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Briar Ruth Wayne was a murderer.
She knew that Park Row was possibly the worst place to be, she KNOWS Gotham is dangerous, but she also knew that…Batman didn’t have parents.
Martha had exchanged a worried look with her husband but they acquiesced to their daughter’s wishes, still high on the excitement of the night.
Briar wasn’t afraid of it until the gun was in her face. Martha threw her pearls at the guy, and Thomas tossed his ring even farther. Before the man turned, he shot both of them.
“Go home kid.” He had grunted, starting down the alley. She watched him carefully, and then launched herself after him, wresting the gun from his grip to knock him over the head. He fell forward, jewelry spilling from his hands. Briar snatched up her parents' things, and returned to their sides.
It wasn’t a pretty sight.
Martha was gasping for air, blood soaking the top of the pretty black dress she wore. Thomas clutched at his chest, red blooming on the white. Both looked up when she came to check on them.
Martha stepped forward to hug her daughter, giving a kiss to her forehead, taking the pearls from clutched hands to wrap around a neck far too small for them. Briar helped her mother over to her father, who had settled against the wall to watch them. They sat against the cool brick together.
Thomas grabbed at Briar’s hands. “We know.” He coughed wetly. “We know, Briar. This was always meant to happen. In…in the manor, there’s things set up…for you…”
Briars eyes widened. She turned to look at her father. “Does Alfred…” she trailed off.
Martha shook her head slightly, blood still pouring out at a concerning pace.
“No, no one aside from us know that you will be Batman. We all know that this is fatal. There’s not many universes where it doesn’t happen. We tried.” Thomas said, coughing again.
Martha wrapped her daughter in a hug, layering her scalp with bloody kisses.
Briar decided she didn’t want to know anymore. If they were anything like her, they would have left a letter of explanation for everything. Thomas fell silent as well, struggling to breath.
Her father was the first to go still and start cooling. Briar settled more deeply into his side, trying to stave off the cold of the night as her mother began failing as well. She slipped the ring from Thomas onto her own finger.
Sleep carried her like death was in its heels.
———————————-////
Gotham was never the same after the death of the Wayne couple. All the advancements in WE stopped in their tracks, the board slowly became corrupt again, and it seemed like everywhere you turned, disaster was right around the corner.
Briar was going to change that.
After many years of disappointing Alfred, jumping from class to class, and then disappearing off the map completely, Briar had finished her training. She was determined to save Gotham from itself. By being the only person willing to help out the “Hell of America”.
Metropolis has had Superman since she was seventeen. Star City had the Green Arrow since she was eighteen. Wonder Woman had finally started to pull herself from whatever funk she was in and began helping around DC when she was nineteen.
She’s been doing this longer than they have, by a mile. If her future kids started hunting down criminals at twelve, then so could she.
Alfred didn’t try to stop her. He learned a long time ago that Briar was just as obstinate as her parents had been.
Her first day back in Gotham was in the spotlight. Not a moment of her day went by that wasn’t recorded by the horde of reporters. Which was fine by her, she knew how to use them to her advantage. All they caught was Briar, princess of Gotham, doing volunteer work.
And also visiting old friends like Harleen Quinzel who had taken a sabbatical from her job at Arkham Asylum, Harvey Dent who starting his two fixation after a corrupt psychologist used him for an experiment, and others she knew might be tempted to crime.
She restarted her parents programs, did heavy lifting cleaning out the corruption in each division of WE and started throwing money into every thing she found.
And then that night, she booted the Bat Computer up in the Bat Cave for the first time.
Briar hadn’t been idle during her schooling or training. She actively sought out cases to take on and solved them, starting the rumors of a vigilante all over the world. Briar also brought back trophies, and realized that the BatCave resembled what she remembered of it.
“Welcome home, Miss.” Alfred said from the top of the stairs.
“It’s good to be back.” Briar whirled around, grinning excitedly. Her suit was ready to go, courtesy of her parents. They had saved all their advancements for her, designing her simple suit and cape into a high tech machine. It replicated an actual bat design, and padded her enough until she looked like a man and sort of waddled.
Briar missed them. Alfred did too, by the way his eyes searched hers.
“Gotham’s waiting.” He finally said.
Briar pulled on her cowl and so began Batman.
——————————/////////////———————
She almost didn’t believe that this was working out so well.
“Hello, Commissioner.” Briar growled from the shadows.
“Saint Mary-“ Commissioner Gordon dropped his cigarette in fright. She almost laughed. He sighed, handing her a stack of files. “Here’s all our new information and some older cases you requested. Though I don’t know why you didn’t just get them yourself…” He muttered.
Briar grabbed the files. “It’s a trust thing, Commissioner. Goodnight.” She disappeared back into the shadows.
As Briar looked through the files, her mind wandered to the timeline of this world. So far, she had done everything pretty much right, but she forgot what exactly came next. Dick Grayson or the Justice League?
A beep on her comm brought her out of her thoughts.
“Batman, there’s a threat.”
“Oh?” She stopped.
“Worldwide level. It appears to be an…invasion. And we are losing quite badly.”
Ah, Justice League first then.
“Gimme the coordinates. I’ll fly there and give them a hand.”
From the live feed on Briar’s phone, it was many vigilante’s beginning to work together to defeat some Aliens. People she recognized, like Wonder Woman, Hawkwoman, Superman, the Flash, etc.
For all their powers, they weren’t making much of a dent in the number of ships in the air. Why was that?
Her mind raced. Briar typed frantically on her suit’s armband, hacking slowly but steadily into the invader’s ship.
This wasn’t alien. This was human tech, with a couple Martians onboard.
Martian Manhunter, Briar realized.
She hit the command to disable a few waves of drones. It worked, but it also got her attention. Briar didn’t want that yet. She landed the BatJet far from the battle and jogged to the fight.
No one noticed her. Good.
The main ship was on the ground, the jets holding it up were broken. Briar blessed Clark and his good luck. She went inside.
The Martians were not prepared for combat. They were easily taken out with a punch to the noggin or a nerve strike. The deeper she went, the more alien the ship looked, until she came to the heart of the ship.
There he was. J’onn was hooked up to a bunch of machines, breathing heavily as they pulsed. He looked at her when she came in, and immediately she felt his thoughts.
He relaxed. She tensed.
“Do not tell anyone of what you know about me.”
“I won’t. I know you’re doing this for our good, Batman.” He rasped. Briar broke the machines holding him. He slumped into her hold, and she began the long walk outside.
The rest of them were slowly coming to a stop, noticing the fighters dropping now that their power source was gone.
Superman was waiting for them when they stumbled out.
“Who are you?” He asked.
“J’onn J’onzz. I was the one who called you all here. This is Batman.”
Briar decided that she had enough interaction today. She gently shoved J’onn to Clark.
“He’s pretty much fine, just mentally hurt and tired. I’m going home. Goodbye.”
Flash sputtered. “Wait-are you-what?”
She didn’t answer, pretending she was too far away and leapt into the air to glide to where she put the jet.
—————————————————-///////—
Briar knew that she should probably join the Justice League, but something wasn’t adding up for her.
Something fundamentally wrong, and Gotham wouldn’t even let her leave. All she could do was wait for the threat to show itself and throw the well-meaning heros out of Gotham.
The old Rogues were starting to be replaced with what she remembered as the current Rogue Gallery. The Mob was in the process of being overthrown by the Penguin, and there was a radical woman starting to take more and more drastic measures to conserve the greenery of Gotham.
She sighed, adjusting her chair. Alfred appeared at her side.
“Tea, miss?” He offered a cup.
“Thanks Alfred.” Briar took it, sipping gratefully. “I just…I feel like I’m stuck. Things feel like they’re supposed to be happening, but I don’t know what. And Gotham won’t let me leave to find it!” She glared at the ceiling. The cave shook indignantly. Briar was pretty sure Gotham itself wasn’t supposed to be sentient, or magical in anyway, but it sure did seem to work in her favor.
“Maybe you should take this time to relax. I head that there’s a circus performing in Bludhaven tonight.”
Briar froze. “Really? I suppose you might be right…And it would be a good early birthday present to myself…” She said, feigning thinking about it.
Circus! Haley’s Circus! Dick!
“I’ll grab your coat.” Alfred began back up the stairs.
She watched him leave, and then freaked out.
———————————————————-/////—
Briar fingered the Gotham stone in her pocket, watching Dick Grayson greet the children at the show, the Grayson Couple chatting with adult fans. He swept a very young boy into a hug.
She winced. That must be Tim Drake, a future son of hers, but possibly her favorite. He was supposedly just like her. She should possibly speed up his adoption…
Briar watched the Graysons begin their act, and then she watched them fall, down… down…
She didn’t watch them, turning her focus to Dick.
Screams filled the tent. Police were called, and paramedics tried their best, but the Graysons were dead.
Dick looked so small under their lights.
“I’ll take him as my ward.” Briar interrupted a medic and Haley. The ringmaster looked relieved, obviously not wanting to take care of a child. He walked over to introduce her.
Dick said nothing, just stared at the floor. Briar knelt, ignoring state of the tent and how the ground squished uncomfortably to make some sort of eye contact.
“My parents died on my eighth birthday. I always thought that I could have done something to prevent it, and I’ve never forgotten my grief. Will you allow me to care for you and your grief?”
Dick gave her a slow nod. That was all she needed. She scooped him up and walked as fast as she could to her car.
She knew the Owls would revolt in some way, knowing that they thought she was an innocent bystander.
Bringing Dick home didn’t change much. At first.
He was quiet and solemn, but within the month he had discovered the BatCave and what Briar knew of his parents murder. He turned viscious and so, so angry.
It was all Briar could do to at least train him, make him wear warning colors, help him grieve like she did. His wings were a birds, and he declared himself Robin.
Criminals hated him, and it gave Dick something more to live for. When Zucco threw himself off the building, Briar was prepared to comfort or talk him out of doing something drastic.
Dick looked at her strangely.
“It…it was a long time coming, Mom.” He said, shrugging.
Briar indulged her need for physical contact, much to her Dickie Birds delight. He laughed elated giggles as she kissed his forehead.
“I’m proud of you, son.”
————————————-////////////——————
Gotham let them out after that. Dick clung to the inside of her cape, and they took the codes that Wonder Woman had given them to Zeta into the currently-under-construction Hall of Justice. (“The Pretty Lady” Dick called her, and Briar agreed wholeheartedly.)
To her dismay, no one else was there. Dick reminded her that not everyone could work at all hours.
So they snooped.
Their files on villains? Bare.
Plans for invasions? Nothing.
Even a tax report? Zilch!
Dick wouldn’t stop laughing at her when she found herself filing paperwork and creating new software to safely store them. And bought new construction crew because the one they had was embezzling money.
——————////———
Diana was prepared for another day of arguing architectural plans with the head of construction.
She was not prepared for a rarely seen vigilante to be making coffee and chatting about failsafes with a brightly colored child.
Batman quietly handed her a cup of the darkest coffee she’d ever seen and offered a seat.
“You’re entire operation is about to go down the drain.” He said. The child giggled, eating another cookie. “I’m offering my help to bring the Justice League to its feet.”
Diana blinked. “I'm gonna need a little more than that, Batman.”
He sighed. “Go call your people together. I’ll wait. Robin, I'm sending you back to Agent A.” He said, standing from the table to walk to the zeta tubes, wings twitching.
The child protested. “But B-“
Diana ignored them, pulling the phone out of her pocket to text everyone to meet up immediately. Something must have happened for Batman to have finally responded to their letters.
————————————-////
Briar layer into the entire Justice League. She pointed out every mistake, every flaw that could and would be taken advantage of, and then proposed what was actually feasible. If someone tried to protest, she would snap out their civilian identity and that was enough to get them to shut up.
When she was done, many looked shell shocked.
Superman spoke first. “Thank you, Batman, for offering your help. I appreciate it.”
“Not a problem. I had things to take care of in Gotham, so I couldn’t be here sooner.” She said.
“Wait, so is Batman one of the founders now?” Flash asked. “Cuz, I don’t really want that responsibility-“
“I’ll help to fund the Justice League. And fix everything else, since it seems that no one knows how to organize a meeting.”
“And just how will you do that?” Oliver accused. “Is your civilian identity a millionaire?”
“No,” She grunted, ignoring the mental kick Gotham gave her. “Briar Wayne is big on humanitarianism, but has been blocked on all legal fronts from helping Gotham more. If she does, Gotham will have to crown her the Queen and secede from the US, and however much the government doesn’t like Gotham, it does bring in revenue. She’ll be glad to have more things to sink her money into.”
Oliver blinked stupidly, trying to connect his old friend to this sudden new information. “Bri-Bri? She’s your sponsor?”
“..No.” she said. “I make everything myself. I just know Briar.”
She ends the conversation there by typing harshly on the computer, and suddenly there’s construction workers gently moving the hero’s out of the building.
In no time at all, the Hall of Justice stands proudly open.
Briar takes a second to admire it before buying an aeronautical company and beginning the WatchTower.
They would learn about it when they were ready.
—————————————-///////////—————
Briar got up from where she was playing iPad games with little Timmy Drake. She desperately needed some air after smelling someone with Talia's purfume.
Talia took her by surprise, cornering her at a public gala. She was as gorgeous as always, and by the way she was looking at Briar, the feeling was mutual.
“I have a warning. My father…wants to make Batman his heir. He-“
Briar held up a hand. “I’m not a complete idiot, Talia. I know you’re making and raising a son. His name is Damian, and when he is shown to be like me, you’ll send him to me to stage a coup against your father. It’s alright.”
Talia stumbled back, shock written all over her face. “It-its still in the process since both of us are female, but…well, you really are a detective. A word of advice, keep those shiny new friends of yours close.” Talia retreated back to the edges of high society, leaving Briar to think. Dick, decked out in his newly tailored suit (because teenagers grew more than she thought), bounded up to her.
“Who was that, Mom?”
“An ex. We might see more of her. Her name is Talia, and she helped train me.” She replied. She didn’t see Dick’s eyes narrow, watching the retreating woman with a considering look.
He touched the Gotham stone, sending his thought to Briar. She smiled, feeling his boundless energy on the edge of her awareness, and the second energy from Barbara Gordon.
Briar didn’t want to bring the girl into the vigilante life, but her father had caught her hacking into too many important case files. It was either be better, or be caught.
Gotham accepted Oriole, and Dick treated her with suspicion at first. And then they worked together to prank Briar, and she knew it was all over.
Briar showed her Gothams secrets (not all of them, Gotham hadn’t even shown Briar all of them) and how to use them to her advantage. Magic was no stranger to Gotham, especially with how cursed it was.
That was why Briar did all the work she did. Everytime she went out in public, she worked slowly at lessening the curses layered around like the smog that covered the skyline. They were wrapped around buildings, the harbor, and even the people.
She had a lot of work cut for her.
———————————-///////———————
Briar was expecting Dick to move out, but in a fit of rebellion, he’d done it swiftly and suddenly. He thought she thought him incapable of taking care of himself, which was not the problem.
Dick was her baby boy! Of course she fussed over him!
She sighed, turning off the Batmobile to step out and visit the site of her parents death. As soon as she did, Briar was hit on the head with a heavy object.
“Move it, you big boob!” A small voice darted past her, which she caught easily. Older voices stopped behind them before screaming that the Bat was already there and to leave this whole thing be.
Jason Todd wiggled in her grip.
Her second son.
She couldn’t help but giggle. He stopped wiggling to turn and stare at her, finally realizing who had caught him.
“Would you like to stay with me?” Briar offered.
———————————///////——
Dick felt a little bad about leaving so abruptly and so early, he was already planning to visit her. The text that told him that he now had a new little brother.
That empty nest syndrome Barbara was talking about must have hit Mom really hard.
The new brother, Jason, was a thin wisp of a kid. The same age that Briar had picked him up, but he was tinier.
“Sooooooo….” Dick Grayson began, idea beginning to form. Mom must have already been lonely on patrol, why not just push a few things together? “What’s your opinion on Robin and Oriole?”
Jason looked up from where he was shoveling food in his mouth. “Uh, they’re magic!”
Dick choked.
Jason continued, like he just hadn’t hit the nail on the head. “No one has pictures of them, but people talk. They saved a lot of my…gang…and they-“
Dick needed a moment to breath. He laughed, long and hard, proclaiming that Jason had passed a test and asked if he’d like to learn tricks from the circus. Jason hesitantly agreed.
Barbara rolled her eyes when Dick told her his plan that night. “But if you have an apprentice, I need one too!” She protested.
“You’ll have time. Rome wasn’t-“
“Built in a day, ugh, B has rubbed off on you.”
Within 6 months, Babs found her own apprentice.
Cassandra Cain.
She made up articles about Briar Wayne’s first adopted daughter, and released them to the press. Briar just accepted it.
And really, Cass was a sweet kid. Had a wicked sense of humor too, she sensed it would be a pattern in her children.
Dick and Barbara officially gave their mantles on a random Thursday, about a month before Dick would turn 18.
Dick donned black and blue wings and dove into Bludhaven. Babs had purple white wings that were delicate as butterfly wings, and worked between Gotham and Bludhaven.
Jason kept breaking his wings, more prone to punching people with them than Dick or Briar were. Cassandra designed her wing to be even thinner, like a ghosts tail.
They took to the streets of Gotham with rampant enthusiasm. The Rogues were beginning to appreciate the new additions, they kept things interesting. Regular thugs remembered why they were afraid of Robin and Oriole in the first place.
And then Joker, who had begun to escalate crimes after turning Harleen into his crazy girlfriend during Dicks time as Robin, killed Jason.
He did it on a live stream, bomb in full view. She didn’t know when he had gotten his hands on Jason, just that there was magic involved.
Briar screamed. Jason was only 13, not even the age where he learned he had a different birth mother, he had only been Robin for a year, 7 months, 2 days.
This wasn’t fair!
Itwasn’tfairitwasntfairitwasntfair itwasntfairitwasntfair itwasntfair-
She got there before the bomb went off, guided by Gothams warnings. But it was too late. Blood loss claimed Jason before fire had its chance.
Briar knew what she had to do.
——————/////—————-/////—————/——
Jason came back to her a year later, more angry, more built, more…everything.
Briar had missed a lot. But, Jason hugged her at the first opportunity, thanking her for not giving up on him and getting there in time.
She supposed that he didn’t know what she really had to do.
Cassandra might’ve known. But she never said anything.
Gotham was rocked by the reappearance of Robin and Oriole at the same time. They had gotten used to one or the other in Jason’s absence.
Briar told him of everything that had happened while he was away, that Nightwing was now apart of a subsection of the Justice League, and Oracle was now their eyes after the Joker had gotten to her in Briar’s absence. Harleen had stayed in the Manor for a few weeks, recovering from the Joker’s abuse before disappearing into a government facility one day. Poison Ivy had a whole section of Gotham now, Scarecrow had developed 9 new fear gases, Killer Croc was flipping between ally and foe, and the Joker…the Joker had been in a coma for a while, and not by Batman’s doing.
Apparently, Arkham had deemed him dangerous enough to be kept under sedated supervision. It just so happened that the medication was a bit too strong and no one bothered to change it.
Thanks, Gotham.
——————————————-/////———-
Jason had been teaching someone else to be Robin right under Briar’s nose. He had even outfitted the boy in custom wings before presenting them both to her.
“This is Tim Drake. His parents are evil, he’s a stalker and knows us already. He’s also the new Robin.” Jason proclaimed. Tim shrunk under her gaze, but didn’t protest.
“Why?” She asked.
“Batman needs a Robin. And Jason is…not Robin anymore.”
Jason nodded, showing off his new wings. “I’m Phoenix. Fitting, right? And don’t worry mom,” he had caught the look she’d given. “I’m going to college and staying here, so I won’t end up a stripper like Dickie Bird.”
“I’m a cop!” Dick protested.
Jason snorted. “Not in those pants you’re not.”
—————————/////——————-////——-
The Justice League was quickly expanding into intergalactic territories after they realized the WatchTower had been built. Then they had a multitude of Green Lanterns “test” them, and that nearly took out the League if Briar had not planned for this.
She had called for back up, and Constantine and her kids came in blazing.
Constantine was doing much better since she found him in that London gutter like a naked sewer rat. He likes lollipops nowadays.
They gassed the Lanterns and Constantine magicked their intentions out of them. Briar was right not to trust them, because they were Red Lanterns with an illusion spell.
The other Leaguers confusedly welcomed the new addition before Briar had a chance to explain that had any of them fully read the mission reports, they would know about Justice League Dark.
Oh well.
Flash pulled her aside as they decompressed.
“I have a girl and a woman in Star City asking for Batman. I know that you know about that government villain task force the Amanda Waller runs, and the attacks close to Star City-“
“I’ll be there.” She assured.
Barry breathed a sigh of relief. “Good, because I don’t know how else we can contain them.”
——————:://—————/////———————
Briar had another daughter on her hands and an old friend staying in her manor.
Ace was a meta, a powerful one at that. Tim took one look at her and declared that he was Oriole now and Ace can be Robin.
Tim insisted it was because with her telekinesis, she could better buffer the rumors of Robin being a ghost. Ace agreed.
Casandra, now freed of Oriole, set to making her own wings. She emerged as Shangyeng, and started her own portion of the international Justice League.
Batman, Oriole, and Robin returned to the streets.
————————-/////////————————//////—-
It…may…have occurred to Briar that she never told the Justice League her identity. Or that she wasn’t really metahuman, just skirting the line of hedge witch.
They’ll be fine, they don’t really need to know…
————————////——-////////////———————
There are memes all over Gotham of Oriole and Robin visiting a homeless shelter to help make food. Batman accompanied them, and many people snapped photos of the increasingly distressed face with every small child added to his arms. They oldest were toddlers playing hide and seek, the youngest was bundled in a Batblanket and held in the most stiff arms they ever saw. A girl in a purple suit came up beside Batman and started adding more children to the pile.
Hal Jordan tried to bring it up at the next meeting, but all his efforts only got a BatGlare and his photo storage deleted.
—————/////———————////—————//
Stephanie Brown has somehow finagled her way into the manor without being adopted yet.
She doesn’t quite remember how it happened…But she did suggest bringing in her friend Duke sometime. Who was a foster kid. And a meta.
Briar listened at least.
————//////————-//////—————————
There was another invasion, but that was the least of Briar’s worries. They had a device that would mess with time.
She did not need that emotional wreckage on Dick. She didn’t even have the rest of her kids yet.
The League had only seen Batman on missions a few times, but they had never seen him go all out. As he was dodging and giving punches, he was also typing in codes to a USB and managed to disable the time device. It let out one final blast as Giovani Zatara tried to help with a percussive blast of magic.
Briar snapped awake.
Gotham churred questioningly.
“I don’t age,” she said dumbly. “And neither do my children. Do we?”
Gotham gave the equivalent of a shrug and so-so gesture.
Briar got out of bed to snap a picture of herself and compare it to when she had first adopted Dick.
Virtually everything was the same. She did the same with Alfred, Dick, then Jason, then Tim, and Ace and Cass…
—————-////——————////———————-
The list Briar made was nearly complete. Nearly all her kids were legally hers, Giovanni Zatara was not Dr.Fate, the Justice League was thriving, ans WE was steady and still on watch by the IRS.
So of course that’s when the Earthquake hit.
It ripped Gotham from the mainland, widening their river, flooding the docks. People panicked, and Briar and Batman were out at nearly all hours of the day providing food and shelter. Briar threw caution to the wind and started buying everything Gotham needed.
They saw a US ship outside the harbor 10 days after the Earthquake.
They laid bombs.
Briar warned Penguin and Killer Croc, who quickly overtook the socks and scared civilians away. Bludhaven was the only city to reach out and build bridges back to the mainland.
Dick and Briar worked tirelessly to try and restore Gotham and Bludhaven.
It took far less than expected, only about a year, but she ended up adopting Duke Thomas and welcoming her biological son into her home.
Everyone had flipped out, demanding to know the whys and how’s that Damian had happened, but she didn’t budge on not telling them. Briar was a good parent, and good parents don’t burden their kids with past decisions.
Damian had wanted to be Robin, wanted to cut Tim down for daring to be in the boots. Briar did not let that fly.
She sat Damian down and tried to have an honest discussion with him. It sort of worked, because now he thought that he had to earn Robin. It was difficult to explain, but it got him dirtying his hands with Gothams clean up.
Harleen and Pamela had finally gotten together, helping Gotham get enough food to sustain themselves.
The Justice League only reached out a few times, and Briar didn’t blame them. There were far bigger things happening all over the country. The Titans were dealing with alien and demon princesses, there was a giant chasm in Illinois, and a new superhero popping up around the country, etc, etc.
She supposed she could always take in Billy Batson, if it came down to it. No one would mind.
There was also a new theif, using the chaos to steal valuable artifacts. Catwoman, Briar presumed it to be.
————————————//////————///////——
Billy Batson did join their family, and was just as surprised as they had all been when Briar revealed herself.
————-////———-////———/////—-///-////////—
“Batman, we’ve known each other for quite a while,” Hal Jordan began.
Briar resisted the urge to groan. It’s always Hal.
“You know our identities, but we don’t know yours.” Hal accused, pointing at Briar.
“You don’t know. I’ve told many people separately, Hal.” She said, not bothering to look up from her work. She had, her kids counted.
Hal had almost spilled Superman’s identity last month under truth serum. There was no way she would tell anyone about her identity until all her children left the nest. Maybe.
———————///////——————-/////———
Clark Kent, Superman and survivor of a genocide, saw the Cadmus clones as a breach of personal rights, immediately distrusting the children created from the labs.
Briar Wayne, with no uterus and a penchant for adoption, also saw them as a breach of rights but she also knew that they were kids.
She offered Kon-El a place to stay.
Tim offered the same, and whisked him away to a new city close to Gotham, but far from Superman. He nervously admitted that Conner was cute, and he would probably need friends to survive. Like a time traveling speedster or Diana’s apprentice.
She let Tim shed his wings into Strix. Damian proudly took up the mantle of Robin when Tim handed it to him.
—————-//////—————-////////——————-
Catwoman was the WRONG title for this person. They may have boobs on the suit, but they laughed loudly whenever someone said their name.
Batman tried to stop them before realizing the Catwoman was just returning objects to their rightful countries. She often met up with them for cafe talks (not dates) on rooftops.
They admitted that they identified as a man, but he had gotten the idea from Briar herself.
“No person born as a man gets a period. Or at least, that’s what I know.” He had said. “Care for me to lap that blood up?”
Briar fell off the roof.
———————-////————///////——————
This universe might not seem so bad, but there was a lot that went unrecorded, such as the-
Error.
Try Again…Error.
Perfection Protocol overrule HonestSoftWare.
Welcome, BatMan.
Briar stared at the screen.
“Baaaaaaaaaaabbbbbbs!” She yelled. “How do I fix the computer?”
Tim sipped his coffee, typing his own accounts, turning to look at the Cave wall to speak with Gotham.
“World's Greatest Detective, everybody.”