of voices was imminent.
"Please leave the questions until we can figure out if we can undo this."
Jason, Tim and Damian stopped, all of them about to ask their own questions. Jason frowned again but didn't break the silence.
"Gray Son, do you think you'd be comfortable enough to change into some different clothes?" Bruce asked soothingly, the man had done this once already and he had gotten the tone and the actions he needed to handle a baby Talon down to a T.
The child only tilted his head.
"Change?"
" He wants you to change into something like that ." Dick pointed to Damian and his casual clothes in his mother tongue, earning twin looks from Tim and Jason who knew English wasn't his first language (because what English Native chose Dick as their nickname?) but they'd never heard him speak anything else, just some French and Spanish on occasions for their own benefits.
" I don't need this ?" The Talon asked, indicating to his attire in the same language, seemingly more comfortable speaking in his original language.
" No, you don't need to be Talon here. "
" Who then ?"
" Whoever you want to be ."
" I don't know ."
" We'll help you. For now let's get you a change of clothes ?"
" Okay ."
"I'm going to give him some of Dami's stuff, is that okay?" Dick asked, looking at both Bruce and Damian. Damian huffed and nodded and Bruce offered a reassuring smile and a nod of his own.
"You uh.. You can explain to them if you want, while I'm gone." Dick then nodded to Tim and Jason who'd been waiting patiently and silently.
"What the fuck B?" Jason asked instantly once Dick and the Talon had left.
"Jaylad." Bruce sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Explain now."
"When…" Bruce started and then changed his mind, starting over. "I first met Dick that night at the Circus, as you know." Tim nodded because he'd been there, he remembered.
"I… I neglected to be truthful on what happened after, at Dicks request. As soon as I brought you home, Jason, Dick swore myself and Alfred to secrecy."
"Why?" Damian enquired, hurt that his brother hadn't trusted them.
"I think he was ashamed, none of it was his fault though, the blame lies with me. That night, I was planning to take him in as my ward but I hesitated and two days later he was gone." Bruce continued his explanation. "I looked, I looked for months but there was no trace until I encountered the Court." Bruce's face contorted into the thin press of lips, the furrow of his brow, fists clenched.
"What they were doing… I-" Bruce took a breath to compose himself. "I dismantled the whole thing. It was there that I found him, Dick. Most of the Talons didn't make it, they'd become so reliant on the Electrum… Dick was, he was special though. The rest of the Talons were adults, long past help or reformation but Dick, he grew past the needs of Electrum and he.. It took time but his memories returned and slowly his personality grew once more. It took a good few months before he stopped needing to be commanded to do anything and everything." Bruce paused and took in the daunted looks of his sons. "It was only because he had automatically assigned me as his 'Grandmaster' after I defeated the Court that I had any way of ordering him… I hated it but I think without it he…"
"I probably would have starved to death no matter how much food was put in front of me, I couldn't make any choices for myself." Dick interrupted, having silently re-entered the cave. No one jumped, of course, they were way beyond that sort of thing, spatial awareness was one of the first parts of bat training after all. The child at his heels… looked like him. Which of course he was going to look like Dick if he was Dick but it was still shocking to see. None of the family had seen him so young, bar Bruce and Alfred of course, and they'd never really questioned why none of B's pictures started until after Dick had taken up Robin, what about the 2 years before then? The only difference was the piercing yellow eyes and the murky black veins, mixed with the absolute paleness of his skin. It was unnatural.
"Dick…" Jason trailed, because he'd been the reason Dick had hidden all this from them, he'd been here first and he should have noticed something was wrong… Should have…
"It's okay Lil'' Wing. It was a long time ago now and I barely remember anything." Dick waved it off. No one bought it for one second, the tremble of his hands betraying his words.
"Bullshit." Jason scoffed and Tim nodded.
"Yeah sorry Dick I'm with Jason on this one."
"Well…" Dick shrugged and then ushered the Talon forward.
"Has the guy woke up yet?" Dick asked, B shook his head.
"Not yet. Are you okay Chum?" Bruce asked, concerned.
"Not really but… Gray Son needs our help." Dick offered up, the child perking up at his name only slightly. He looked odd in normal clothes, a little bit on him, one knife still clutched in his hands.
"Couldn't get him to part with every knife but he's only got the one. I counted." And of course, Dick would know exactly how many to look for and exactly where they'd be hidden. "I'm almost certain he won't stab you unless you attack first. He's very… Subdued now, he'll listen to Bruce and if he sees Bruce trusts you he'll listen to you as well." Dick further explained.
A beep had them tense up.
"Oh, the guys up." Jason explained, having told Oracle to alert them when the mage woke. Gray Son tensed at the noise, knife pulled from its sheath but he quickly lowered it once more when he saw no one else react defensively.
"Protect?"
" It's okay Gray Son, it's just an alarm ." Dick explained as Bruce and Jason took off first, Tim and Damian on their heels before Dick and Talon followed too.
"I swear I didn't mean no harm!" The man was already begging. He was obviously a third rate villain if he couldn't even commit to his crimes, after all he was the one who'd attacked them without warning on patrol.
"Reverse the spell." Bruce growled, Batcowl having been put back on his head despite the one way glass. Dick kept Gray Son close to his side.
"You can't. It can't be undone. Not without merging the two… Um, They wouldn't exist in separate times, they'd exist at the same time. You'd have two ages, two personalities, fighting for control of one body."
Dick thought he'd been the one to let out the hiss, sometimes he still had the urges to, little quirks he'd had as a Talon, the bird noises he'd made easier than getting his tongue around English words… The other Talons had understood, a common language they'd all been able to speak with, chirps and tweets and funny little noises humans shouldn't normally be able to make. But no, the noise had come from the smaller version of himself, a hiss and flash of yellow. Little Him had understood enough words.
"Don't want." Because Dick had explained the best he could while Talon had changed his clothes that they were one and the same.
" Don't worry, Gray, I don't want that either ." Dick murmured, offering an arm which Gray Son latched onto instantly. Dick was pretty sure he would have never done such an action at this age but perhaps the knowledge he was an older version, the same person with the same memories and experiences made Talon feel safer?
"What if we didn't reverse it then? What consequences would occur?" Damian asked, earning a glance from Bruce.
"Nothing. The two would exist as separate entities with no drawbacks. Please can I go? I swear I won't do it again."
"Would you… Are you both okay with that?" Bruce asked carefully.
" Would you like to live with us? Gray? "
"Stay?"
"Yes, Stay, but only if you want."
"Want. Please."
"Then yes, I won't object." Dick concluded, because it was himself but it was also a child in need, a child he knew they could all help with.
And so, twenty minutes later and one Mage less (courtesy of Jason, Damian and a swift knock-out) Talon had been moved upstairs and was sat at the kitchen counter, legs swinging gently as Dick sat beside him. Tim sat opposite and Bruce stood to the side. Other than that, only Alfred was in the kitchen, brewing coffee for them all, since coffee was initially the only thing Dick remembered being able to stomach as he was weaned off Electrum and the fact he'd finally need sustenance.
"So, guess you adopted another one." Dick offered cheekily. Bruce let out a tired sigh but nodded.
"What will we call him? I feel like Gray Son is just feeding into trauma and Talon is insulting." Tim spoke, voice quiet as Talon stared curious at the coffee placed in front of him, watching the steam evaporate from it.
" Gray, do you have a name you'd like ?" Dick asked.
"Gray."
" Are you sure? You don't have to use to anymore ."
"Gray."
"Okay. Gray it is then."
"Well then, Gray, welcome to the family."
And while it wasn't going to be as easy all the time, in that one moment Dick felt certain everything was going to be okay.