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[aerofae]

Batman - The Irregulars: Prologue, BCE (Before Current Earth) ||ROUGH DRAFT/CONCEPT||

TW: Consider this a light version of splatterpunk (and I do mean LIGHT... though this concept intro isn't bad at all). Violence, violence against Robins, death, implications of death, Joker Junior... Concept for a fic I've been brewing. Possibly a project I'll post??? Collecting intel on interest lol

Too old. Too independent. Too clever.

Bruce—or the being that was once known as Bruce—should have known better. Tim was the one he always knew would out grow and out smart them all. The one that would all have been working for one day--in another life time of course. Bruce thought he has learned his lesson from the first Tim he collected. Too just and stubborn to break from his training as Robin. Bruce disposed of him after just a month by slitting his throat and feeding his body to the Crows. Then it was back to the drawing board.

He needed the sharp mind, but with a broken spirit. A Tim willing to bend the rules of his training.

Admittedly, a harder task than Bruce had thought it would be. In the world of Robins, Tim was always the most loyal in his training. The one that always stuck to his word. He could break one on his own, and for a short while Bruce considered this option (as time consuming as it was). But through his scanning of the various else worlds he just so happened to stumble upon what—at the time—seemed to be the perfect, prepackaged soldier.

This Tim has a story similar to his own (call him sentimental). Once an ambitious hero of Gotham, but then plagued with the all too familiar curse of one bad day. He had been captures by the clowns. Tortured, manipulated, and molded into the perfect heir to the Clown Prince of Gotham. Where Bruce had gone wrong in this selection—he now knew—was that Tim knew he was and who he was supposed to be. As suppressed as the Joker tried to make his memories as a Bat, the boy always seemed to gravitate toward them. Once the first crack formed, Joker Junior and Tim Drake began an internal battle of mind, body, and morals. Cackling before Bruce now was the compromise. A perfect mixture of Robin ingrained righteousness and justice, mixed with the chaos induced by the Joker's torture and manipulation. A pity really. Had Bruce caught this sooner, he could have molded the boy further to his liking. But now...

“Dick, finish him.” Bruce commanded as he turned his back to the downed, traitorous solider. “And be sure that the crows eat.”

Howls of excitement rose from the goblin-like creatures at his feet. Bruce paid no mind to them. None to his eldest either, who silently stepped forward as he drew the Talon's blade from his side. Bruce did, however, take pause as he stepped beside his second eldest. Jason was pale, frozen in both fear and anguish. Just as the previous Jason and Tim had grown close, so had these two. The pity Bruce felt was not for Jason's impending loss, but rather for loss of the duo he could have had to complete his mission. Bruce's pale, gnarled hand reached out to lay atop Jason's shoulder in a feign act of compassion. “Don't worry, Jaybird. We'll find you a new brother.”

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Meet the Irregulars

The Bat Who Laughs: A collector you'd dare to call sentimental. A former man in search of the family the Joker had destroyed through the Bat's own hands.

Dick: He had watched his parents fall to their deaths, but was whisked away by William Cobb before Batman could make his appearance on scene. Trained and branded to become the next Talon, he never had the outlet of Robin and sought revenge over justice. Don't ask him how long he's been with the BWL, just know that it's been too long and he's seen too much—done too much. He's lost track of time anyway. He assumes he's around the age of sixteen or seventeen (give or take).

Jason: Unlike Dick, Jason had his run at being the Boy Wonder. Sure he and his Batman butted heads, but no duo was perfect. Where Jason's path diverged from the well known tale of the hunt for his mother is that while he had still been kidnapped and tortured by the Joker, his Bruce did show up in time to save him—but not himself. The details are still fuzzy (suppressed probably), but when the smoke cleared from the wreckage he was horrified to see that Batman had taken his place. Then, from the pits of Hell itself, came the BWL who promised him vengeance against the Joker (but he never live up to his end). Age: Fourteen

BCE (Before Current Earth) Tim: The stubborn fanboy turned Robin whose brilliant mind met the sharp end of an ice pick (metaphorically speaking). Similar to Jason, Tim was kidnapped and tortured by the Joker. Rather than being killed, he was shaped and molded to become the Joker's successor. Plans have a way of going south though. Encountering his family on the streets brought back his memories. Fighting against them with the BWL drove him to try to break free, but no one leaves the family willingly. Age: Fourteen (too close to Jason as the BWL learned)

CE (Current Earth) Tim: The BWL's new Joker Junior. Younger, smaller, and freshly pulled from the acid bath that bleached his skin white and turned his hair green. His skin stills burns and his extended smile cracks from the constant itch and urge to scratch. His last memory from his own timeline is watching his own Bruce's body falling into the same vat he himself had been pushed into shortly before. His mind can't catch up to where he is and what he's doing, so he follows Jason aimlessly (or so it seems). Age: Eleven, going on twelve

Damian: The youngest, the innocent. This always confused Dick. The rest of them had been carefully picked to be soldiers in this strange war the BWL insisted on waging—but why leave Damian out of it? BCE Tim had theories, some outlandish, some Dick was more inclined to believe, but none solidified. More of an adorable pet than a son, Damian was pampered and his hands were clean. But his worries were for the rotating cast of his brothers he had seen throughout his short life. Dick and the BWL were his only constants. Age: Six

Bruce (the good one): Dick Grayson had died with his parents that night at the circus. The body of a young John Doe found in Crime Alley was identified as Jason Todd who had been at the wrong place at the wrong time during a turf war between the Penguin and Falcone. Tim Drake had pleaded with his parents to go with them overseas and was poisoned along side his mother, leaving Jack Drake to plummet into an irreversible depression. Damian Wayne—didn't exist. Yet he and Alfred found all four of these poor boys practically at their doorstep. He had never thought about being a father, but he would be damned if these boys suffered anymore than they've had.

Barbara: The one and only (to Bruce's distaste) sidekick to the Bat. Stubborn and bright, Barbara had refused to back down from his position as the unofficial Batgirl, even at the threat of Bruce telling her father. After thoroughly convincing Bruce that no matter what he said or did, she would sneak out again and again to fight at his side, Bruce caved and began to train her. If she was so insistent, she should at least know how to defend herself properly. Secretly, Bruce appreciates her company.

Alfred: … Alfred :)