Flying with Bats

Chapter one

(Bruce's POV)

Tim and I are on our usual rounds through Gotham. We finally decided to go home and end tonight. Once we got back to the Batcave, Tim changed and went upstairs.I did the same. When I walked upstairs, I saw Alfred reading the paper. He had a worried expression. I walked closer and he tried to hide the paper. I stared at him, confused at his actions.

"Alfred? Why are you hiding the paper?" I asked curiously. He sighed and handed it to me. The page it was turned to read:

Five kids were brutally abused by their father. The oldest, Skyler D'cents, suffered from two bullet wounds, a broken rib, and she was raped and sexually abused. Her younger sisters were also sexually abused. And their younger brother, Ethan, was found in a closet, tied up with cuts and scrapes. Their mother was found unconscious, tied with chains and rope, to her bed, naked, scared, and scarred. Their father is being held in jail under custody until his trial. The kids are being put up for adoption all separately. The mother is unable to take care of them until she out of the hospital when she is better and done with treatment.

"Master Bruce, if I know you, you're thinking of getting all of them. Good luck." Alfred said. I nodded and went to bed.

****NEXT DAY*****

Once I did my morning routine, I headed to the adoption agency. I walked in and asked the woman about the D'cent children. She called them out. Ethan ran right to the girl with blue hair. She had on plastic fake glasses, but they brought out her eyes. She cradled Ethan like a mother would her own child. Her younger sisters stayed close by her.

"Kids, this is Mr.Wayne. Mr. Wayne, this is Skyler, Taylor, Autumn, Cassandra, and Ethan. Children, he is here to adopt you." the woman said. When she told me their names, she pointed them out. The one holding Ethan was Skyler. Taylor has pink hair, Autumn has red hair, Cassandra has brown, and Ethan has green hair. We walked to the office and I filled out the paper work. Once I was done, I lead the girls to the car. Alfred held the door open for them. When we were all in, we headed home. During the drive, Ethan fell asleep in Skyler's arms. I decided to get to know them a little.

"So, what do you girls like to do?" I asked them.

"Cheerleading." Taylor said quietly. She was looking down and had her hands in her lap.

"Draw." Autumn said. She was looking at Ethan sleep.

"Learn or read." Cassandra responded. She had her hair covering her face while she was looking down.

"Take care of them." Skyler said. She was looking at Ethan and pushed a strand of hair behind his ear.

"Them?" I asked curiously. She nodded and looked at me.

"Yeah. Them as in Ethan and my sisters." she responded. I nodded and leaned back in my seat. After that, we pulled up to the Manor. Alfred helped out the girls. When Skyler went to get out, I put out my hands for Ethan. She was hesitant, but handed him to me carefully and got out of the car.

"So, you're like a mother to them?" I asked her. She nodded. Taylor took Ethan out of my hands and they followed Alfred.

"I'm right now the closest thing they have to a mother. I always have been. My father wasn't always the intolerant idiot he is now, though. He used to have a heart. Until someone kidnapped and killed his sister. Taylor and I were about five and Cassandra and Autumn were about one. Ethan wasn't even born yet. My father left the day of her funeral and came home three days later drunk. He came up the stairs to abuse us and use us, but our mom got in the way. She told us to lock the door and hide. Don't come out even if we hear screaming. We could come out when she came and got us. I wound up protecting them with Taylor. We met Jet and Austin later on and they would help us." Skyler said. She started to tear up in the middle of the story, but her voice stayed firm. At the end, she broke down. I wrapped my arms around her and held her tight. I could tell she needed it.

"Skyler, look at it this way, you and your mother did a really good job protecting the girls and Ethan." I told her to try and comfort her down. She nodded and pulled away. She looked up at me and I looked down at her. She smiled and backed up, but bumped into Dick.She jumped when she bumped into him and clung to me in fright.

"Sorry. Did I scare her?" Dick asked. I nodded.

"Skyler. It's alright. It's just my son, Dick." I told her. She looked up at me and then at Dick. Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

"Sorry. It's just that-" she tried to explain, but Dick held up his hand to silence her.

"It's alright. I read the paper. Sorry about what happened." he told her. She nodded and he held out his arms for her. She nervously stepped into them and they hugged. I saw something and right away knew that they were going to go out at some point.

"So anyways, Dick, would you like to show Skyler around? Alfred already started showing her sisters around." I told him. He nodded and they pulled away from each other. Then, they walked inside. I saw that Dick and Skyler were holding hands. They were definitely going to be together a lot.

"So, this is where you live?" Skyler asked Dick. He chuckled and nodded. I followed them inside and went to the kitchen. I was attempting to make lunch for the girls, boys, Alfred, and I. This should be interesting. When I was done, the ending result was some peanut butter and banana sandwiches. That should do. For now. I even made one for Alfred. I put them on a plate and called the kids. They came down and Alfred looked at me skeptically. He knew I didn't cook.

"Welcome home, girls. And welcome to the family." I told them. They smiled. Ethan didn't, though. He cuddled more into Skyler. When did he go to her? Oh well. He must be scared of me still.

"Thank you for taking us in. We've been in and out of adoption homes so much. We really appreciate it. I really appreciate." Skyler said. She smiled at me and I nodded a welcome/thanks to her. She knew what it meant.

"Okay. I give up. Where do I recognize you from?" Tim asked, looking at Autumn. She looked up and her features turned from shy to scared and shock. Tim had a mirror expression. Skyler was right next to Autumn in an instant. I had no idea what was going on, but apparently Autumn went into a panic attack. Tim also was right by her side.

"Autumn, look at me, look at me. It's okay. Just breathe. In and out." Skyler asked her sister to do. They were sitting on the floor. Mainly because when Autumn saw Tim, she was standing and so she backed up until she hit a wall and then slid down onto the floor.

"Is she okay? What happened?" I asked, squatting down next to Skyler. She was just focused on trying to get Autumn on calming down.

"Autumn isn't exactly one for repeating the past. Autumn, well all of us, thought Tim was dead. We were there one night and saw Two-Face shoot Tim. I guess it wasn't that major. But before it happened, Autumn and Tim were close. He would protect her at any cost." Taylor said. I guess I never know the whole story with anything. I know my story, but that's it.

"Autumn, look at me. I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere. Please. I'm right here." Tim tried to calm down Autumn down. Once she finally knew what she was doing, she lunged towards Tim and cried in his arms. He rubbed her back and shushed her while saying calming words. I looked at Skyler and noticed that she was silently crying. She was looking at Autumn and then looked down. I walked up to her and put my hand on her shoulder. She looked up at me and smiled weakly.

"Has she always been like this?" I asked, hoping she wasn't. Skyler bit her bottom lip and nodded.

"It started off with our father. He would beat me and Autumn would get worried. I would stand inn front of my sisters to protect them, but when he would knock me out cold, he would go after the rest of them. There was at one point where he stabbed me in the stomach for being pregnant with his child. But Autumn would get so worked up that she wouldn't be able to breathe. It came to the point where we had to fake her kid-napping so we could get her to a hospital." Skyler told me, her voice low and she shuddered from the memory. Dick was right by her side. He was her shoulder to cry on right now. I got up and walked out of the room to get her some tissues. Once I went back and handed them to her, I felt bad. These kids didn't know what happiness was. They were used to being abused. And even with their father in jail, he's still causing problems for them.

"They'll never know what the world has to offer because of that psychotic idiot." Alfred mumbled next to me. I nodded in agreement.