DC: Makenna Wayne

===*
She wasn’t lying.

This morning when I woke up, mother was already gone, but my bags were packed and the letter and photo were in my hands, ready for me to go.

After ensuring Villa that I would visit often, I clutched the photo of Wayne Manor tightly before opening the door, taking me to the dreary lonesome courtyard. Once I stepped through it with my luggage, the portal behind me closed without a trace of it. To my relief, even though I couldn’t see it, I could tell Villa was always nearby, ready to open for me whenever I need it.

Feeling a bit more confident now that I had the means of escaping, I walked up towards the doors of Wayne Manor.

This is it.

I still can’t believe I’m Batman’s daughter. Crazy woman. What if she’s lying? What if she’s abandoning her offspring to some rich fellow, claiming that it’s his? Shameless! Though I wouldn’t put it past her…

“…Okay… this is it.”

I tentatively rang the door bell, and waited for whoever was first to open the door.

It took a minute or two, but eventually, someone did open the door. It was a 15-year-old boy with an aloof expression, dark reddish hair and brown eyes.

He glanced down at me with boredom in his eyes and eyed at the luggage I was holding.

“…We’re not interested in any girl scout cookies, miss.”

…Ha…Did I look like a girl scout?

“Hello, my name is Makenna, and I’m looking for Mr. Bruce Wayne,” I said. “My mom claimed that he’s my father…?”

That boredom in his eyes disappeared and they were now as wide as plates.

“Uh…why don’t you come inside and wait until Bruce gets here then, yeah?” He said as he opened the door wide enough for me to get in.

“Thank you.” Carefully, I carried my luggage in and followed him to the living room where I would be waiting.

Meanwhile, the boy was furiously typing on his phone, texting someone urgently. Was he texting Bruce? Gosh, this is so nerve-wrecking!

“Wait here,” he promptly said to me as he left again going to a hallway. “Hey Alfred!”

Alfred, Bruce’s butler since he was in diapers, right?

Glancing around at this timeless living room that belonged to a family of rich white folks from the 80s had me reeling with amazement. I was here. I was truly here in this world, and for whatever the reason, my mother dropped me off here because I was Bruce’s daughter. I still can’t believe that.

For one thing, I wasn’t that smart. Nor that resourceful. If anything, I was more like my mother without the shameless part.

This… this is all so weird, why did I even come?

“Excuse me.”

Turning around, I saw that the teenage boy came back with an older male dressed in a suit. He looked to be a butler, and no doubt, this person had to be Alfred.

I bowed my head and re-introduced myself. “Hello, my name is Makenna. My mother, Camilla, told me to come here and stay with my father for a while until she returns. She said my father is Bruce Wayne, and…well, she said this will explain everything if he reads this.”

I then extended out the letter that mother entrusted me to give to him. I haven’t read what’s in it, nor did I want to find out its contents.

Alfred hesitantly took the letter from me, but his gaze remained focus on me. He peered closer, his mouth slightly gaping.

“Remarkable… the resemblance… If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought you were Madame--…Ahem. Pardon my manners. My name is Alfred Pennyworth, and I’ve been the Head Butler of the Wayne Manor for almost 4 years,” he said.

Then he gestured to the boy behind him. “And this is Jason Todd, Master Bruce’s second adopted son.”

Waaaaaah, this is Jason Todd…!?!?

“I-It’s nice to meet you both…!” I said, bowing my head.

“Likewise, Miss Makenna,” Alfred said then he eyed at Jason for a moment.
Jason, who seemed out of it, snapped out of his weird expression on me before responding. “Uh yeah, nice to meet you too.”

Gosh, I’m so nervous.

“There’s no need to be so nervous, Miss Makenna,” Alfred said as he saw through me immediately. “Why don’t I take you to a guest room until we have things situated? I’ll be sure that Master Bruce gets this letter as soon as possible.”

“Y-yes, thank you kindly.”

Mother, you shameless woman! Why did you make me come all the way here by myself without you? Shouldn’t you have the decent courtesy to give warning to others before dropping the ‘this is your daughter’ bomb on them? On the Wayne Manor no less!

Alfred took me to a guest bedroom, and it’s easily one that should have come from a five-star hotel. I assured him that I’ll be fine here by myself if there was any work he needed to get done. He was worried of leaving me alone, but I told him that I was tired and planned to take a nap after a long, weary trip. I didn’t want to trouble him anymore than this, and after being certain, he left me alone.

I stayed in the guest room and though I had woken up just two hours ago, I barely had any sleep last night. The thought of finally going outside and entering the material plane…

I always knew that the world Villa and I lived in was some sort of manmade aquarium built just for me and my safety. The fruitful garden and forest that surrounded the Villa was limited to the range of one mile, like I was trapped inside a snow-globe. However, when I looked out of this bedroom window, I could see the city of Gotham in the distance.

Finally, I was here in the physical realm, and already I felt winded.

With nothing else to do, I make good on my promise to behave and I took a nap on the bed.

A few hours later, someone knocked on my door.

“Hmm…?? Come in.” I called groggily, and the door opened.

Jason stepped inside a bit through the way, and stopped when he saw me on the bed. Immediately, I sat upright, remembering my situation. Although I might be Bruce’s daughter, and a simply paternity test would prove that, it doesn’t necessarily mean that I’ll be truly accepted in the bat family.

I don’t even think they’ll tell a 10-year-old girl that they were Batman and Robin.

“Oh sorry, I didn’t know you were sleeping,” Jason said. “Alfred wanted to know if you’d like to have lunch now?”

“O-Oh, lunch would be good,” I answered. “I actually didn’t eat any breakfast. I was so nervous before coming here.”

Jason stared at me, and then he smiled. “Well, lucky you. Alfred happens to be a good cook. Now, come on, before the food gets cold.”

“Right!” I got out of bed and promptly followed after Jason.

Maybe it’s because that I was just a 10-year-old little girl that he was treating me nicely. I heard from the comics that he usually had a rash and reckless personality, though it’s nothing like Damien’s personality. Gosh, I’m dreading meeting Damian in the future—if that ever happens…

“So, Makenna, where you from?” Jason asked.

“Hmm…? Oh um… I’m not sure.” I answered honestly.

Seriously. I had no fucking clue.

“You’re not sure?” He repeated. “Like… what do you mean?”

“Umm, I lived in a small house in some forest in the middle of nowhere,” I told him. “So, I really don’t have a clue. Mother never lets me go anywhere, and I’ve been stuck at home all my life.”

“You’ve…never gone outside?” He asked with an incredulous tone.

“I’ve gone outside, just only as far as my mother’s vegetable garden,” I confessed. This was true enough. Even I wasn’t brave to explore the forest, fearing that I’ll get lost.

“…How did you even get here?” Jason asked. “…Did your mother drop you off?”

“Uh, yes.” I answered. It’s not the whole truth, but Villa did drop me off at the Wayne Manor.

We soon made it to the dining room and Jason sat across the long table from me, where the utensils and plates have been set. Jason continued interrogating me and I tried my best to answer his questions as honestly as I could without revealing that my mother was a witch.

Sorcerer. Wizard. I don’t know. I don’t really know what she is.

Alfred then brought in a hot steaming lunch of steak, mashed potatoes, and asparagus. The meal was quaint and simple, but somehow, all the flavors seemed to be elevated.

Excitedly, I asked him, “Alfred! These spears…! Did you blanch them first before you sautéed them with herbs?”

His brows raised at that. “Oh my, you can tell? Are you a fellow chef?”

“Heehee, I’m not that good of a chef, but I often cook for myself when my mother isn’t around,” I confessed, feeling a little bashful. Alfred had cooked for more than 40 years. His expertise in home chef had to be better than mine. “I blanch the spears and shock them in cold water too before I put them in the pan, but I didn’t think of cooking them with herbs.”

“It adds more flavor to the spears, doesn’t it?” He asked, smiling happily.

“Yes, it does!”

“Other than garlic, what herbs do you think I cooked it with?”

“Oh… I tasted oregano and parsley, a bit of rosemary. Italian seasonings?”

“Correct. And what of the mashed potatoes?”

“You definitely used some seasonings, salt, and sour cream!”

“Yes, that’s right! You have an excellent palette on you, Miss Makenna,” Alfred said and he seemed delighted about the topic over cooking. He must like cooking very much. “And the steak?”

“Oh, I haven’t tried it yet…” I then proceeded to cut it and take a bite for myself.

All the while, Jason was looking between me and Alfred, before asking aloud,

“What is this? A cooking show?”

“It takes great talent to recognize the ingredients upon tasting food, Master Jason,” Alfred merely reasoned out as he waited for me to evaluate the steak.

“It’s so tender... Either you bought a really good cut of sirloin steak with great marbling, or it was sitting at normal temperature before you cooked it. I think… I think you seared it in the pan with butter and rosemary before resting it in a low-heated oven.”

“Miss Makenna, you remind me of those junior chefs on television,” Alfred exclaimed. “You’re so far correct on your assessment, and for the steak, it was both. Excellent marbling of fat distribution and resting at room temperature.”

“Your timing for the steaks must be very good, Alfred.”

“Not at all, Miss.”

“I’m gonna keep eating,” Jason announced as he continued shoveling the food in his mouth.

Lunch ended amicably, and afterwards, Jason brought me along for a whole tour of the Wayne Manor. I was astounded. Instead of some stately estate, the whole place had a palatial grandeur style to it. There were three floors worth of china and other expensive looking décor. They even had their own library, and music room, which I was elated over. They had more rooms than I could count, and the garage had a collection of fancy cars and bikes. If this was some fantasy world, Bruce would have been Duke Bruce Wayne with all the wealthy and historic stuff lying around. Pristinely clean too! Alfred must work really hard all by himself to keep the place neat and presentable at all times.

“Jason, do you go to school?” I asked as I easily kept up to his pace. He was really tall, reaching at 6 feet at 15…16? “And how old are you?”

“I do go to school, and I’ll be 16 in a couple of months,” he answered. “What about you? Are you like 8 or 9?”

“I just turned 10 two days ago.”

“Oh. Happy belated birthday then,” he said. “You’re pretty short for 10.”

“No, I’m normal sized for a girl my age. You’re the one going through puberty and spontaneous growth spurts,” I pointed out logically.

He raised a brow at me. “You’re pretty smart for being 10 years old.”

“Helps that I’ve read a lot of books,” I told him happily. “Recently, I finished reading Charles Dicken’s Bleak House.”

“…What is it about?” Jason asked hesitantly.

“Oh, it’s a story about court case in England that lasted for many generations as families fought over the estate,” I said, summarizing the whole thing of court, crime, and romance. “In the end, it didn’t matter who won. Legal costs ate up all the inheritance.”

“Why read a book like that?”

“Because it was there,” I answered simply. “There were times I really didn’t know what to do with myself when I was living alone and my mom wasn’t around.”

“How often would your mom be gone?” Jason asked curiously. “What does she do for work?”

What does she do? Now that I think about it, I really didn’t know. I remember asking her, but she would always deflect it, and it’s not long before I realized that she never properly answered. She did commonly call herself a freelancer.

“She’s… a freelancer, I believe?” I started. “Anyway, she’s regularly gone for a few months. The most she was gone for was 6 months.”

“…What?”

“This time, she said she’ll be gone for a year or so, and that’s why she told me that I should start living with my biological father,” I said, crossing my arms, thinking. “…Honestly, that’s the first time she’s ever so concerned of me being left alone for a long time. It worries me what she might be up to.”

“Wait. Hold up,” Jason interrupted. “What kind of mother would leave their own daughter for that long? I mean, does she keep contact with you?”

“Keep contact? Um, not really…” I pondered over the past, and surely, there has not been one day where she left a message. We didn’t even have phones, and I doubt there’d be a signal in Villa’s place. “…She would just come home, stay for a day or two, and then she’s gone the next.”

“And who took care of you growing up?” Jason asked.

“As soon as I was walking and talking, I started taking care of myself,” I told him, proudly in fact. “I think I was only 3 or 4, but my mother would just be away for a week, or two, not so extensive. But that’s also when I started learning how to cook for myself and clean up after my messes… what?”

Jason had stopped walking, and was now gaping at me like I was a weird little alien.

“Yeah…I think I was still playing with Legos at your age.”

“How long ago were you adopted by Bruce Wayne?” I asked, hesitant at the last part. Should I call this man father? It seemed too sudden on my part, and it would probably make him feel uneasy.

“Just a little over a year ago,” he answered simply.

Hesitantly, I asked, “Is he nice…? I mean… is he a good father?”

“Better than my old man,” Jason answered with a far-off look that had a hint of resentment, but after a moment, he sighed. “…Honestly, I’m still a little shocked of what your mother did.”

Shameless, that woman certainly is…

“Although Bruce would be gone for a long time, it’s not that often,” Jason assured me. “You’ll at least get to see him once or twice a week if work isn’t grueling.”

You mean his work as Batman or as Bruce Wayne? Or both?

“You make it sound like Bruce will willingly take me in without some sort of proof.”

Jason shrugged his shoulders. “Well, there’s the paternity test. It will prove whether or not you’re his daughter, but Alfred even mentioned to me that you look like the spitting image of Martha.”

I tilted my head. “Martha?”

“Bruce’s mother. Martha Wayne,” Jason said then he started walking. “Come with me.”

He took me to a closed off room with a high ceiling, filled with more junk. Wow. The profit that would come if they were to do an auction…

Jason took off a blanket from a covered canvas, revealing two individuals smiling with a small bright boy, standing in between them.

“…Is this…?” I started to ask but my question trailed off as I stared at the woman.

Martha Wayne. The curly short hair, the dimples on her smile, plump cheeks, and the perky button nose…If I didn’t know any better, I was looking at my future self. The only difference between us was her eye color. She had brown eyes.

“Uncanny resemblance, am I right?” Jason commented.

Crazy… I was really Bruce Wayne’s daughter. This is… unbelievable. I mean…who would even think of sleeping with my mother who has such a shameless personality?! Is it because Bruce is still a man and will thrive on male instincts? Or was this a case similar to Talia Al Ghul’s drugging Batman so she could have his child against his will?

Jason’s phone beeped in his pocket and he took out the flip phone, reading a moment before putting it away.

“Bruce is here. Ready to meet him?”

Dread drop to my stomach at the thought of actually meeting him, and so soon. It was only yesterday that mother told me that Bruce Wayne is my father, and now he was here. He’s home and waiting to meet me downstairs. I mean, I came here to the Wayne Manor and all, but that really didn’t mean I was ready.

“Um… no… not really.”

Jason laughed. “Haha… Don’t worry, I’ll be there with you.”

“I feel like you’re enjoying this probably more than you should.”

His lips widened to a smirk. “I mostly cannot wait for his reaction.”

Oh boy…

We soon made it back downstairs and Jason led me to the kitchen where we could hear Alfred’s voice and another man talking in rash exchange of words. I cringed… someone definitely wasn’t happy to find out he had a 10-year-old daughter out of nowhere---to which I really don’t blame him. This is all mother’s fault for not preparing both parties from the sudden bomb drop.

Carefully, we stepped into the kitchen, and the conversation stopped. Both adults glanced over Jason and me, but mostly me.

There was a man a few inches taller than Alfred. Black hair and blue eyes. He looked to be close to his 30s. His jaw square-ish with a bit of shadow. He was holding the letter in his hands, probably the same one that my mother wrote, and I could see the same envelope lying empty on the kitchen counter.

This man is Bruce Wayne himself.

Bravely, I stepped forward, clasping my hands tightly. I bowed my head, greeting him.

“H-hello. My name is Makenna. A-and I’m… I think… I’m your daughter.”

Bruce didn’t answer as he stared at me with his mouth slightly gaping. He looked at me like he couldn’t believe I was real.. Frightened, my fingernails dug to my skin, trying to keep my nerves down.

Thankfully, Alfred cleared his throat aloud to snap Bruce from his staring.

He did break from eye contact, glancing at Alfred before back at me again.

The silent staring was unnerving.

“I-If you want, we can do a paternity test,” I told him. “I’m not even sure if my mother was telling the truth, or not, but…and if she wasn’t, then I’ll gladly leave.”

Scary! SCARY! I’m so scared!

“That won’t be necessary, Miss Makenna. Master Bruce here just needs a moment to rest,” Alfred said. “He had a long day of work after all.”

Yay! An opportunity to escape!

“Yes…! I’ll just be in my room!” I said happily, taking Alfred’s excuse for Bruce. “Jason gave me a tour of the place, and I’m a little tired, so I’ll rest and behave.”

“I’ll come get you for dinner,” Jason promised. “Do you need me to guide you back?”

“No need! I remember the way! 4th door on the second-floor right corridor,” I answered, and with that, I bid them adieu before hastily retreating to my temporary bedroom.

= = =*

[No One’s POV]

They watched her scamper out of sight, and the pitter patter of her shoes faded.

“…Wow. Nice going, Bruce, you scared her off.” Jason mockingly commented. “Your own flesh and blood—I’m a little miffed at you for always lecturing me about protection, and yet you--”

“Do you have a sample of her DNA?” Bruce asked, interrupting Jason’s rant.

“I managed to collect a hair sample from her seat,” Alfred said as he presented a Ziploc bag with a strand of black hair. “Though I find it unnecessary… talking to her felt like I was having a conversation with the Madame again.”

“Alfred.”

“What did the letter say, Master Bruce?” Alfred asked.

A moment after, Bruce handed the letter to him as he took the ziploc bag and retreated from the kitchen. Jason’s curiosity got the better of him as he went to Alfred and read the letter over his shoulder.

Dear Bruce

It’s been 10 years now since we’ve last met. I wondered if you’ve grown out of you brooding persona, but that’s not why I’m writing this letter to you.

You probably don’t remember me, and you shouldn’t be able to, but Makenna is your daughter, and I hope that you’ll look after our daughter from now on.

I don’t know when I’ll be back, but please let her know that I love her dearly.

Sincerely with all my heart,
Camilla Beneventi

Jason stared at the letter in disbelief. "..Seriously?  That's it...?!"

"Hm? What's wrong, Master Jason?" Alfred asked. "Sure, the conent is short, but..."

After hearing from Makenna of her mother leaving her alone all the time, this was her letter to Bruce for introducing their daughter without much explain??

This woman had no idea the inkling of shame!

= = =*

A/N: timeline is still being determined, and as you have guessed it, this is an alternate universe. I've watched the movies, but I was sorely dedicated to watching Justice League Unlimited. Young Justice was a little harder for me to get into, but it was a decent series. I'm gonna try and write so many elements of this, because of different comic version, there is no timeline for our female protegonist to predict future outcomes. Only the potential events that may or may not happen.

Anyway, hope you've enjoyed reading this so far! Please rate and follow for more future updates!