Chapter Text
Humans are fickle and weak beings, every vampire knows this.
Bruce has had some experience with humans before their extinction a couple years ago. They were impulsive and not very smart for creatures who built an entire city, built entire communities.
They were also brash and violent, Bruce had to step in multiple times. Not just as Batman but as Bruce too.
Like most vampires that moved to the perfectly gloomy Gotham, he hated humans at first. Their impulsiveness and the whining ticked him off. But over time he got used to it. It only got endearing to him, since it reminded him of young vampires, children,, when their extinction event happened.
All the vampire clans tried their best to help the humans, even though most hated the smaller beings they didn’t want them gone .
But it was no use, they all were gone within two years. Such a short amount of time for such a large number.
They found no traces of any other humans. The vampire committee declared them extinct.
Bruce and his children continued to patrol Gotham though, just not full time. The city had gone into a peaceful era without humans.
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Timothy ‘Tim’ Drake was eleven when his parents caught a cold they couldn’t shake.
Timothy ‘Tim’ Drake was twelve when he found his parents in their bed, cold and not moving. A small drip of blood from their mouth and noses.
Timothy ‘Tim’ Drake was twelve and a half when he buried his parents by himself, silently crying the whole way.
He loved his parents even though they left him alone most of the time and didn’t give him affection or attention often. It was an instinct for children to love their parents.
Tim Drake was thirteen when he heard the vampires of the city declare humans to be extinct. Even though he was right here .
Tim, no longer a Drake, was fourteen when he left Drake manor with only a backpack, a duffel, a laptop, phone, and camera to his name. There was no more food in the manor, the grass and dirt too fake to garden. He’ll take his chances on the street, he’s explored the alleys and roofs long enough to know the lay of the land.
He doesn’t know what the vampires, especially Batman , would do if they found out he was alive. Tim knows they tried to help, but the mutated cold killed too fast too silently for them to help.
He has no clue why he didn’t catch it, Tim was around his parents a lot when they were infected, helping them as they slowly got weaker and weaker until they were bed bound. Until he found them lying so so still.
But! One good thing Tim had found out, he could now track and take pictures of the Bat and the birds full time! He does know that the furry brigade is the Wayne clan, the first Robin Dick Grayson outed them with his signature quadruple flip.
With the help of free WiFi in cafes and libraries, thank whatever is holy the vampires tend to like coffee, he created a social media site. Dedicated to sightings of the Bat and his Birds. He even was able to back upload scanned photos that he took when the first Robin was out!
He will forever worship the free resources these libraries give him.
The site has been a hit! Turns out vampires are just as curious about these vigilantes as he was, but they aren’t as forthcoming with it as the old conspiracy sites Tim used to frequent.
To keep off the Bats radar he switches spots to upload frequently, while also on the move looking for a safe spot to sleep each night.
Tim is extremely lucky that vampires like eating human food at times, so he is able to steal food from the stores quite as easily. Using the skills he’s gained from sneaking around on the roof tops.
So despite all the hardships, Tim was having a good time. No adults to scold him whenever he made the slightest of mistakes, no galas to force a smile at, and he is able to delve into his hobby of photography of the nightlife!
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It was a dark night in Gotham. The city is bright and bustling like usual nowadays. Even though during the day it’s dark enough for the vampires to be out and about, many still prefer to be out at night.
There, on a roof, Tim sat. In a usual spot he did, with a red ratty blanket under him as he hid behind a large AC unit. Tim was wearing a threadbare deep blue zip up with a black shirt underneath. His jeans thinned with age, small holes starting to appear on his knees, paired with worn teal converse. The thick soles slashed and carved to add more traction.
He fiddled with his camera, putting on his special nighttime lense. His backpack sat next to him, under the AC unit. Hidden but easily grabbable in case of a quick escape.
His duffel of items was back at his current sleeping area.
Nightwing should be in town today. Since he saw a few days ago Dick Grayson updated his socials about being in Gotham for family.
Tim thinks Nightwing is by far his favorite to take pictures of, just because of how dynamic he tends to be.
But the second Robin, Jason Todd, now known as RedBird. Is his Robin. The Robin that took his mind off of his parents slowly dying. The Robin that distracted him from the grief he was feeling once they finally passed on.
That’s why on his site he had a whole tab just for RedBird. From his time as Robin to now as RedBird.
But that's not why he was out today. Of course he'll get a couple photos of the first two Robins but he's here for the new third, Damian Wayne.
Tim has only gotten two, TWO!, photos of the new Robin. He's just as hard to photograph as the big Bat himself!
He gives a silent sigh as he takes something out of his backpack. It was a half eaten granola bar. He unwrapped it, taking a small bite. Wrapping it back up and putting it away. It was the last of his food, he'll need to go out to steal again soon.
Tim did feel bad about stealing but he follows the Gotham rule, only big box stores never mom n’ pop shops.
He gets knocked out of his thoughts as he sees a flash of red and blue, laughter ringing through the air. He looked up, and just a single rooftop over was RedBird and Nightwing laughing and joking.
This was priceless! Such a candid moment! Tim raises his camera and zooms in, focusing the lens snapping a couple photos of the brothers messing around. His viewers are going to love this, he loves this.
He then heard a little rustling. He whipped the camera around, clicking it a couple times as he saw Robin. He hides away from the rest of the view, scrolling through the photos he had just taken.
A bright smile spread across his face as he saw not one but three perfect photos! Tim had succeeded his main goal for the night!
Tim pumps his fist in the air, trying to be silent as he knew the three vigilantes had superhearing.
He peeks his head around the AC unit, seeing all three of them together arguing and playing around like brothers do. They seem to be playing tag. He snaps a couple more photos. Tim starts packing up some he could follow.
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Jason could feel eyes on him. And it wasn't any of his brothers.
He stops on a roof and looks around, his light red eyes flicking around under his domino. He heard a worried questioning trill from Dick as he heard the older land next to him. A soft chirp from demon brat as the fledgling lands on his other side.
Jason gives a chuff in response. “I feel eyes on me. Non-hostile, obviously a young fledgling. Younger than Robin. But I can't pinpoint where.” He explains.
Dick hums and looks around himself. Damian started wandering around the roof, sniffing and looking around for the source of the eyes.
“Maybe it's Crow? From that photography site that has all of our pictures on it.” Dick said with a smile, his large fangs on display.
Jason shakes his head and looks out onto other rooftops. “Maybe ‘Wing. But Crow is smart, even B is having extreme trouble tracking them down. From those pictures age, they got to be as old as the old man. Maybe older.”
When the Waynes first found out about CrowPhotography, Bruce was extremely paranoid to say the least. Especially since some of these photos are from when Dick was Robin. No one in the family had even noticed someone following them! It could be any vamp. But someone older and skilled was likely, probably had assassin training to get around Batman without getting noticed.
“RedBird, Nightwing. I may have found something.” Jason heard Damian call out.
Jason looked over to see the brat two roofs over crouched down seemingly looking at something that was puzzling him.
He stretched and took a running start, hopping over the roofs with ease and flips. Dick followed behind, being a bit more extra. Causing Jason to just roll his eyes, classic.
He ducks into a roll as he lands, quickly standing and walking over to his little brother.
Things when Damian came to the manor were…rough. Since the fledgling was basically raised in a cult, a lot of things had to be taught or corrected. At least Bruce used his role as clan Alpha to help reset the hierarchy.
Damian was holding a..wrapper of some kind. Jason has never seen a wrapper like that. Despite human food being popular among other vamps, Jason wasn't one who enjoyed eating it. Though he did enjoy cooking it.
He walks up to Damian and looks over the younger’s shoulder. The wrapper looked old and faded but was obviously freshly opened, whatever food was inside smelt sickeningly sweet.
He heard the soft landing of Dick. Jason takes the wrapper out of the younger’s hand, ignoring the angry chirp as he walks over to the oldest. “Robin found this. It looks old but it has been freshly opened and eaten.”
Dick tilts his head, gently taking the wrapper from Jason. He looked like he was studying it.
After only a couple minutes he heard Dick sigh.
“It’s a granola bar wrapper. A flavor and brand that had been discontinued since the humans died out.” Dick turns the wrapper over in his gloved hand, reading it. “There shouldn’t be any more in stores so I don’t know how this got here.”
Jason huffs and stares at the wrapper. He had a gut feeling that this would only be the beginning.