Random Wren
Soon after Annabelle Smith became Bruce's newest ward, he couldn't imagine his life without her. She was a bit of an amalgam of his previous children but she was something new and special. She ate up the knowledge and life of Batman and Bruce like a sponge.
She preferred to be called Wren. She said it was short and sweet and to the point and Annabelle was such a mouthful so could they please use her new name? It took a bit of explaining that they would call her Wren in private, when around heroes and with each other but publicly they would call her Annabelle, her given birth name. It was part of the Cover and Secret. Using the new name Wren in the house though would ensure that she was used to it when she worked on the streets at their side.
It struck Bruce most that she was his newest protégées. He could never imagine the legacy he wielded after adopting Dick and him becoming the first Robin. But it kind of fit. Batman needed a Robin, not just to fight crime but to pass on his knowledge, to help develop new heroes, and to love. To love as Bruce, a father.
In many ways Annabelle Smith was like Dick. She never was quiet or still. She wandered around the mansion with Red Robin's cape like a security blanket, like the Peanut's character Linus van Pelt. It was obvious why she was called "little songbird" by her mother. She was constantly humming and singing little snippets of songs. If one of them said something, it wasn't uncommon for her to start singing some song that featured the words. And she was always moving. Dancing about and moving. If you got her to sit for a moment, her fingers would start a weird twitching like she was playing the piano. In 3-D. It took a while for them to notice that she did it with her toes too.
Dick said that she would make a great contortionist. Since Wren was always twitching her body into stretches and angles and movements that were strange and disconcerting to watch. And she wasn't like Dick in the fact that she didn't fly. Oh, she liked being in a high place. They found her on library shelves or on the dinosaur in the cave or on top of furniture. But just as equally she was under something. Found under tables and chairs and in cabinets and under Damian's bed.
Wren was Cat like in that sense. Or rather like his only daughter, Cassandra. They both had that wild, untamed aura like an animal being gentled. She would just wander around and be found asleep or reading or listening or humming in the oddest of places. She liked under Damian's bed, in Bruce's bathtub (she had built a nest there, taking clothes from his closet to line the tub and make it warmer.), in kitchen cabinets curled around the boxes and cans, stuffed into the recesses of Tim's desk, on a high shelf in a library, draped over a tree, behind the media room's couch, and dozens of other places. Usually with Red Robin's cape along side.
And some times if Red Robin was in uniform wearing his cape, she was there. One time before the Titan Tower incident, she had snuck into the cave and was watching them. Bruce had been working on a case and was sharing it with Tim who was standing a little too far away. When he'd pointed it out to the young hero, he'd laughed and said he couldn't come closer. Then he'd lifted his cape to reveal the wide, silver eyes of the girl clinging to his back.
(Author: Why won't it let me use "snuck"? Spell check keeps wanting me to change it. So I'll use sneaked too.)
But unlike Cassandra, Wren was wicked smart like Tim. You give her something to study, to watch and learn or read and she was so focused and determined to learn it was scary. Alfred was a bit of a loss when they started home schooling the child. He'd given her a few chapters to read and write reports and do arithmetic and other assignments. At first he was worried since it seemed to be taking a while for Wren to read the chapters... until he found out she had read the whole book. Cover to cover. And memorized it.
She didn't have the absolute photographic memory that Kim Peek had but it was close. (Author: Kim Peek was the inspiration for "Rain Man" (1998)) Give her a minute and she could recite or find anything in the book. And, apparently, she hadn't just memorized the text books that Alfred was using for his curriculum. Apparently she'd already read and memorized the various text books her high school aged siblings and cousins had.
So in desperation Alfred handed her all the text books he had and gotten some GED study guides and books. He'd given her the test twice. She had passed it with flying colors both times. She had taken the GED test a third time by an outside party and had gotten what was essentially her High School Diploma at 11. Damian had been furious. Tim had been kind of proud, since he was the one to find her and see her potential. Jason was ecstatic and praised her deeply.
There had been one major hick-up. Wren couldn't spell. She could recite things perfectly but couldn't always get the letters where they needed to be. It had taken a bit of time to understand that she viewed the written English language and the spoken word almost like they were two totally, distantly related languages. The crux point word had been "Chic". She thought it was pronounced "Chick" when it was written and "sheek" when it was spoken. It had been hard to convince her it was the same word, not two words with similar meanings.
Alfred and Bruce and Tim (the family savant. He'd finally gotten his Doctorate in Chemical Science at 20. In between all the projects, being a Wayne Corp CEO, training Young Justice, and everything else, he'd kept up in his official studies. On-line classes and courses were a god send, though he had attended lectures in person as well. Alfred had been very proud of him, beyond the fact that Tim was the only Wayne allowed in his kitchen unattended. The boy was a marvelous cook.), the three of them had hashed out a rudimentary training and education program for Wren. They also had her IQ tested. The best estimate was she was about 213. They kept that bit of information to themselves and kept her academic studies as closely guarded secret as they could.
They didn't want to pressure her. As smart as she was, there were still problems. Which left Wren reminding Bruce of his remaining two children, Jason and Damian. Not that they were bad or bad children or anything but those the remaining traits were a bit much wrapped up in this small package. Like Jason, Wren was passionate. She threw her whole being into an emotion. There was no room for anything else. It was a bit exhausting dealing with those extremes. When she got upset, it was major melt down. When she got angry, it was frightening. There was only one small silver lining. Or rather a gray one. If you threw the Red Robin cape over her, wrapped her up in it, she kind of went into standby mode. Tim theorized that it was partially because it cut out several of her senses. When Wren got overwhelmed with her environment, it was best to cover her up and let her breath.
From Damian, she had his fierceness and superiority. When she got something into her head, it was very hard to shake it loose. Like with Oliver Queen. When she met the hero, she'd pretty much stared him down, said "I don't like you" and hadn't given him the time of day since. When she first came to the manor and Damian had called Bruce "father" she's looked at Bruce for about a solid 2 hours.
It was almost a game. He sat there watching her as she watched him back. When he gave a big long sigh, she copied him. Exactly, it was a bit strange, her trying to be him for an hour, copying him, trying to figure him out. It was amusing to sit there and watch her absorb him in the way she did. Just sat there and stared and twitched. Then out of the blue, she'd smiled really big and hugged him, declaring him "Grandpa!" before running off to her next project. No amount of reasoning or bribery had dissuaded her otherwise.
And Bruce had *tried.*
Dick had been ecstatic when she'd called him Uncle. It didn't take much prompting from Jason to get the same treatment. Damian had threatened bodily harm but they all secretly though he was just waiting for the time when he'd be Uncle Dami. Tim had felt left out until she'd called him "Pady" one day. An amalgam for poppa and daddy, she explained. He preferred it when she called him "my Tim." Dick had thought it was the cutest thing and had prompted Wren to use other forms of "dad" for Tim. Like Papie or padre or pere. It stopped being funny when Tim retaliated by getting Wren to start calling him "Tante Dick." Tante being the French form of Aunt.
She preferred to be called Wren. She said it was short and sweet and to the point and Annabelle was such a mouthful so could they please use her new name? It took a bit of explaining that they would call her Wren in private, when around heroes and with each other but publicly they would call her Annabelle, her given birth name. It was part of the Cover and Secret. Using the new name Wren in the house though would ensure that she was used to it when she worked on the streets at their side.
It struck Bruce most that she was his newest protégées. He could never imagine the legacy he wielded after adopting Dick and him becoming the first Robin. But it kind of fit. Batman needed a Robin, not just to fight crime but to pass on his knowledge, to help develop new heroes, and to love. To love as Bruce, a father.
In many ways Annabelle Smith was like Dick. She never was quiet or still. She wandered around the mansion with Red Robin's cape like a security blanket, like the Peanut's character Linus van Pelt. It was obvious why she was called "little songbird" by her mother. She was constantly humming and singing little snippets of songs. If one of them said something, it wasn't uncommon for her to start singing some song that featured the words. And she was always moving. Dancing about and moving. If you got her to sit for a moment, her fingers would start a weird twitching like she was playing the piano. In 3-D. It took a while for them to notice that she did it with her toes too.
Dick said that she would make a great contortionist. Since Wren was always twitching her body into stretches and angles and movements that were strange and disconcerting to watch. And she wasn't like Dick in the fact that she didn't fly. Oh, she liked being in a high place. They found her on library shelves or on the dinosaur in the cave or on top of furniture. But just as equally she was under something. Found under tables and chairs and in cabinets and under Damian's bed.
Wren was Cat like in that sense. Or rather like his only daughter, Cassandra. They both had that wild, untamed aura like an animal being gentled. She would just wander around and be found asleep or reading or listening or humming in the oddest of places. She liked under Damian's bed, in Bruce's bathtub (she had built a nest there, taking clothes from his closet to line the tub and make it warmer.), in kitchen cabinets curled around the boxes and cans, stuffed into the recesses of Tim's desk, on a high shelf in a library, draped over a tree, behind the media room's couch, and dozens of other places. Usually with Red Robin's cape along side.
And some times if Red Robin was in uniform wearing his cape, she was there. One time before the Titan Tower incident, she had snuck into the cave and was watching them. Bruce had been working on a case and was sharing it with Tim who was standing a little too far away. When he'd pointed it out to the young hero, he'd laughed and said he couldn't come closer. Then he'd lifted his cape to reveal the wide, silver eyes of the girl clinging to his back.
(Author: Why won't it let me use "snuck"? Spell check keeps wanting me to change it. So I'll use sneaked too.)
But unlike Cassandra, Wren was wicked smart like Tim. You give her something to study, to watch and learn or read and she was so focused and determined to learn it was scary. Alfred was a bit of a loss when they started home schooling the child. He'd given her a few chapters to read and write reports and do arithmetic and other assignments. At first he was worried since it seemed to be taking a while for Wren to read the chapters... until he found out she had read the whole book. Cover to cover. And memorized it.
She didn't have the absolute photographic memory that Kim Peek had but it was close. (Author: Kim Peek was the inspiration for "Rain Man" (1998)) Give her a minute and she could recite or find anything in the book. And, apparently, she hadn't just memorized the text books that Alfred was using for his curriculum. Apparently she'd already read and memorized the various text books her high school aged siblings and cousins had.
So in desperation Alfred handed her all the text books he had and gotten some GED study guides and books. He'd given her the test twice. She had passed it with flying colors both times. She had taken the GED test a third time by an outside party and had gotten what was essentially her High School Diploma at 11. Damian had been furious. Tim had been kind of proud, since he was the one to find her and see her potential. Jason was ecstatic and praised her deeply.
There had been one major hick-up. Wren couldn't spell. She could recite things perfectly but couldn't always get the letters where they needed to be. It had taken a bit of time to understand that she viewed the written English language and the spoken word almost like they were two totally, distantly related languages. The crux point word had been "Chic". She thought it was pronounced "Chick" when it was written and "sheek" when it was spoken. It had been hard to convince her it was the same word, not two words with similar meanings.
Alfred and Bruce and Tim (the family savant. He'd finally gotten his Doctorate in Chemical Science at 20. In between all the projects, being a Wayne Corp CEO, training Young Justice, and everything else, he'd kept up in his official studies. On-line classes and courses were a god send, though he had attended lectures in person as well. Alfred had been very proud of him, beyond the fact that Tim was the only Wayne allowed in his kitchen unattended. The boy was a marvelous cook.), the three of them had hashed out a rudimentary training and education program for Wren. They also had her IQ tested. The best estimate was she was about 213. They kept that bit of information to themselves and kept her academic studies as closely guarded secret as they could.
They didn't want to pressure her. As smart as she was, there were still problems. Which left Wren reminding Bruce of his remaining two children, Jason and Damian. Not that they were bad or bad children or anything but those the remaining traits were a bit much wrapped up in this small package. Like Jason, Wren was passionate. She threw her whole being into an emotion. There was no room for anything else. It was a bit exhausting dealing with those extremes. When she got upset, it was major melt down. When she got angry, it was frightening. There was only one small silver lining. Or rather a gray one. If you threw the Red Robin cape over her, wrapped her up in it, she kind of went into standby mode. Tim theorized that it was partially because it cut out several of her senses. When Wren got overwhelmed with her environment, it was best to cover her up and let her breath.
From Damian, she had his fierceness and superiority. When she got something into her head, it was very hard to shake it loose. Like with Oliver Queen. When she met the hero, she'd pretty much stared him down, said "I don't like you" and hadn't given him the time of day since. When she first came to the manor and Damian had called Bruce "father" she's looked at Bruce for about a solid 2 hours.
It was almost a game. He sat there watching her as she watched him back. When he gave a big long sigh, she copied him. Exactly, it was a bit strange, her trying to be him for an hour, copying him, trying to figure him out. It was amusing to sit there and watch her absorb him in the way she did. Just sat there and stared and twitched. Then out of the blue, she'd smiled really big and hugged him, declaring him "Grandpa!" before running off to her next project. No amount of reasoning or bribery had dissuaded her otherwise.
And Bruce had *tried.*
Dick had been ecstatic when she'd called him Uncle. It didn't take much prompting from Jason to get the same treatment. Damian had threatened bodily harm but they all secretly though he was just waiting for the time when he'd be Uncle Dami. Tim had felt left out until she'd called him "Pady" one day. An amalgam for poppa and daddy, she explained. He preferred it when she called him "my Tim." Dick had thought it was the cutest thing and had prompted Wren to use other forms of "dad" for Tim. Like Papie or padre or pere. It stopped being funny when Tim retaliated by getting Wren to start calling him "Tante Dick." Tante being the French form of Aunt.