Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Nikola sucked in a sharp breath as Robin came to a stop mere feet from his hiding spot. He carefully let out the breath and evened out his racing heartbeat. He was tucked into the small, shadowy space between a brick wall and an air conditioning unit. It looked like he chose his spot well because Robin’s suspicious gaze only swept over the rooftop once before he deemed it satisfactory. 

He knew Robin often stopped on this building to rest and had taken advantage of that fact by scouting out a hiding spot in advance. And his efforts had not been in vain. This was the closest he had gotten to any of the Bats so far. And he still hadn’t been seen by them once. 

Not for the first time, Nikola wondered why he liked stalking the Bats so much. ‘It’s not stalking’, he told himself as Robin said something sharp to one of the Others over his com line. ‘It’s not like I’m trying to learn their secret identities or anything. I just … want to see if I can get away with them not noticing me.'

Plus, these skills he was practicing were already proving useful. And it wasn't like being at home was much better than climbing buildings all night long. He thought bitterly of his mom and Derrek. Sooner or later, Nikola knew he would end up on the streets permanently, weather that would be because he was thrown out, or because he chose to run. That was probably the real reason he spent so long climbing rooftops, learning to avoid cameras, and using the shadows to his advantage. He knew that he was going to end up just like a lot of the other kids he talked to that lived on the streets. He knew it, and they knew it too. 

Nikola spent as much time as he could out of his apartment and away from his mom and her boyfriend. He grew close with most of the kids that lived on the streets of Crime Alley and the surrounding areas and they helped him learn some valuable skills. In exchange, Nikola smuggled as much food as he was able to away from home and taught them some cool Russian swear words. 

He was practically a street kid already, what with how he looked and acted. The only reason he wasn’t already homeless was because he wanted to take advantage of having a warm bed to sleep in and food to eat for as long as he could. Crime Alley was dangerous, and having a safe place to sleep was often the difference between life and death. Besides, he was able to help the other kids out sometimes by bringing them snacks or supplies. 

Robin had grown silent and was now simply resting on the rooftop, his legs dangling over the side of the building. He started to hum softly, and Nikola leaned forward slightly as he strained his ears to hear it. It wasn't a tune he recognized, but it sounded sort of like a lullaby.

Nikola loved seeing the rare moments like these, when the Bats let their guard down for a single moment and you could catch a glimpse of the person underneath the mask. You saw it when they comforted scared children or when they were teasing each other during patrol or in quiet moments like these on rooftops.

It was the reason that, for the people of Gotham, Batman meant Justice. Red Hood meant Vengeance. Robin was Hope.

All too soon it seemed, a distant scream caused Robin to jolt upwards and quickly grapple away. Nikola waited for a little bit longer before extracting himself from his hiding spot and making his way off the roof. He made sure to take the same path down so that he could avoid the cameras he had spotted before. 

Avoiding cameras was a special skill Nikola had picked up that he quickly became an expert at. It involved a mixture of hiding in the shadows while you looked for the blinking red lights of cameras and then finding a pathway around their blind spots. Some of the street kids were pretty good at doing this but Nikola had made it his personal mission to become the master at it. 

Nikola became so good that he had memorized where every camera was in the whole of Crime Alley. He could get from one end of the Alley to the opposite without showing up as even a blur on camera.

It also helped him earn some respect among the street kids when Nikola began popping out of the shadows behind them and scaring the living daylights out of them. Some of the kids even began joking that Nikola was going to get recruited by the bats if he wasn’t careful. 

Nikola had thought they were just jokes but when some of the kids who were affiliated with the Red Hood began trying to get him to join their gang, he realized that they might be more serious than he thought.

One day, while sneaking around, Nikola had overheard some information about an attack that a gang was planning on a rival gang one of his friends were a part of. He warned the friend and the group was ready when the attack came.

Since then, Nikola had realized how useful, and more importantly valuable, the right information could be. He started to become an information broker, spending all of his free time lurking in the shadows, trading the information he overheard for useful things like money, food, and favors.

So, Nikola could see how he could become a valuable asset to a group and why people might joke/not-joke that he was a Bat in training.

So far, Nikola hadn't joined any gangs. He didn’t want to take any sides and he had a couple of friends that were a part of rival gangs that he didn’t want to betray by picking a side. He wanted to be a neutral party. Besides, joining a gang felt a little like selling his soul over to the devil.

Nikola jumped off the end of the fire escape he had used to climb down and silently landed in the back of the alley below. He grinned wickedly as he saw another one of the street kids at the front of the alleyway, leaning against the wall. Nikola padded forward on carefully silent feet until he was standing right behind him. 

Nikola reached out to tap his friend on the shoulder and then stepped backward as he whipped around with a yelp, swinging his fists wildly. Ben started glaring as Nikola doubled over laughing. 

“Kole!” Ben scolded, his face red, “You’re gonna get yourself punched doing that one day!” 

Nikola just gave a cheeky grin in response, “But I haven’t yet,” he shrugged. 

Ben rolled his eyes. “D'ja hear anything good tonight?” Ben was one of the kids in Red Hood’s gang. Nikola gave away information about dangerous stuff, like dangerous drugs and weapon trafficking, to Ben to be passed on to the Red Hood. 

“Yes, actually." Nikola straitened up and expression hardened. He looked down the street quickly to see who was around, “This one's pretty serious,” He motioned Ben to follow him a little deeper into the alley so that they wouldn’t be overheard. 

Ben shoved his hands into his pockets while Nikola leaned against a wall and folded his arms, getting straight to business, “I saw some really shady guys walkin’ around today. They were a part of that group of people from out of Gotham, you know, the ones that appeared last week. I followed them around and managed to find out that they’re part of this new human trafficking operation that I’ve been hearing rumors about,”

Ben’s eyes widened and he leaned in. Everyone knew that while the Red Hood had started to use rubber bullets for regular goons and criminals, there were some people he didn't fuck around with. Human traffickers were one of them. 

Nikola opened his mouth to continue when he heard the thump of boots landing heavily on pavement behind him. He whipped around, reaching instinctively for his knife and froze when he came face to face with a red helmet. The Red Hood cut an imposing figure in front of Nikola, half draped in shadows and standing casually with his arms crossed over his chest and his guns tucked away in their holsters.

The mechanical voice of the Red Hood spoke, “So you’re the little informant I’ve been hearing so much praise for,” Nikola knew he could've just as easily landed so silently that Nikola wouldn't have known he was behind him. The Red Hood wanted Nikola to know he was there, which made him relax slightly.

Nikola turned around slowly to glare at Ben, who had a guilty look on his face, “I told you I didn’t want to get him involved,” he hissed. Then he sighed and turned back to the Red Hood, crossing his arms and trying to look tougher than he felt, “I only pass along information. I’m not joining your gang,” Nikola glared defiantly at the Red Hood.

The Red Hood held up his hands in surrender and chuckled a little, “Alright, alright. I’m not here to try to induct you into any gangs,” then he lowered his hands and turned serious, “But I am interested in hearing about this human trafficking operation you were just talking about. You willing to talk to me, kid?”

Nikola narrowed his eyes a little bit, then nodded. Hood clapped his hands together, “Great! Let’s go somewhere higher, away from prying eyes,” he held out his hand, offering to give Nikola a lift. He shook his head and Hood shrugged and grappled up to the three story building beside them, the one opposite of the higher building that Nikola had just been perched on not five minutes ago. 

Nikola looked back at Ben and sighed. “How much did you tell him about me?” he asked, narrowing his eyes accusingly. 

Ben rubbed the back of his neck guiltily, “I swear I only mentioned you in passing. He was wondering how I got the information about that weapons ring you told me about and I said that I knew someone who sells information and that you were really good. I know you don’t wanna be a part of a gang and I promise I didn’t know he was gonna follow me-”

Nikola cut him off, “It’s okay dude. I’m not mad, I just really don’t want to get involved with the Bats. I’ll talk to Hood right now and just hope he doesn’t want to keep an eye on me,” Nikola put a hand on Ben’s shoulder, “Just make sure that if you do mention me to anyone, tell them I’m a strictly neutral party. If this ‘information broker’ thing works out for me, I don’t wanna pick a side,” 

Ben nodded in understanding. Nikola stepped back and waved goodbye before he started scampering up the side of the building that the Red Hood had grappled up to. He was slightly out of breath when he got to the top, seeing Hood waiting with his helmet under his arm. He was still wearing a domino mask but being able to see his face made Nikola relax a little bit. 

Hood nodded in greeting as Nikola walked up to him, “So what’s your name? Or do I have to keep calling you kid?”

Nikola rolled his eyes, “People call me Kole,” he said simply. He usually didn’t like giving out his birth name because then people would mispronounce it or ask where it came from and he really didn’t want to deal with that. 

Hood nodded and studied him for a bit before leaning back on his heels, apparently sensing that Nikola just wanted to get straight to business, “So, Cole, what’s this about a new human trafficking operation? I’ve only heard rumors so far, but nothing confirming that it’s trafficking. How’d you get this info?”

Nikola took a deep breath and started his story, “About a week ago, some new faces arrived in the East End. They obviously weren't from Gotham so that’s probably where the rumors started. People assumed they were up to no good and began to avoid them. I saw a couple of them walking around today and one of them mentioned something about kids before his buddies shut him up,” Nikola noticed Hood’s fist clenching even as his face remained impassive, “So I started following them,” he continued. “I followed them all the way into the Bowery,” 

Hood interrupted him, his brows furrowed, “I thought you said they arrived in the East End? There hasn’t been any sightings of them in the Bowery,” 

Nikola nodded, “Yeah, I thought so too. I think that the East End might be a cover of some sort. They’ve been making a lot of noise in the East End and Crime Alley. Enough so that people saw them and just assumed that they didn’t know what they were doing. But as soon as they got close to the Bowery they got quiet and surprisingly good at covering their tracks. I shadowed them to an old warehouse on the corner of 32nd street {A/N - idk man I’m just making up street names}. I think that’s where their base is at,” Nikola scowled at that. Human trafficking was a horrible reality that had unfortunately increased in recent years. With metas becoming more common, human trafficking was in higher demand. It was disgusting. 

Hood seemed to think so too if the deep, intentionally controlled breathing was anything to go by. He took one more deep breath before looking Nikola directly in the eye. 

“Thank you. You’ve been a big help. I’m gonna be looking into that trafficking organization and you probably saved me a lot of time and pointless wandering around the East End,” then he frowned slightly. 

“I’m sensing a ‘but’ somewhere in here,” Nikola said dryly, warily. 

Hood’s lips twitched upwards but he remained serious, “What you’re doing here is dangerous, kid,” He raised his hand as Nikola started to protest, “I know I can’t stop you, and I’m not going to try to,” Nikola fell silent as he listened, “I just want you know that you’re playing a very dangerous game. You can very easily make enemies when you’re trying to play the hero like this. Just be aware of that going forward,”

Nikola narrowed his eyes, “I’m not trying to ‘play the hero’. I didn’t wanna get involved with the Bats in the first place. I only started listening because it’s useful to be able to know what’s going on around Gotham, especially Crime Alley. But I’m not going to just sit there and stay silent and watch kids gettin’ snatched off the streets. I know I can’t do anything, but if I tell the right people, I can let other people handle it. I’m not gonna get directly involved with any of that shit,” Nikola crossed his arms and huffed. 

Hood studied Nikola for a bit, then nodded, “You’re a good kid, Cole,” he said, putting his helmet back on his head and getting ready to leave. “Stay out of trouble,” He ruffled Nikola’s hair as he passed and Nikola froze for a second at the unexpected touch. Then the Red Hood was grappling away into the night. 

Chapter Text

Nikola carefully eased the window open, silently dropping into his bedroom on the other side. It was close to midnight now. He usually skipped dinner to stay out on the streets and kept a spare stash of food in his closet. His mom either wouldn’t notice he had been gone, or would yell at him in the morning. It was always a coin flip (heh) as to what she would be feeling at any given point. Derrek would take any excuse to yell at him though. 

Nikola quickly changed into some clean clothes and flopped onto his bed with a quiet groan. He had a pounding headache that had started about an hour ago and had steadily gotten worse. He hoped that getting some sleep would help it go away. 

Suddenly, Nikola’s eyes shot open. A quick glance at the clock next to his bed showed that he must’ve fallen asleep for a few hours. It was around 2 in the morning. What had woken him up? His headache hadn’t gone away and was now a full on migraine. His whole body was aching now too. Was he getting sick? He would be so pissed if he had the flu. 

Nikola blinked at the light all around him. Why was his bedroom light on? That didn’t make any sense. He got up out of bed to turn it off, groaning at the aching in his body. As soon as he flipped the switch however, he shrieked in pain as blinding light flooded his vision. Quickly, he turned the bedroom light back off and crouched on the floor, cradling his head in pain. What was going on?! 

Nikola’s bedroom door flew open and his mom started yelling angrily before cutting herself off with a gasp. She screamed and slammed the door shut. The loud noises made Nikola cry out in pain. Why was everything so loud? Why was everything so bright? Why was everything hurting?!

Nikola didn’t know how long it was before he uncurled himself from his ball of pain on the floor. He was so thirsty. He stumbled to his feet, trying to leave his bedroom to get some water from the kitchen. He tugged on his door knob but it didn’t budge. Had his mom locked his door?

“Mom?” Nikola called out. His voice was hoarse and scratchy. He cleared his throat and tried again, “Mom? What’s going on? I can’t open my door,” He didn’t get any response but he could hear frantic voices from beyond his door. Panic was beginning to clog his lungs as Nikola tried to get his fogged brain to understand what was going on. 

Nikola pressed his ear against the door as he tried to hear what his mom was saying. He could just barely hear her voice and could only make out a few words: “...his father…demon...don’t understand why…happening…can’t believe…my own son…a meta…” 

Nikola froze as those words registered in his brain. His mother had said that last word with such disgust and revulsion that he didn’t even realize that she was talking about him for a moment. Him? A meta? What was she talking… 

And then Nikola realized that his bedroom light was still off and yet the room was as bright as day to his eyes. 

And then Nikola looked down at the black claws sprouting from his fingertips. 

And then Nikola reached up and felt his ears which had grown bigger and pointer and had strange ridges on the inside. 

Nikola’s strange ears twitched as he heard Derrek’s voice speak, louder than his mother’s, “I know someone who can take him…very good price…get that freak out of my house as quick as possible…”

Panic and adrenaline flooded Nikola’s veins as he realized that they were going to sell him. Maybe even to the same trafficking organization that he had told Hood about a couple hours earlier. And his mother was agreeing and then Derrek was on the phone and he needed to leave now. 

Leaping into action, Nikola quickly grabbed his emergency bag packed in case he ever had to quickly leave the house. ‘I don’t think I thought of this exact situation when I packed this though,’ he thought, holding back a crazed laugh. 

He grabbed his phone and charger and then stuffed as many food supplies from his closet stash as he could fit inside his bag. Nikola hesitated on his way out, then grabbed a large worn book that sat in his small bookshelf. It held too many good memories to leave behind. 

It wouldn’t be long before his mom or Derrek remembered that he had a window in his room and tried to lock that too and trap him inside. Quickly, he opened the window and left without another glance back. 

Nikola ran and leapt across rooftops faster than he had ever run in his life. His original plan if he had to leave home for good would be to find one of the other homeless kids in the Alley. They would help him find a good place to sleep temporarily and he would officially join their ranks. But that was off the table now. Being a meta was dangerous, not just for the meta, but also for the people around them. Especially if they had obvious physical differences like Nikola apparently had. And he had a sinking feeling that the changes weren't over yet. His head was still pounding, he was sweaty and hot, and the only reason his aching limbs were still holding him up was because of the adrenaline running through his veins. 

He needed to find a safe place to hide for the night, fast. 

Luckily, Nikola was prepared. Nikola liked to plan and liked to have backup plans. It made him feel secure to know if one plan failed, he had another one lined up. For example, Nikola had been exploring several abandoned warehouses this week. Abandoned warehouses, Nikola had realized, were great places for people to meet, and so they were great places to listen for information. He started heading toward one abandoned warehouse that he knew had a little nook in the rafters that was the perfect place to rest. 

The adrenaline was starting to fade by the time Nikola reached the warehouse. He only barely managed to lower himself through the hole in the roof, before he collapsed to the ground, shaking. 

Nikola really hoped there was nobody in this warehouse, because he knew that he would not be able to hold in all of his screams. 

When Nikola woke up, he felt really weird, and for a moment, he couldn’t understand why. He took a moment to study this feeling while his eyes were still closed. He was exhausted in the way he got that one time he spent the entire night practicing parkour across the rooftops. But he could've sworn he went to bed before midnight last night. Every single muscle in his body was so sore. Muscles he didn’t even know he had were sore. What the hell had happened last night?

As he was trying to get his foggy mind to remember what had happened, he pulled his blanket closer around his body. For some reason that action felt really weird. 

And then suddenly the memories of last night flooded his brain and Nikola shot up. Or, tried to at least. He got tangled up in his blanket and, wait, he didn’t have a blanket last night? There was something leathery and warm draped across his back and the not knowing was making Nikola's breathing short with alarm.

Nikola stopped struggling, laid back down, and took a moment to breathe, trying desperately to push down the panic clogging his throat. 

Carefully pushing down his emotions, Nikola took stock of his body. The claws he had last night were a little longer now and the hair covering his arms and legs was thicker and darker.

There were, in fact, wings attached to his back. Large, leathery, bony wings that were actually quite warm and comfortable to sleep under. It felt so strange to have a whole new set of limbs attached to himself. There were new muscles and new nerves and it felt like a whole new sense had opened up in Nikola's brain.

It was like Nikola had grown 2 extra arms overnight, except the arms were huge and had really long, thin fingers with webbing in between them. There was a single… thumb? on the wrist of each wing that had a curved claw attached to it. With a single thought, Nikola twitched his wings outward, studying the way the appendages moved and flexed.

Nikola reached up and brushed his fingers across his ears. His very large ears. And that was when Nikola realized how much he could hear. He could hear his heart thumping fast in his chest. He could hear the cars honking outside. He could hear someone talking and he startled for a moment before he realized that it was just someone talking in the next building over. And then he startled again because he could hear someone talking in the next building over. 

“I’m a bat,” Nikola whispered. And it felt too loud with his overly sensitive ears. 

‘ебать’

Nikola finally tried to struggle to his feet again. He managed to untangle himself from his wings, but then he ran into a problem when he found out his feet were not his feet anymore. His feet had changed into a set of…bat feet? He had three toes? talons? out in front and one in the back, like a pigeon’s foot…sort of. 

‘I’m just an overgrown pigeon’, Nikola thought somewhat deliriously. 

So…walking was…an experience. His feet didn’t work like his normal feet and he kind of needed to keep one hand on the wall while he stumbled over himself. 

Oh and, sometime during the night (or day?), his shirt had been shredded. How was he gonna wear shirts with these giant wings on his back? He didn’t know. 

“This is so unfair,” Nikola grumbled to himself as he struggled to walk around his small space, “Why did it have to be a bat?! There’s already a bunch of furries that dress up as bats to fight crime, and there’s even a rogue flying around whose name is Man-Bat! He’s literally a giant bat mutant! Just like me!! What even is my life at this point,” 

Oh and he had a tail. 

That part was kinda cool actually. 

Nikola’s tail was connected by a membrane to his wings and connected to his spine right where his tailbone was. It was long and thin with a tail fin at the end that reminded Nikola of the How To Train Your Dragon movies.

Bats didn't have tails, but Nikola guessed that the tail might be useful for flying since he was a lot bigger than a real bat.

Nikola stopped suddenly as a thought struck him. 

“Can I…fly?” 

1 week later

‘This is stupid this is stupid this is stupid this is stupid you are really fucking stupid,’

Nikola was beginning to have second thoughts. Or, was it third thoughts at this point?

Nikola had spent the past week resting in the warehouse and learning how to use his new limbs. Once, some people had entered the warehouse for some sort of drug deal, but Nikola had been completely hidden up in his nook and had simply stayed silent until they were gone. 

He had discovered that he had incredibly good night vision, and like, better vision? Nikola could see in the dark like it was day, and he could also see a lot farther than he could before. The downside of that was that the daytime was now too bright for him and he had to use a strip of his ripped up shirt as a blindfold in order to get any sleep during the day. So, yeah, he was nocturnal now.

Nikola also found that he could use echolocation. Maybe. If he closed his eyes and clicked his tongue in a certain way, he could sort of…see? envision? the room around him. He had to practice a little bit more before he was confident in that ability though. 

Sleeping was very difficult the first few days. Not because of the bright light from the sun, but he couldn’t find a good position to sleep in that wasn’t squishing his wings and also comfortable. Then he had a crazy idea. He knew bats sleep upside down, hanging from the ceiling. Could he do that too?

He managed to climb up to one of the rafters above his nook and very carefully grip the beam with his talons while hanging upside down. And if he fell a couple times trying to get into the right position, no he didn’t because there was nobody around to see anyway. 

When he finally managed to hang on the beam successfully without falling, Nikola had tired himself out. Without really thinking about it, he wrapped his tail around the beam, curled his wings around himself and fell asleep. Nikola had been sleeping like that ever since. He never got light-headed hanging upside down for hours and it was a very comfortable position to be in. His talons were able to keep their grip on the beam throughout the day and his tail helped by staying wrapped around the beam. 

But back to now and Nikola regretting all his life decisions. His nights had been getting boring with nothing to do except stretch his new muscles and master walking again. He had tried to fly inside the warehouse but he could only manage a glide to the floor inside the tight space. Flapping back up to his roost was more complicated and wore out his muscles very quickly. He decided that he needed a bigger space to work with. 

And that was why he was perched on top of the second tallest building in the area. Getting here was a chore and a half in and of itself. Running and climbing while also staying out of sight and staying silent was slightly more difficult with wings and a tail (‘It will be easier once I learn how to fly’). But he managed it and now he was here. 

‘I mean, really the worst that could happen is I plummet into the unforgiving earth below and die an extremely dramatic death,’ Nikola thought dryly as he stared at said unforgiving earth from 20 stories in the air. The wind was whipping around and through his wings, tugging them open and begging Nikola to take off from his perch and fly. 

“Okay, okay,” Nikola muttered to himself, “You can do this, just jump, it’s not that hard,” Instinct would probably take over anyway so he shouldn’t even have to be worrying about this at all. 

‘Alright Nikola,’ Nikola took one determined step forward, ‘Let’s do this,’ 

Chapter Text

‘Alright Nikola,’ Nikola took one determined step forward, ‘Let’s do this,’

40 minutes later, Nikola was back in the warehouse he was starting to call the Roost in his head. He had hung himself upside down from the rafters and was brooding. 

After nearly an hour of failing to jump from the 20 story building, Nikola had given up and gone back to the warehouse. Not because he was a chicken, just because it was nearing dawn and he didn’t want to be seen and actually maybe it would be smart to practice flying around the Roost before he did anything dramatic. 

But now Nikola was faced with a new problem. 

His stomach growled as he glared at the last protein bar, sitting innocently on his backpack below him. He knew how long he could go without food, and he had really tried to ration everything, but Nikola hadn't anticipated the extra energy he expended from both his transformation and exercising his new limbs.

A flutter of wings made Nikola blink at the pigeon that had landed on the edge of the Roost. It walked forward and started to peck at the protein bar. 

“Hey!” Nikola yelped, outraged. The pigeon startled at his voice and quickly shot into the air, fluttering away. “Show off,” Nikola muttered, watching the pigeon’s wings as it expertly maneuvered away. 

Nikola knew he needed food. He had also run out of water yesterday, which was bad. However, he had a lot of problems that were preventing him from getting food. 

First, Nikola had not been prepared to go without food and water like this. All of his plans revolved around getting help in the beginning from the other homeless kids. He had a few favors that he could cash in and they could show him the best shelters, the best places to get free food, and the best stores to buy (or steal) from. This was no longer possible because of Nikola’s new meta status. Because of his appearance, Nikola wouldn’t ever be able to go out in public again. There just wasn’t any way to hide his wings. 

The second problem was that being a meta (especially one with such physical differences, like Nikola) meant attracting attention. And attention was bad. Attention meant meta traffickers and people who thought he was disgusting and wrong just for existing. Attention meant that the more people who knew about Nikola, the more likely it was that he would be betrayed, so asking other people for help getting food or supplies for him was off the table. 

The last problem Nikola had been brooding over was the fact that, even if he could ask for help, Nikola had no way to repay anybody. Before, Nikola was relying on his skills and status as an informant to be able to pay for anything he would need should he ever be out on the streets. Now, he couldn’t do anything. Sure he could still listen, but without- 

Suddenly, Nikola was struck by a thought. He could listen. His ears were huge now. He could hear the heartbeat of a rat that was scampering on the warehouse floor far below. He could hear loud arguing and boisterous laughter and a small baby crying in the neighborhood around him. Nikola had thought all these sounds were overwhelming and tiring and annoying. But he could use it to his advantage. 

Nikola would be able to gather so much more information with his abilities. His information could be worth ten times the amount it was before. But he still had a problem. He had nobody to give his info to. Nobody to be the 'middleman' so to speak. Anybody he made contact with could either sell him out to someone bad, or be in danger if someone found out Nikola was a meta.

Nikola needed someone that he could trust with his secret, with his life really. Someone who wasn't affiliated with any gangs and who wouldn't treat Nikola differently for being a meta. He would have to play his cards very carefully…

Carlos’ POV:

Carlos was searching again. He couldn’t help it. Kole had been missing for over a week at this point and now Carlos had gone from worried to panicked. It was normal to not see him for a day. It was odd to not see him after three days. But for him to be missing for a week? Even if he was sick, his best friend would’ve found a way to get a message out. 

Carlos had checked at his home first, after the third day. He had knocked on his apartment door and spoke to his mother. She had seemed very nervous and got defensive when he asked about Nikola. She had only said that he was sick with a bad case of the flu and had to stay inside. Carlos had gone back later that night and snuck through Kole’s bedroom window. There was nobody inside and Kole’s emergency bag was missing from its spot by his bed. 

Carlos had then assumed that Kole had finally run away (or been kicked out. Did his mom find out??) and started asking around the other street kids. He checked with everyone Kole frequently hung out with but nobody knew where he was. Apparently the last one to see him was Ben. He said that Kole had information on a human trafficking organization and he had last seen Kole giving the info to the Red Hood himself. 

The mention of human trafficking had Carlos almost in a full blown panic. His mind kept flashing to memories of his little sister Emilia. Emilia had found out that she was a meta. She could create fire in her hands.

Their parents had made her promise to never use her powers outside of the house. They drilled into her the dangers of being a meta in this world. But Emilia was so ecstatic that she couldn’t help herself. 

She went missing. Carlos remembered thinking and praying and hoping over and over again that the Bats would save her. The Bats would shut down the trafficking operation and find the kids who were taken. And they did. The Bats shut down the meta trafficking organization and were able to save most of the kids. 

Emilia was not one of them. 

Carlos still remembered the night Batman himself had appeared on their doorstep to quietly deliver the news. All Carlos could remember hearing was a loud ringing in his ears as his Mamá held him tight against her chest and sobbed.

So lost in his spiraling thoughts, Carlos almost missed the soft hiss of his name in the shadows of an alleyway he was passing. He paused and turned warily toward the darkness, hand straying to the pocket where he kept a small dagger. 

“Pssst. Carlos! It’s me, Kole!!” came the voice from the shadows. 

Carlos felt his heart leap in his chest. “Nikola?!?” He asked, astonished. The voice quickly shushed him. 

Carlos’s eyes narrowed, “Can you prove that it’s you?” He wasn’t about to trust strange voices in alleyways, even if it did sound like his friend. 

The voice came again, “I gave you the dagger that you’re reaching for in your left inside pocket. I carved a swallow on the handle. Everyone thinks it’s because you’re small and fast but really it’s because a swallow flew past your shoulder while we were walkin’ in Robinson park and you screamed bloody murder,” 

Carlos snorted at the memory and rushed into the alley with a relieved grin. “Mierda, where have you been!! I thought you had been snatched off the streets or somethin’ - wait where are you?” Carlos pulled up short. The alley was empty.

“Yeah about that… I need you to promise not to freak out,” Kole’s voice seemed to be coming from above him but all Carlos could see was shadows. 

“What’s going on Kole?” Carlos was confused and worried. His friend had never acted like this before. What had happened? 

Carlos heard Kole take a deep breath, “I’m a meta,” Carlos sucked in a sharp breath, “Before I show you, you have to promise not to freak out. It was a really…physical change,”

Carlos nodded, “Of course! You know about Emilia, I’m not gonna run away screaming or anything…unless you’re a giant spider, then I might scream a little bit,” he admitted. 

Kole snorted, “Not a spider,” there was a swish and then a thump as a black shape landed in front of Carlos. Kole stood up with an anxious grin on his face, “I’m actually a bat?” 

Carlos’s eyes widened, “Woah…” Kole had two giant wings reaching out from his back. They were large and dark gray and looked a bit like a pair of hands with really elongated fingers. A large set of bat ears twitched back and forth on top of his head. Kole reached up to scratch at the back of his neck nervously and Carlos saw the small curved claws on his fingers. His fingers and claws had turned a dark gray and the color stretched upwards over his arm before fading into his more naturally pale skin tone.

“...You were not kidding when you said it was a really physical change,” Carlos spoke at last, still astonished. Kole huffed out a laugh at that, shoulders relaxing a little bit. When he grinned, Carlos could see that his teeth had become sharper, and his canines especially were longer. 

“Yup,” he said, popping the ‘p’, “My mom freaked the fuck out when she saw me. Think she thought I was the devil or somethin’, and I didn’t even have the wings at that point!” 

Carlos’ face darkened at the mention of Kole’s mother. “Did she throw you out?” he asked, anger lacing his tone. 

Kole gave a dry laugh, “Ha! No. She and Derrek were gonna sell me,” Carlos' eyes widened in horror, “I know, right? I got away, obviously,” Kole continued, misinterpreting his horror for shock, “I’ve been hiding out in an abandoned warehouse. It’s got this awesome little nook that’s surprisingly warm and-,” 

Kole continued chattering on cheerfully while Carlos reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose. 

“-oh and I kind of need your help,” Carlos looked up, refocusing on his friend. 

“Of course,” he said seriously, “What do you need? I can get you food and you know you can stay at my house. Mamá adores you and-” Kole cut him off. 

“I’m not going to put your family in danger by being seen with you,” he said firmly. He shook his head at Carlos’ protests. “You can help me out in a different way though,” 

Kole looked at Carlos, his dark brown eyes piercing and firm, “You know that information broker thing I had going for me?” Carlos nodded, “I think I can still make it work,” He pointed to his large ears, “These things can hear a lot better than human ears. The info I could get with this could be worth a lot and the blackmail could be really helpful. The only problem is that I can’t meet any buyers in person,” he gestured to the rest of his body. 

Carlos nodded in understanding, “You need a middleman,” 

Kole nodded, “I understand if you don’t want to do it, but I thought since you weren’t associated with any gangs and-”

Carlos cut him off by putting both hands on Kole’s shoulders, (making sure to telegraph his movements because Derrek was a hijo de puta-), “You know I will help you out in any way that I can. I’ll do it. And if you need anything at all,” he paused to emphasize his words, “you just need to ask,” 

Kole nodded, relieved, and was about to speak when his rumbling stomach cut him off. His ears pinned back flat against his head as his neck flushed red. 

Carlos chuckled, “Let’s get some food in you first, eh murciélagito?” 

Kole pouted, neck still flushed red, “I’m not little,” 

Carlos just laughed. 

Nikola’s POV:

Carlos had just gotten back to the roof they agreed to meet on with a couple of hotdogs from a food truck. Carlos had told him that his Mamá was going to get a bunch of food together for Nikola to eat for the next couple of days. When Nikola started protesting, Carlos just raised an eyebrow and said, “You really gonna argue with Mamá?” and that shut him up. He convinced himself to accept the help by silently making a note to pay back Carlos' mom later somehow.

Now they were just trying to figure out the specifics of their job. Nikola would obviously be the one actually getting all the info. It would work basically the same as before: Nikola would tail anybody that looked interesting or suspicious and would check in on rumors that popped up and then let people involved know that he had info to sell. He would also do specific jobs for people that wanted specific info. The only difference now would be that Carlos would be Nikola's middleman and nobody would ever actually see Nikola in person.

Carlos chewed on his lip, "If we do this," he said slowly, staring into Nikola's eyes seriously, "You're gonna have to be a completely different person. You can't be connected to Nikola anymore."

Nikola nodded, looking out over the city laid put before him, "I know. I'm only gonna interact with people I trust, and right now, that's only you. No one can know Nikola exists anymore. As far as anybody is concerned, that little Russian boy is dead."

Carlos nodded sadly. Nikola knew he normally would've protested, but Carlos was intimately familiar with the dangers of being a meta in the most crime-riddled part pf Gotham. That was the main reason that Nikola chose to come to Carlos. Carlos was a fiercely loyal person, and because of what happened to his sister, he would never even dream of breathing more than a whisper of Nikola's name to anybody else if Nikola asked him to.

Carlos would be the one actually interacting with people. He would spread the word about a new informant on the streets. Then he would meet with people and negotiate a price for Nikola's services (cash, food, or favors).

To keep Carlos safe (and make Nikola sound more mysterious), Carlos would tell people that he didn't meet with the informant himself, and only spoke to a middleman. This would make sure that nobody would go after Nikola through Carlos since he "didn't actually know anything." It helped that he was just a 16 year old kid too. Nobody would guess how big of a part he actually played. 

As for Nikola's part, he would make careful records of everything he learned. He wanted to divide up the information he learned into parts: people (information about a person's affiliations and potential blackmail), rumors (non-confirmed things he hears that might become useful in the future), general happenings in Gotham (confirmed things that happened like the creation of a new gang), and rogues (information on rogues and their movements [this information was extremely valuable to Gothamites]).

All of this information Nikola would keep in notebooks because 1) it was cheap, and 2) anything on a device could be hacked these days. In order to keep the info safe, Nikola would write it all in Russian. Carlos had snorted at that and teased Nikola about how paranoid he was being. Nikola just stuck his tongue out at him.

“One thing you’ll have to decide,” Carlos mentioned around the food in his mouth, “Is what kind of morals you wanna have,” 

Nikola furrowed his eyebrows and tilted his head in a silent question (he had food in his mouth and was raised with manners). 

“I mean,” Carlos continued waving a hand around, “Like, are you like the Bats and completely against crime? Or will you be willing to work with anybody no matter what they've done?"

Nikola paused to think and swallow his food. 

“I think,” he started slowly, “that’s where it gets a little complicated. I don’t wanna work with the Bats. Because as soon as people figure out that I’m willing to rat people out to the Bats, people aren’t gonna want to buy info off of me. Plus, whether the Bats like it or not, crime is a part of the economy of Gotham. They can't stop all of it and it doesn't help people out if they do. What they should be doing is trying to regulate it, kinda like what the Red Hood does, with making sure the drug deals are clean and giving good jobs to people," Nikola paused to take another bite of his hotdog, staring thoughtfully out at the city.

“I do have to draw the line somewhere though,” Nikola continued, “I’ve talked to the Red Hood before about serious stuff. Like, if there’s a trafficking organization, you know?” Carlos nodded, satisfied. 

“So kind of like a Red Hood situation?” Carlos asked, “You'll look the other way at a person's criminal record but not if it's, like, super bad?"

Nikola nodded, smiling. “Yeah! Like that!” Then he blinked, “Am I gonna turn into a crime lord?”

Carlos just laughed and shook his head. 

Chapter Text

5 months later

Damian’s POV:

Robin swung over the streets of Gotham, keeping an ear out for any screams or gunshots. Nightwing was visiting Gotham for the weekend and flew alongside him tonight. It had been a fairly quiet night and it was almost time for them to head back to the cave. 

Robin’s comms chirped three times, a signal for all the bats that one of them had an announcement, and he swung down to land on a roof to listen. Nightwing landed gracefully behind him, ruffling Damian’s hair even as Damian leaned away from him and swatted at his hand, scowling. 

Red Robin’s voice filtered in through the comms, his voice serious, “I found another one of those notes from that Dragon person. It was tied to a gargoyle at a place I often rest on my patrol route,” 

Robin sucked in a sharp breath. Beside him, Nightwing straightened up as well. The Dragon was an unknown they had first heard about 3 months ago. At first, it was just rumors on the streets about somebody who would give away information in exchange for just about anything: food, supplies, favors, or money. The info they gave ranged from information about a specific person, to gang movements, and even to information about rouges. Nobody knew what they looked like or where they operated. They worked through messengers and middle-men and seemed to have information from all over the city. 

6 weeks ago, Robin found a note on a building he frequently rested on. The rest of the Bats were alarmed because it showed that someone was watching them closely enough to know where they rested on patrol. The position was out of view of any cameras so they could not see who placed the note. The note did not contain any bugs or fingerprints. It was written in simple black ink in small, neat handwriting that told them about another human trafficking organization that had just appeared. It gave the location of the organization and the names of everyone involved. It was signed: The Dragon. 

Since that incident, they had gotten one other note that told them about the Scarecrow breaking out of Arkham. They were able to use that information to take him down before he was able to do as much damage as he usually did. 

Batman’s voice answered Red Robin, “Take it back to the Cave for analysis,” he ordered, “Any bugs or identifying marks?” 

Red Robin’s voice replied back, “Nope. Same as the last ones. Plain white paper, nothing interesting about it. Probably no prints either. Whoever this person is, they know what they’re doing,” 

Batman grunted, “Everybody finish your patrol routes and get back to the Cave for a debrief. Anybody see anything tonight?”

“Nope,” Red Hood said, sounding bored. 

Nightwing reached up and tapped his comm, beating Robin to it, “All quiet over here,” 

“Nothing worth noting on our end,” came Spoiler’s voice. She was working with Black Bat tonight. 

“Just the note for me,” Red Robin said next. 

Oracle’s voice came through, along with the sound of a keyboard typing, “I’m already looking at the cameras to see if I can find our Dragon but I don’t think tonight’s going to be the night they slip up,” 

Batman grunted again, “Keep looking. We need to figure out who The Dragon is,” 

“Does it really matter if we know who The Dragon is or not if they obviously have our best interests at heart?” Jason asked, kicking his feet up on the table. 

They were all gathered around the debriefing table in the Cave. Damian had already changed out of his suit and was sharpening his katana while he listened. 

They had read over the note Timothy had found after scanning it for prints, unsurprisingly turning up empty. The note had told them that the Riddler was out of Arkham and planning something big. He was in the process of setting up his next attack and was starting to place bombs all around the city. The note detailed the location of each bomb, the locations that Riddler was most likely going to place the next ones, the names of the people helping the Riddler right now, and the location where the Riddler was hiding out. 

They hadn’t even known the Riddler was out of Arkham. 

Jason began ticking off his fingers one by one, “All they’ve done so far is help us out with rogues, expose human trafficking organizations, and make a living for themselves by selling information to people on the streets. That doesn’t exactly scream ‘I’m gonna take over the world’,” he waved his hands sarcastically. 

“It matters if they have or will figure out our identities,” Damian retorted, “We know they are smart enough not to get caught by us and smart enough to know the movements of a rogue before we even know they’re out of Arkham. They could be luring us into a false sense of security and then use our identities as blackmail against us to enact some nefarious plan,” 

“Damian’s right,” Father said from where he was standing at the head of the table. Damian preened at the praise while Father continued, “We cannot be too careful. They already know too much about our patrol routes. We need to know if they are a threat or not,” 

Barbara's face appeared on the screen behind Father, “I still can’t find hide nor tail of our mystery Dragon,” she sounded frustrated, “If they’re using security cameras to get their info, they must be really, really good because I can’t find a trace of them anywhere. It’s like they’re a ghost,” 

Stephanie whistled from where she was sitting behind Cassandra, braiding her hair, “Daaamn. This dude must be good if not even Oracle can track them,” Richard flicked her shoulder from where he was standing next to her with a, “Language,” and Stephanie squawked indignantly. 

Father furrowed his brow and ignored the two of them as they started fighting, “If you can’t find a trace of them in the cameras, then it’s more likely that they are using a network of informants to get their information. If we can find out who those informants are, then we should be able to trace them back to The Dragon,” 

Father turned towards Jason, “Most of the rumors and whispers of The Dragon come from Crime Alley. See if you can figure out who the informants or messengers are and we can work from there,” 

Jason shrugged, “Whatever you say, old man,” Bruce just sighed and pinched his nose as Jason grinned. 

“Master Jason, I do hope those aren’t your muddy shoes on the table and not on the floor where they should be,” Jason jumped guiltily as Pennyworth appeared in the doorway. 

“Sorry Alfie,” he mumbled, quickly taking his feet down and rubbing the back of his neck. 

Timothy looked up from where he had been studying the note, “It would be easier if this person had some sort of symbol or theme or anything to go off of,” he leaned back in his chair with a huff of frustration, “All we have is the name ‘Dragon’ and some handwriting that doesn’t match anything in my database. No special colors or identifying features; not even a fancy signature!”

Damian clicked his tongue, “Tt. Obviously The Dragon is much smarter than your average rogue. All the more reason not to underestimate them,” 

The next evening

Nikola’s POV:

“If I punch myself and it hurts, am I weak or strong?” Nikola wondered out loud as he swung upside down from the rafters. 

Carlos squinted up at him from where he was sitting on the floor of one of Nikola’s Roosts, sorting through the information Nikola had gathered that week. 

“An idiot is what you are,” he deadpanned, shaking his head and turning back to his work. Nikola stuck his middle finger up at the back of his head. 

They had been very busy these past couple of months. Nikola had decided on a name: The Dragon. Obviously, it was named after his wings and tail but it also sounded kind of intimidating, which Nikola liked. He took great pains to make sure that nothing about him was themed other than the name. He wasn’t a rogue and he didn’t intend to act like one. So, all of his letters were written neatly in plain black ink on plain white paper with no flourishes or colors or any identifying features. He also used gloves when he wrote them so that no fingerprints would show up on the paper. 

Carlos was the main person managing other middle-men, giving info to buyers, and bringing back the things they used to pay for it. He made sure to tell people that he was just one of the messenger boys and that he never interacted with The Dragon personally. He would then either hand the stuff out to the street kids (Nikola didn’t need that much. There were people that needed it more) or take the stuff to a drop-point (usually inside a warehouse) for Nikola to pick up. They did this so that if there were any bugs on the stuff or if anybody was following Carlos, they would just see a messenger boy doing his job and not interacting with The Dragon (Nikola). 

Nikola and Carlos worked together to build up a group of middle-men that would carry out orders and deliver info. It was made up of a group of street kids that didn't belong to any gangs and wanted ways to take care of themselves and their families. Carlos acted as the head of the kids and pretended that he answered to an adult. In reality, both Carlos and Nikola knew that very few adults could be trusted and so only Carlos’s Mamá knew about their operation (she still provided Nikola with homemade meals despite knowing that Nikola had more than enough resources by know to take care of himself). 

Was it all a bit much? Maybe. But Nikola wasn’t taking any chances. Being cocky could put his best (and only) friend in danger. It could destroy his livelihood, or even be the cause of his own death. Derrek was cocky. Nikola didn’t want to be anything like Derrek.

But the most fun were the rumors. Carlos made sure to spread as many rumors as he could, saying things like ‘I heard The Dragon used to be a street kid himself. That’s why he gives stuff to the kids,’ or ‘The Dragon doesn’t work with abusers and rapists. He’s like the Red Hood. Except The Dragon doesn’t give you the mercy of outright killing you. He has other ways of making your life Hell.'

(A man who was abusing his wife came to Nikola, expecting to buy info, same as everybody else. Nikola then dug up evidence that the man was a double agent and was feeding information from his gang to a rival gang. He sent the evidence to every single member of the man’s gang along with a message: The Dragon does not tolerate abusers and rapists. The man didn’t last the night.)

Nikola heard the effects of the rumors when he listened for information on the streets. Folded away in the shadows, he heard them whispering: ‘The Dragon sees everything, nothing escapes them,’ ‘They’re like a ghost, a shadow,’ ‘If you don’t follow the rules, The Dragon will come and devour you in your sleep,’ 

Nikola…kind of enjoyed it to be honest. It made him sound like this powerful, inhuman being. And he knew that he could use that to get things done. The Red Hood did the same thing, using fear and power to keep people in check. It helped him clean up the streets and make sure that people did the right thing. 

But the thing about Red Hood and all the other Bats was that everybody knew that they were only human. They were not immortal, untouchable beings. They could be hurt. They could be defeated. They could even be killed. But nobody knew just what The Dragon was. Nobody knew if The Dragon could be slain. This made Nikola more powerful. And he could use that influence to keep people safe in his own way. 

“Hey! Pequeño dragón!” a balled up piece of paper hit the side of Nikola’s head, snapping him out of his thoughts. Nikola tilted his head to look down at Carlos who had an exasperated look on his face, “Help me out here would ya? I can’t read Russian, remember?” he gestured to the various notebooks around him. 

Nikola sheepishly ducked his head and started to uncurl from his position on the beam, “Right, I forgot about that,” 

Nikola spread his wings and carefully let go of the beam with his talons. As he started to fall, he twisted in the air and tilted his wings to gracefully circle down and land in front of Carlos. 

It had taken him a long time to get good at flying. There was obviously nobody to teach him and instinct could only get him so far. He had to figure out the logistics of angling his wings and tail in very specific ways in order to fly in the direction he wanted to go.

Plus, flying in the air with he wind surrounding him and buffeting him from all sides was very different from flying in the still air of a warehouse. It took a lot of trial and error and resulted in more than a few new scars along his wings and body from crashing into the sides of buildings as he tried to get used to flying on the wind. 

“You wouldn’t be able to read it anyway, even if you knew Russian,” Nikola said to Carlos as he began to finish sorting the notebooks and papers around them, “I started writing them in a code as well as in Russian so that it would be harder for someone to read them,” 

Carlos stared at him. Nikola looked up at him when he didn’t say anything, “...what,” Carlos just sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, “You’re really paranoid, you know that?” He picked up one of the finished piles and placed it into the big lockbox that they had just bought specifically for the purpose of storing the precious information. 

Nikola squawked indignantly, “I am not! I’m just… cautious. There’s a difference between being careful and being paranoid,” 

“Sure there is,” Carlos said dryly. He finished putting the papers away and locked up the box, spinning the numbers to mix them up. He stood up and glanced at his watch. 

“I better head home, it’s getting late,” Carlos started packing up his things as Nikola squinted out the window, seeing the sky already fading with the last rays of sunlight. 

Nikola nodded, “I should head out soon too,” Nikola stretched, reaching his wings up as high as they could go, “Thanks for the help Carlos,” 

“You sure you don’t need anything else?” Carlos asked, studying Nikola with a worried look on his face. 

Nikola rolled his eyes, “Look who’s the paranoid one now,” he teased, nudging his friend with the tip of his wing. Carlos batted him away with a scowl, “I’ll be fine Mom, quit worrying so much,” 

Carlos huffed as Nikola just laughed.