Renegade, Another Bat?

Chapter 45 - Family Addition

"Jason!" called a young boy to somewhere above. Looking at the ceiling, he took a breath before yelling; "hurry up or we're gonna be late!"

"Coming!" a voice floated back down. Seconds later, a young boy with a mop of red-brown hair came sprinting down the staircase and into the entrance hall. 

"You look good, Jace." The older boy commented, looking Jason up and down. "The uniform suits you."

"Thanks, Ash-Dick! Dammit." Jason face-palmed in pretend frustration, a smile on his face as he saw the older boy's smirk. "Man, that still trips me up, bro."

"All good, Jace," he said, smiling at Jason. The boys playfully shoved each other back and forth until Bruce Wayne walked into the room. 

"Dad, are you taking us to school?" asked Dick. "Is Alfred okay?" His confusion showing on his face. The younger boys turned to look at each other, sharing a sideways glance. 

Just then a small figure came out of another room, flipping multiple times before landing in a fighting stance, a jam covered butter knife in hand. "What happened to Alfred? Who do I need to kill?" she demanded. 

"Nothing, Skye. Alfred is fine. I just wanted to drive my kids to school for a change." Bruce looked at the knife in amusement, waiting for the girl to realise what she was still holding.

It took a few seconds, but she eventually glanced down to her hands, shrugging and licking the utensil as she left the hall. Skye came back moments later with her Wonder Woman backpack (cause Wonder Woman is Warrior Princess and an absolute Legend) over her shoulder and five pieces of jam toast in her hands, two for each brother and the last for herself. 

Bruce listened to his children bickering in the back of the car with a smile on his face. Jason had only been part of their make-shift family for two months now, bus if anyone was to watch and observe how the three interacted, you would guess they had spent their entire lives bring up together. 

The mission Jason had been found on hadn't gone exactly according to plan. Yes, they had discovered where the mission children had gone, but they had not been able to prevent more kids from being taken. Bruce had talked over his concerns with Thalia during her next visit, as she had continued to visit her surrogate daughter and her – now two – brothers monthly. She had promised to take it up with her father, the leader of the League of Shadows, and Bruce was pleasantly surprised when children stopped being taken off the streets within a matter of days.

Apparently, building an army out of unwilling child soldiers was in violation of some treaty, that if broken, would start another war. 

After seeing how Dick and Skye acted around the street boy, Bruce had offered him a home, officially adopting him a few weeks later. Bruce had also, at all his children request, made sure that the surviving three children from the street gang Dick and Skye had been welcomed into, were adopted together by a loving family. A set of twins aged ten and a boy two years older.

 Dick had later revealed that three of the older kids from 'the Ravagers' had been killed, one before the escape and two during. And that the second oldest, a boy named Mark, had willingly joined the Court. A thirteen-year-old girl had gone missing in the confusion of the messy extraction. However, Dick said he saw her on the streets a week later during patrol and understood that she preferred to be on her own. At least she was alive. 

School seemed the best way to get the children back into a feeling of normalcy after the chaotic mission. A place without death and danger lurking around every corner. And the only thing dangerous is the workload.

Skye sat quietly in the car, chipping into her brothers' meaningless conversation here and there. There were more pressing matters on her mind. Her surrogate mother and father... being so far away from them was difficult. Especially after she allowed herself to accept that that is what they had become to her. But she had a brother, two now in fact. It's not like she could up-and-leave them. They were the only other family she had left. And then there was Bruce. He had technically adopted her, but for what reason? Because he truly cared about her, or because of who her brother was? Obviously, he liked her, but after the last mission, he seemed to avoid her. It was almost subconscious the way he did it. Like he no longer trusted her or something.