Hello! I am posting this to spite Robbie! No BT this week, I'm afraid! I'm joking, we'll still have BT, on Sunday, or, possibly Monday, my schedule is funky.

Jason: Ha-ha Robbie!

Maria: In this chapter, we have...

Dick: Birthdays!

Maria: Bonding!

Jason: Screwing with Bruce's head!

Me: Possible Daddy!Bats slight fluff, Mommy!Cats for sure.

Dick: We have a warning in this chapter

Maria: Scenes with mentions of child (sexual) abuse

Jason: Don't worry, the children will he alright.

Dick: The setting, and everyone,

Maria: Except me!

Jason: Is property of DC comics.

Me: They are right, but, can I get it as a gift for the 4th of July? No? Okay. Enjoy my slightly fluffy chapter.

Last setting: June 23rd, New setting: July 24th.

Timeframe and Information: The Red Hood is an active vigilante, and he kills people. The Red Blade is also active, can be seen with Nightwing, does not kill but uses swords, knives and low-level acrobatics. Just thought I'd give you some background info :)

Maria's POV

I spot a movement in the shadows of the alleyway below. Most people wouldn't see it, but, I've been trained to see these things.

"Nightwing," I call to be unofficial brother. "I found the target, just entered the building." I relay the info to Blüdhaven's Bird over my comm link.

"Roger that, head in, don't engage Blade, I repeat, do not engage." Dick orders me over the comm.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I'll be in the rafters." I state, rolling my eyes as I make my way over to the nearest window. I climb in and, dang, it reeks of blood, beer and smoke, not a very good sign. I look around, in the main portion of the warehouse is a group of thugs, and somewhere, the head honcho. But, I look in the corners of the too, and, there, in the very far corner, I see some bars.

"Nightwing, I see some sort of cage in one of the corners, I'm going to investigate, I'll be careful and I won't engage." I say over the comm as I move swiftly through the rafters.

"Roger that, eta two minutes, how many thugs?" Wing asks.

"Over twenty from what I can see, more somewhere else, no doubt." I reply as I drop from the rafters to a few large crates near the cage. I finally am able to get to the cage, I peer in to see... Children. I swallow my disgust and my urge to go and pummel the thugs. Instead, I move to the bars and whisper.

"Kids, kids, can you hear me?" I ask. I'm close enough to see their nods, and the fact that they are barely clothed. "Kids, I'm going to help you get out of here, I need an older kid to carry a younger one, if you can." They nod and I can see them move quietly towards each other. I look and see some thin blankets near the crates. I look at the kids through the dim lighting, several older kids, people my age, it seems have kids as little as toddlers in their arms.

"Okay, take these blankets, for the ones that are younger and stand back." I whispered, grabbing a blade from my belt and sticking it between the door and another bar of the cage, slicing through the lock. I open the cage, which squeaks. "Dang it," I whispered. "Go, go, get out of here, there's a door on the left, twenty feet away, go, go!" I tell the kids as some of the thugs start coming towards me. Thankfully, the kids get away, then, unfortunately, I get surrounded by thugs. Fortunately, Nightwing has great timing and crashed through the ceiling. We started pounding on thugs and soon, all of them are unconscious and have ninja stars in their shirts, pinning them to the wall. I leave a note for the Blüdhaven PD saying 'Human Trafficking and child abuse/rape'. I received that evidence from a few of the victims, I swear, if I didn't kill, all of these men would have ninja stars in their heads, not their shirts.

In Blüdhaven, the next morning, same POV

Jason and I are in the park, eating cake and pizza, celebrating his birthday, mine is the 30th. He turned sixteen at 3:45 am this morning, I only know this because that's when he got up this morning.

"Okay, let me see, do you still sleep with your socks on?" I ask, we're playing 20 questions.

"Nope," he said. I am seriously shocked, when I was still with him, mom, and dad, Jay wouldn't go to sleep unless he has his socks on. "I grew out of that phase." He says.

"Bloody telepath," I mutter as he chuckles.

"Okay, my turn, did you know anything about home while you were... MIA." He asks.

"Nothing." I state, then, seeing him nod, "Why?" I ask.

"Later, I gotta go, meeting up with some friends, but, give this note to Dick, I'll be the best birthday present ever if you guys go through with it." Jason says, handing me a piece of paper and smirking.

"Okay then, bye Jay." I say, giving him a hug.

"See ya later, Mar" he says, returning the hug.

An hour later, Wayne Manor...

"You ready, Maria?" Dick asks me, looking down at me, I gulp slightly and nod, putting on a smile. "Good." He says and he knocks on the oak doors that loom in front of me.

"Hello Master Richard, who might this be?" An elderly british male asks me.

"Hi, I'm Maria, Maria Todd" I state nervously. "I-I just arrived in Gotham recently and I met Dick. He told me wh-what happened." I say, choking back actual tears, I haven't talked about Jason's death, at all.

"Why don't you come in and we can speak with Master Bruce?" The man suggested. "By the way, I am Alfred Pennyworth, the butler."

"And cook, clean, doctor and grandfather figure." Dick adds, counting them off on his fingers as we walk inside.

"I shall fetch Master Bruce, please, make yourselves comfortable." Alfred says before leaving the room.

"Hey, you okay, Maria?" Dick asks me, concern in his eyes.

"J-jay had a family here, a life, w-without me. I know it seems selfish but, this is a part of him, a part I never knew, that I'll never know." I say as Dick pulls me to his chest.

"It's okay, Maria, I know it's hard but, you can have a family here, it's not too late." He says, trying to extinguish the fears I told him about earlier. My fears about being left behind, or rejected, about Jay when he was younger, how that will reflect upon my stay here. And then, of course, the fact that this was all Jason's idea to mess around with Bruce's head, which Dick and I are fine with. Soon, the doors open again and reveal Alfred, a tall man who I assume is Bruce and a boy around my age, all of whom come through the door.

"My name is Bruce Wayne, Alfred told me you were Jason's younger sister, right?" He asked, oh yeah, definitely Bruce, Jay gave me a, vivid description of him the other day.

"Yeah, it's just, I was separated from Jason when I was five, left to live and fend for myself, so I never really knew him that much and, well, today's his birthday. Or, at least it would be..." I trail off, really getting into character, though inside, I'm laughing and crying at the same time, dunno why.

"You seem really beat up about it, why is it that you've just sought us out now?" The boy asks.

"Well, bird boy, one, when I was separated from my brother, I was kidnapped by the league of Shadows. Nightwing, or Dick, helped me escape while he was on a mission there." I say, using the cover of Dick's mission last month, that way, the facts add up.

"Y-you know the secret?" The boy asks, eyes wide in disbelief, looking at his brother. "You told her?"

"Yes, I did, Tim, she has a right to know." Dick says, eyes narrowing.

"You've been awfully quite, Bruce." I point out, smirking slightly.

"You seem to be a lot like Jason, Maria. It's probably spooking him out, you're like a girl version of Jay." Dick says, shrugging his shoulders.

"It may be a bit awkward at first, but you are welcome to stay here, if you like." Alfred pipes up, carrying a tray of tea.

"Maybe later, Alfie, we're going to go meet Selena." Dick says, putting his hand on my shoulder.

"I trust that you are providing her with a place to stay, Master Richard," Alfred questions Dick.

"Yeah, we gotta go, see you later," Dick says, steering me out the door. Once outside, we break into grins. "I think you broke Bruce, Mar."

"He looked like a friggin statue!" I exclaim, laughing lightly.

"Yeah, c'mon we're heading to Selena's apartment, right?" He aks, messing up my hair slightly.

"Later, can we go andget Jay a gift, I mean, I know that, for his birthday Jay wants us to mess around with Bruce's head but I wanna get him a real present." I say, looking at Dick pleadingly.

"Sure, what do you want to get?" He asks.

"Three simple gold chains." I state, turning around to face him, I'm now walking backwards, in Gotham. Not the best idea but, hey, I don't really care.

"Why?" He asks, tilting his head and looking at me questioningly.

"Because, I already have something to put on them, silly." I say, grinning as I pull out three small, oval-shaped gold plates with symbols inside. A closer look shows that they symbols are hieroglyphics. "They're our names in Egyptian hieroglyphics, I had them made a month before Jay and I left the Shadows." I exclaim, putting the plates back into my pocket and I turn around.

That night, on patrol

"Nightwing, who is this little kitten?" Catwoman, Selena purrs behind us.

"Selena, this is the Red Blade." Dick says, gesturing to me with his hand.

"So Bruce has another family member and didn't tell me?" Selena fake pouted, but it was ruined by the grin that broke out on her face.

"Maria Todd, Jason's younger sister." I state, holding out my hand, she shakes it.

"You poor kitten, Dickie bird told me all about your past, BlueJay did to, about his little sister who was taken at the age of five. Looks like Talia got to you." She observes, taking in my swords and knives.

"Yeah, she did, but I'm strictly no-kill. Too much pain, and gore. It's not fair to end the life of an innocent that got in harm's way." I say, looking down slightly.

"Nightwing, you take patrol, I'm going to get to know my newest kitten." Selena states before pulling me to her side. Dick nods,

"Yes Ma'am" and grapples off the building.

"I know you came back with your blood brother, and that's okay. Are you worried about him?" She asks, seeing my face.

"Yeah, it's just, I get it, life for him must not be so special the second time around. But I hope that, after he puts a bullet in that deranged clown's head, he'll stop killing. Maybe use rubber bullets." I muse, I'm mostly rambling now, oh well, Selena's a good listener.

"It's okay, kitten, you and your brother have different thoughts right now, and that's perfectly fine. Besides, he'll need you when he decides to join the family again." Selena says, smiling at me, I lean into her side and she wraps her arms around me. I hope that I can stay like this, with my newfound, dysfunctional, crazy family.

"Hello, Selena, I see you've met Maria." Comes a deep, sightly gravely voice from the shadows behind me.

"Bruce, so good to see you again." Selena says, standing up and sashaying over to Bruce.

"Was it all an act? The hurt, the tears? Wanting to be apart of the family?" Tim, Robin asks softly.

"No, Tim it wasn't I really want to be a family with you guys. And I did feel the hurt, it was the first time I really talked about his death. I never really knew him and when I found out about him, we were bringing him back from the dead!" I was practically shoutig at Tim now. "Do you know how it feels to see your brother, who you haven't seen in eight years, being rising from an unjust death?! Screaming in agony?! No, you don't so don't bloody ask me if it was just an act!" I say, and, when I finish, I turn around and walk to Selena, who wraps her arms around me, pulling me close.

"Bruce, I think you should, after all, Jason is your son, it's only right." Selena tells Bruce, continuing a conversation that I didn't hear.

"Alright, why don't you take her home tonight? She seems tired and..." Bruce trails off, looking at me from under the cowl.

"You don't know how to handle an emotional teenage girl? It's okay, I'll be there for that." Selena assures him as he picks me up. I guess I haven't realised how tired I am, I feel my eyes close and I snuggle closer into him, into his chest. I feel a swinging sensation, he must he carrying me as he heads over rooftops to Selena's apartment. I fall asleep before we make it, asleep as the swaying of the grappling hook ride lulls me to sleep.

Me: Did you enjoy? It felt right, I dunno why.

Jason: Next chapter: Maria's Birthday!

Maria: If you noticed the odd moods, that is due to the fact that Firecracker and I are both emotional pre teens/teenagers (?)

Me: We're both around 13 years old.

Maria: Yeah, that.

Dick: Stay Whelmed,

Tim: Get Traught,

Maria: Please, Jay?

Jason: *sighs* Fine, feel the Aster,

Maria: And Crash the Mode!

Me: Firecracker OUT!