hyperactive-lectiophile:
I had a weird and/or awesome idea for a bat family story.
I don’t think I’m gonna actually write it but I felt like sharing the outline and ideas for the story. This is a mix of a few continuities because I do what I want, and have trouble keeping everything straight. Feel free to add stuff or make suggestions. Now strap in cause I have some thoughts.
So this guy in Gotham is experimenting with transdimensional technology. Oracle discovers what he’s doing and how dangerous it is so she sends the bat family after him. Nightwing, Red Hood, Spoiler, Red Robin, Black Bat, and Robin go after this guy but he sets off a machine and transports them to a different dimension. The main difference of this dimension is that the Graysons never died which set off quite the chain of events, but our heroes don’t know that yet. Cut to this universe’s Batman finding a gaggle of people ranging from early teens to their twenties dressed in weird costumes smoking in a crater. Not to mention a few of them have bats on their chest. This Batman never had a partner outside of Alfred so when they try to explain who they are it doesn’t go great because Batman can’t even imagine working with one kid let alone six. Then he starts to realize a few of these people seem familiar.
In this universe, Dick would have lived with his parents a bit longer but would have eventually been taken by the Court of Owls to become their Grey Son and new talon. Bruce recognizes him after a while because he’s fought him before. It takes a little because he acts drastically different from his unfeeling counterpart in this universe but Bruce probably figures it out after seeing him do some acrobatics, or hears one of the others call him ‘Grayson.’ The realization is pretty jarring for Bruce and it’s really unsettling to see the cold soulless assassin he knows so full of life. He doesn’t tell the bat family that he knows his universe’s Grayson, because that’s totally something Batman would do and fun plot stuff later.
He doesn’t know who Jason is AT ALL. He still meets him the same way in this universe but doesn’t take him in. There’s no role of Robin to fill and he has no idea how to care for a child. Bruce does send him to the wayward school for boys but doesn’t really check up on him after that. The whole event becomes a sort of weird story like “remember that one kid who tried to steal tires off the batmobile?” What happens Jason afterward is harder to figure out. Maybe he became a low-level street criminal or a gang leader or ended up in jail. I can’t quite figure it out. What Batman does know is that the boy he meets is using the Joker’s old alias, carries a lot of guns, and looks like he won’t hesitate to use them. None of which is painting a very good picture. This could lead to a cool moment where Bruce, unaware of Jason’s Tragic Backstory™ and fragile truce with his family (Jason is gonna be a lot closer with his siblings in this au), yells at him for this and the others defend him.
Batman probably recognizes Spoiler first. Stephanie would have still gone after her father and created the spoiler persona, even without the inspiration of Robin. However, she wouldn’t have anyone to train her and Batman would be actively discouraging her from going out as Spoiler. That’s not going to stop Steph from being Spoiler but she probably doesn’t operate on a large scale like she does as part of the batfamily. Not only does she have to avoid villains in this universe but also Batman because he doesn’t think she should get involved in vigilante work and tries to stop her when he can. So he sees this version of Steph in a higher tech version of her Spoiler costume and is just so exhausted.
Tim still totally knows who Batman is in this universe. He may not have had Robin to compare to the Grayson’s acrobatics but he would have figured it out somehow. That’s where a lot of the similarities end though. Tim would still live with his parents (who are alive) and never really get involved with Batman directly. He became a vigilante because Batman needed a Robin, but here the role of Robin never existed. Tim probably still takes pictures of Batman and that hero worship never really went away. He’s also still an amazing detective even without any formal training. Bruce knows of Tim but doesn’t figure out how much he knows, or that Red Robin is an alternate version of him.
Bruce also doesn’t know who Cassandra is because he never met her. Her origin stays pretty much the same except she never joins the batfamily. She’d just be out on the streets doing her own thing, on the run from David Cain.
Now with Damian, things get interesting. Another slight change I’d like to make to the universe the batfamily land in is that Damian never left the League of Assasins. Damian has met and fought Batman on a few occasions but Bruse doesn’t know that Damian is his son. Partly because Damian keeps part of his face covered so he can’t see the resemblance. When he meets Robin he has a feeling he’s familiar but can’t quite place it. He realizes this is Talia’s son a little after he recognizes Grayson. Then there’s the really intense exchange of “You’re Damian Al Ghul” “No I’m Damian Wayne!” This is extremely shocking for Bruce because of the realization that he has a son. That son is in the League of Assassins! His mother is Talia al Ghul! He has met said son and didn’t even know it! It sets off all sorts of emotions.
As for the actual story, aside from just the general shenanigans of Bruce interacting with the children of his alternate self and trying to get them home, I was thinking that it would start with the alternate universe’s Tim. In this universe Tim is still a genius detective, he’s just not as good because he doesn’t have the training. So he would start poking around in Gotham and discover a huge conspiracy linked to the Court of Owls and decided to figure out just how powerful they are and how deep the conspiracy runs. Cause investigating an all-powerful organization completely on his own with no training is the type of stuff Tim does Batman or no Batman. He only recently discovered the court and is still investigating it when the batfamily show up so Batman isn’t aware Tim knows about the Court or that he’s been looking into them. The Court finds out about Tim’s investigation and send Talon to kill him. The bat family then have to protect this universe’s Tim from Talon, who is Dick. This causes a lot of angst, drama, and family bonding as the batfamily figure out how this universe is different from theirs. I’d love for the other members of the batfamily to get roped into the story somehow too but I’m not sure how. I feel like this story has a lot of potencail and couldn’t just leave it in my head.
Random Funny Stuff for this au
Dick named a lot of the equipment and stuff Batman uses so in this universe things would probably be named very differently.
Tim: We’ll need to use the bat computer.
Alt Bruce: The what computer?
Tim: You know? The large computer set up in the cave?
Alt Bruce: Yeah but you called it the bat computer.
Tim: Well what do you call it?
Alt Bruce: The computer.
Tim: …..that just feels wrong.
Damian: Yes I know this part of the cave. This is where we keep Batcow.
Alt Bruce: Where you keep what?!
Alt Barbra: My name is Detective Barbra Gordon. Give me one good reason I shouldn’t arrest you all right now.
Jason: Looks like Babs is a Badass in every universe.
Dick: Did you expect any less?
Jason: Honestly? No.
Alt Jim Gordon: *Sees the batfamily* Oh dear god they’re multiplying.
During the Talon fight
Talon: I am the Grey Son of Gotham.
Stephanie: Dick, sweetie, I know you like wordplay but this is low even for you. Get some better material.
Jason: Damn Goldie! When you go dark you don’t fuck around!
Tim: I thought if one of my siblings was going to kill me it’d be Robin. But not you Nightwing, never you.
Dick: I appreciate the attempt at humor but can we please focus.
Alt Bruce: I think my alternate self has a problem with adoption.
Jason: THAT’S WHAT WE KEEP SAYING!!!!
Alt Damian: I heard the bat was working with new warriors but looking at you now I doubt you are even worthy to die by my blade.
*Entire batfamily is silent for a moment before bursting into uncontrollable laughter*
Damian: Do I really sound like that?
Tim: He’s even worse than when the brat first showed up! I didn’t even think that was possible!
UPDATE:
I’ve been thinking a lot about this au and have some more content for it.
On the angst side of things when they figure out what the main event that caused all these differences is Dick has to come to terms with the fact that his universe is better because his parents died. Which hurts a lot and requires a lot of support from his siblings. Again the batfamily is a lot close in this au because I really love their dynamic.
Alt Tim is just fanboying throughout most of this story. He alternated between that and terror. He’s still an amazing detective even without training but he’s reckless. See where he went after a major conspiracy with no backup or training. He still has his hero worship of Batman, which the others find hilarious and slightly sad when they think about how that innocence faded. He completely fanboys over Red Robin and ask an insane amount of questions. For Tim, it’s like looking back on that really embarrassing phase in your life but now it’s both first AND second hand embarrassment. I think Alt Tim would be the one to figure out how to send them home.
Meeting Talon is kind of terrifying for the batfamily because of the emptiness in their older brothers eyes. I think Jason or Tim take it the best. Cass wants to scream because that is not how her brother should be moving. He should be dancing through the air full of joy, not the cold precision she sees in Talon. It hurts her immensely to see that they broke him like that. Steph is deeply unsettled by Talon. He’s to quiet, Dick is never quiet during a fight but Talon has barely said anything since they met and when he does talk she can tell the words aren’t his, not really. Damian takes it the worst. He wouldn’t let Nightwing go for 20 minutes after the fight. And on Talon’s end of things, it gets really crazy. Because everything before the court is pretty fuzzy with only a few clear things. Then he sees a kid in a very familiar color scheme being called Robin. It makes everything really confusing in his head. The guilt Bruce feels after realizing Nightwing is an alternate version of Talon is really strong. Because that’s what talon could have been. Full of life and joy. Before he always felt bad for talon but he was like the other rogues. It sucks what happened but he can’t save him so now he has to stop him. After meeting dick though, now he knows exactly what was destroyed when Talon was created.
It has come to my attention that there is a canon universe where Jason Todd became a priest and that’s too good to pass up. Imagine Alt Jason working at this run down church is one of the worst parts of Gotham trying to help people but like he’s not one of those like super strict priests he’s pretty chill and nice and is accepting of all, plus he has tattoos all over him and he talks about his own wrongdoings and is very open to everyone. In the main universe, Steph and Jason get along really well because they’re both on the ‘screw Batman’ team and exchange high levels of sass with each other. Seriously DC robbed us by not developing their relationship more. In the alternate universe, they’re pretty close too. Alt Jason’s the one helping Alt Steph fight crime as her support because every hero needs support and she doesn’t have the resources she’d have if Batman was helping her. The two met when Alt Steph was really hurt and he found her in a back alley and was like ‘there’s no way I can leave this kid here.’ Since he went to med school he knows how to stitch her up and lets her use the basement as a base. Those 2 meeting there doubled at some point would be crazy. Steph and alt Steph would have a great time with each other. Priest Jason interacting with the Red Hood is peak comedy and literally, none of the bat kids will stop teasing him.
At some point in the story, the league of Assassins gets involved. Alt Damian never left the league and Damian coming face to face with what he could have been is gonna be emotional. Robin has a terrible relationship with his mother but alt Damian probably has a great relationship with Talia. In this universe, Talia killed Ras after he nearly killed Damian for not winning a fight. Alt Damian probably views Robin as weaker than himself even though that’s not true. I’d like for Damian tell to tell alt Damian about how his mother killed him. I’m not sure how it comes up but I want it to. Alt Damian tries to reason that he wasn’t good enough but it sticks with him a lot more than he lets on. Like what if he’s not good enough? Would his mother kill him? Alt Talia is devastated by the information. When she first meets the batfamily she mostly just thinks they’re ridiculous and is quite offended by how they treat her. But after hearing what her double did to Robin she understands why Nightwing stepped in front of his brother with a fierce protectiveness in his eyes when she showed up and it breaks her heart to be considered a valid threat to any version of her son. Alt Talia also realizes that these people aren’t just colleges to Robin, they’re his family and she doesn’t know what to do with that. The batfamily mostly just try to comfort Damian through all this because they know he’s struggling. Although their version of comforting mainly consists of making fun of how dramatic and ridiculous his double is.
Alt Cass had been on the run from her father David Cain and around the start of the story Cain found her somehow and dragged her back to the league. During all the shenanigans with the league, the batfamily finds her. Alt Cass still doesn’t understand speech and is really confused by these strangers who treat her like family after only a few seconds. Black bat acts as an interpreter for alt Cass and tells her they’re here to help her. It’s probably the first time someone else communicated with her in such a clear way. They help her escape. Alt David tries to stop them but Black Bat absolutely destroys him in combat and gets a cool moment standing over him where she says “you are not my family.”
Bonus fluff to go with all those feels:
Another thing that happens in this au is alt Barbra flirts with Nightwing and he has an existential crisis because his girlfriend is hitting on him but she’s not his girlfriend and what does he do? Does he flirt back? Is he allowed to? Does he ignore it? What are the rules here?
Bruce is just in a constant state of panic and confusion during most of this for various reasons. Why are there so many? Why are some of them villains in his world? Why do they listen to Alfred more than him?
When the others get so protective of Jason he’s a little stunned because he knows his relationship with them is better but WOW.
Damian flips out at his double when he realises he’s not a vegetarian.
Alt Bruce: how did I even meet you?
Jason: I stole the tires off the batmobile.
Alt Bruce: wait you’re that kid?!?
Steph: I once slapped Batman.
Alt Steph: You’re my hero.
Feel free to add stuff!
@angie-leena told you there’d be more
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