Brothers

Chapter 2

After eating everything Alfred had whipped up plus dessert Jason wondered if this wasn't some hallucination or maybe he's finally kicked the bucket and this was his afterlife. Strange turn of events no matter how you looked at it, but how else do you explain that Batman of all people picked him up off the street and brought him home? He still needed to wrap his mind around that one, but the bigger shock was what had come after that.

"So Jay, how about I show you around while Alfred finishes up setting up a room for you?" Dick said as he grabbed his crutches and hoisted himself up as if he didn't have a broken leg.

"Huh?"

Dick rolled his eyes and nodded towards the elevator, "I'll show you around the place. Wouldn't want to get lost wandering around on your own."

"You said room, I'm staying?" Jason felt like he was missing a clue or twelve. What was happening here?

Dick did that cackle thing again. "Where else would you go? Not like we're going to throw you in Arkham or something. Besides we definitely have the room for you."

Jason was still confused though. "I tried to steal the wheels from the Batmobile of all things and you want me in your house?"

Dick smiled even wider at that. "I've broken countless priceless antiques and chandeliers and yet I'm still here. Now come on we can explore the main floor for a bit before Alfred starts insisting I need my rest."

As they walked around the manor Jason couldn't help glancing down at Dick's cast from time to time, Dick took notice but waited until they were seated in the media room before addressing Jason's unasked question.

"Happened while on a mission, got caught in some falling debris but aside from the leg I got out okay."

"Mission?"

Dick nodded "Don't tell anyone but there's a covert team of young heroes that Batman sends on missions the world over for the Justice League when they can't go themselves or they need intel. It's made up of the partners of heroes like Kid Flash, Aqualad, and me."

Jason was surprised to hear this. "You mean Batman gathered a team of young heroes to spy for him?"

Dick laughed "Not quite, we kind of made the team on our own but the League only agreed on the grounds we take orders from Batman and stay covert."

"You made a team of your own without Batman's approval?"

"How do you think I became Robin in the first place?" Dick gave a wry grin.

Huh looks like Dick Greyson wasn't the perfect goody two-shoes everyone made him out to be.

"How'd ya do that?" Jason was fascinated by the thought of anyone going against the Bat, especially a kid.

"I'd wanted to get justice for my family, I knew who was behind their so called accident and I knew the police weren't going to bring them down so I decided to do it myself."

"What about Batman?"

"He was looking into it but like I said I knew who was behind it. After the funeral I had been placed in juvie because all of the foster homes were full and I was now a ward of the state. I managed to get out easily enough and while trying to track down those responsible I crossed paths with non-other than Batman himself. He'd picked up the same trail and happened on me first. I ended back in my 'accommodations' and shortly thereafter Bruce shows up wanting to talk to me."

A light went off and Jason wanted to hit his head against a wall.

"Just connected the dots huh?"

Jason nodded, Dick Greyson was Robin, they were in a manor, they had a butler, Bruce Wayne was Batman. Yup that made all the sense in the world uh huh sure.

"Anyway it took some time for me to reach that conclusion. See Bruce had also witnessed his parents' murder at around the same age and there was just this connection you know? Well that had been what had gotten his attention to begin with but it seemed that since the time of the murder the guy in charge, Tony Zucco was also looking for me since it could cause him problems and knowing about crooked cops and other officials Bruce didn't want to take the chance that they could find me so he went under the table and took me in without anyone really knowing.

"It was a huge adjustment but all I cared about at that point was finding my family's killer and bring them to justice. Bruce worked a lot and this is such a big place that it was easy to go around without notice, of course things have since changed security wise and all," he let out a small laugh "I would sneak out constantly trying to find anything I could on Zucco and a way to take him down but sure enough I got caught and Bruce was not pleased, especially since he found a lone kid running around Gotham city tracking down a known mobster who wouldn't hesitate to kill a child."

Jason knew all too well what kind of rotten scum ran in the Gotham underworld and no doubt killing kids was just one of the many things they were capable of.

"After a few failed attempts of getting out again I stumbled upon the Batcave and when I put two and two together I knew I had to do something to help and that's when I decided that the best way to do this was by joining forces with Batman whether he liked it or not."

"What did you do?"

"I got out my performance outfit; my mom had made them special for the big day when I'd debut with the Flying Greysons. I thought it only fitting to wear it when I brought down their killer."

Jason had always wondered why Robin had such a contrasting outfit to Batman's but a circus performer would have something bright and attention grabbing.

"Of course we've modified it since then so it's not so flashy but the memory is still there. Anyway I managed to get out this time and I made it just in time because Batman had managed to track down Zucco but was a little in over his head. Before that moment all I cared about was getting justice for my family whatever it took, whatever that meant, but at that moment I knew that that meant putting Zucco behind bars and getting him to admit to sabotaging the trapeze that killed my family."

"You had the chance to kill him?" Jason had no idea what he would have done in Dick's place but he was awed by Dick's strength of character to let his family's killer live.

Dick nodded. "Bruce has a no kill rule, we seek justice not revenge and at that moment I understood. I know my family wouldn't have wanted me to kill Zucco and to be honest I didn't either. But we took down Zucco and I could finally be at peace knowing he was off the streets and couldn't hurt anyone else. After that Bruce officially took me on as his ward and I've been here and Robin ever since."

"Why are you telling me all this?" it was one thing to be kind to him, even let him into their home, but to tell him their stories and secrets? He was just some punk from Crime Alley.

"I have a good feeling about you." Dick smiled and hoisted himself up onto his crutches with ease. "Now let's head upstairs I'm sure that room is ready by now."