Birds of a Feather
Rated PG: language, violence, some mature concepts.
Bruce Wayne/Batman, Dick Grayson/Nightwing, Alfred, Kathy Kane, James Gordon, and Anthony Zucco belong to DC Comics/Time Warner.
I am using them without permission, however I have not and don’t expect to make money from this.
Parts, especially Chapter 5, were based on 'Robin, the Boy Wonder', Detective Comics 38, 1940.
Special thanks to Rach (aka The Fink) for invaluable help in fine-tuning the fight scenes in Chapter 5; and for
ensuring I kept Alfred suitably English.
What if Bruce Wayne hadn't gone to the circus the night the Flying Graysons were murdered?
Will Batman and Nightwing find that a common purpose still binds them together?
Everyone knows the original Robin's origin: his parents were murdered during their circus act by a criminal named
'Boss' Zucco. Dick Grayson overheard Zucco's gang threatening the circus owner; Bruce Wayne, who happened to be
in the audience, took him in and helped him get revenge. But what if Bruce hadn't been there? Would Batman have
taken such an interest in Zucco at that time if it hadn't been personal? What would the adult Dick Grayson be like,
without Batman's help and influence?
This really should be considered an AU; it's a 'what if', but also mostly based
on the Batman comics of the 40's and 50's with some elements from the present-day version.
Takes place in the present day, or perhaps a few years ago.
It includes only the Golden/early Silver Age characters:
Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson, Alfred, Commissioner Gordon, and Kathy Kane (the original Batwoman, but
she appears only as Kathy here). The other
members of the Bat-family never entered Bruce's life or took up costumed
careers, perhaps because they didn't have the example of the first Robin.
Bruce is relatively isolated, perhaps because he didn't have Dick's
socializing influence.
Any differences from current canon are probably because I'm starting from
the Golden Age version of the characters and their origins. Think of it
as taking the Batman and Robin of the 1940's, modernizing them, and giving their story
a twist.
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