It was supposed to be a routine night of patrol for Batman and Robin, dealing with typical robberies and thieveries that happened on a daily basis in Gotham. However, this soon changed as Batman received information that there had been reports of an extremely dangerous piece of smuggled alien technology being used as a weapon in the city. The news had everyone in high alert and nearly every members of the family was out on the hunt for the item, which, according to Oracle, hadn't yet been spotted among the possessions of any member of Gotham major supervillain club.
"There are signals from residual of concentrated energy in Crime Alley. That weapon must have been activated recently in the area. We must retrieve it as soon as possible, especially since we still haven't found out exactly what this thing can do" said Batman as he was adjusting the energy tracking device built into the car dashboard.
"At least it has not ended up in the hand of someone like Joker" Nightwing commented from the backseat. They had decided to conduct the search in pairs, just in case something happened. Tim was going with Jason, because somehow the two worked perfectly in sync despite the fact that they were the duo who almost never showed up for any kind of teamwork training together. Who would have thought that Red Robin used to be Hood's favorite moving target for shooting just a few years ago, looking at them now. Damian was put together with Cass, which had the former grumbling exasperatedly ("I don't need an escort, Father"), whereas Oracle was monitoring them all. Meanwhile Nightwing got stuck with his brooding mentor and both were speeding towards Crime Alley in pursuit of energy signs with the Batmobile.
"Yet." growled Batman "And there's a high possibility that a random thug is using this thing like a normal gun. It's like giving a nuclear trigger to a five-year-old. The whole city is in danger."
"Well, the only thing we can do now is keep on looking. We're nearly there, anyways." said Nightwing.
The car swerved pass another corners and was just going through a mostly abandoned road when the tracker alerted them again to the appearance of another energy disturbance, this time being the closest to their location compared to others. Batman accelerated to full speed and moments later they had arrived at the site, where the two vigilantes immediately caught sight of their target: A perfectly ordinary gun-carrying thug, one of the most common features of Gotham, available in every dark alley. That was if the gun was to be ignored. It resembled a handgun, albeit slightly larger, but Batman and Nightwing knew immediately that it was what they had been seeking for since the thing was giving off an unnatural blue glow. The thug was clutching a bag in his hand that looked very feminine, so unless he had a hobby that was difficult to speak of, he likely just robbed it off someone. Though judging by the way he was running, the second option definitely stood out more. Whoever the owner was, Batman just hoped that person was still alive, because the most recent energy signal suggested that this mugger had just fired his weapon. He wanted to go and check on the victim, but they needed to take down the criminal first before the man escaped with a dangerous weapon, especially since this mugger appeared to be quite trigger-happy.
Despite the additional risk factor that was the alien technology, this was actually a pretty routine job for the two heroes. Guide to being a superhero for dummy: Arresting armed muggers
Step 1: Try to approach the target without being detected
Step 2: Disarm the target
Step 3: If you still don't know what to do at this point, please just go home and leave everything to the police.
Warning: Those who are invulnerable can skip the first two steps. Just try not to end up like a certain Man-of-Steel who once got the rare privilege of being "tended to" by Batman by realizing the bullets were Kryptonite only after being shot. (None know what happened between them, but Superman checked out every criminal's gun with his X-ray vision first for almost half a year after that).
Batman and Nightwing had step one down pat. They got out of the car and caught up to the fleeing criminal easily, all without the latter ever noticing anything. Then, of course, things started to go wrong, because Batman and his family had gone through three whole days without anything strange happened and their meager luck clearly ran out a while ago. The moment Batman's hand grasped the alien weapon, a clicking sound was heard and a blinding blue light began enveloping him.
"BATMAN!" Nightwing shouted as he watched his mentor being swallowed up by the energy flash. Without thinking, he leapt in after him, his hands just managing to touch the black armor before he felt himself being pulled forward by some kind of powerful force.
When the light finally cleared, no trace of the three men who had been standing there just moments before can be seen in the alley.
When Nightwing came to, the vigilante felt like he had been whacked over the head with Harley Quinn's hammer. Rubbing his temple, he sat up and found Batman crouching before him, the tied unconscious mugger lying on his left and the strange weapon sitting in Batman's right hand.
"Are you alright?" asked Batman.
"Yeah." Nightwing looked around "What happened?"
Batman slowly stood up, taking in their surrounding with a wary look.
"This place looks like the same alley, but I think we have been transported somewhere else." He concluded, having spotted a trash can that he clearly did not remember being there before "We could be in either another time or an alternate dimension. I need a bit more time to study this weapon..."
Batman's sentence was suddenly cut off by a woman's scream. The two vigilantes were instantly on alert and took off towards the source. A few seconds later, they heard another man's shouting.
"GIVE ME ALL OF YOUR MONEY!"
Nightwing and Batman stood on the roof of a building, looking down at the scene. A man was pointing a gun at a family of three, with the husband covering his wife and kid with his own body. He was waving his weapon in an aggressive manner, looking particularly trigger-happy. Nightwing was about to swoop down and knock him out when his left arm was suddenly caught and he was held in place. He jerked around and saw his mentor standing there still as a statue, his grip growing vice-like.
"Batman, what are you doing?" Nightwing demanded, trying to free his arm "We need to rescue them!"
The older man didn't reply. He just turned his head to face Nightwing, and somehow, the young vigilante could just detect a hint of vulnerability from under the emotionless cowl. Then he realized with a start that the hand holding him was shaking. He frowned and asked in a softer tone.
"Batman, what...?"
The question was never finished. Two earsplitting gunshots rang out and when Nightwing looked back, the small boy was sitting frozen in a pool of his parents' blood, his hands holding a broken pearl necklace. Nightwing felt his breath caught in his throat. He stood emotionless for several seconds, staring at the scene before turning around and signaling at Batman to go, tugging him a bit when the other man wouldn't respond. No words could escape him.
He'd finally realized the cruel joke that they had been thrust into tonight. He'd finally recognized all of this. The alley, the killer, his two victims, and most importantly, that boy. This was when a tragedy had taken place, and when a legend was born. This was the event that had given birth to the Batman.
"I thought you would be here." Dick approached his father figure who was still in his Batman getup. They were standing in front of the grave of the Waynes, Bruce's parents.
Everyone had just returned from the weapon hunt. It had taken a few hours, but Bruce had managed to convert the alien technology to take them back to their own time. The criminal handed off to the police, the weapon transported to Justice League watchtower for investigation. Then Dick noticed that Bruce had disappeared.
"Why didn't you save them?" asked Dick.
Bruce replied in his emotionless Batman voice.
"The consequence of changing time is unpredictable. We could have erased the future or even this universe completely."
Dick turned to face Bruce, his arms crossed, his expression shouting "Don't give me that fucking nonsense".
Bruce glanced at him, then removed his cowl, his voice barely audible.
"Dick, if you have the chance to stop your parents' death, would you take it?"
"We are not talking about me here." Dick commented, a little uncomfortable at the sudden inquiry.
Bruce didn't wait for an answer, instead turning back to look at his parents' grave.
"It used to be a hard choice for me. Should I choose to be Batman, or should I save my parents and undo everything good I have done?" After a short pause, he continued "Most of the time, I think I would just let the world burn."
Dick didn't say anything. He was also a little puzzled as to why Bruce said the choice "used to" be hard. He had also thought many times about what could have happened if his parents hadn't died. Perhaps he would have continued on with the Haly's Circus, then grown up to be a star performer, like he used to dream of as a small child. That Dick would have lived a normal life, being blissfully unaware of the many horrors that could be brought about by the dark side of this world, unaware of a different life that he could have led at a city named Gotham that he didn't even remember. And he would never have crossed path with a certain Dark Knight, never joined his new family, and never became the first of many to inherit a legacy. But Dick had never dwelled much on "what if" fantasies. He was not like Bruce who clung to the past with such determination that in some ways, time itself seemed to have stopped for him. The man carried everything with him, good and bad, but he only ever called on the pain to keep on walking. That weight was not only crushing him, but also those closest to him. Dick couldn't live like that. He always moved forward swiftly, barely ever looking back, because he knew that if he turned his head around for too long, he would be dragged under. He abandoned all the "I could have" and "I should have", so that he could revisit his memories without drowning in regrets. The dissimilarity between him and Bruce made it hard for Dick to understand his mentor, but sometimes Dick did wonder what people like himself, Jason, Tim, Damian and all other who'd joined this family justice crusade meant to Bruce.
Bruce's next words shocked him.
"But I'd already made this decision a long time ago, Dick." said Bruce.
Dick stared at him.
"What do you mean by that?"
Bruce closed his eyes briefly as if remembering something before replying.
"I already had a chance to live in that world, once. A world where my parents were still alive."
Dick gave Bruce a startled look.
"It was several years ago. You wouldn't remember it, but the timeline had been altered, and I was suddenly living with my parents, a wife and two kids."
Bruce smiled a little.
"In that world, I had been a real useless person. Gotham was completely overrun with criminals, too. But I had the family that I always thought I wanted." Bruce reminisced "For a moment, I wanted to stay."
"Then why didn't you?" Dick inquired
"I saw you, Dick."
Dick inhaled sharply, an unknown feeling welling up inside his chest.
"I saw the you of that timeline. I know I could have saved that Gotham. I know I could continue to be Batman and try to save the world. But I realized that I could not have saved you."
Bruce continued in a low voice.
"If I remained there, I wouldn't have been able to help you no matter how much I tried. It was then that I remembered that I already had so many people waiting for me here."
Bruce stooped a little, carefully traced his parents' names on the grave.
"I know that you think I would exchange anything to have my parents back, but there are things in this world that I am not willing to trade. Being Batman might have brought me a lot of pain, but I have also gained a family on this path."
He straightened himself and turned to his son.
"I can give up Batman, Dick. However, I will not give all of this up."
Then, without allowing Dick to even say anything, Bruce walked away from his parents' grave. Dick watched his mentor, a grin on his face. He knew that this conversation must have used up Bruce's reserve of emotional speech for probably the next fifty years, but it was enough. THIS was more than just Batman and an army of vigilantes, allies on the road to battle evil. It was also a family, fighting to stay together and protect their own. Just having that knowledge enabled him to clear his doubts. And Dick realized, that his choice is already made too.
I think that Batman does care more about his current family than having his parents back. The alternate timeline thing really happened in the comic, but I can't remember if that was real or just a Scarecrow's illusion. Bruce chose to fix everything back to normal when he saw Dick on death row for killing Zucco.
Sorry for any mistakes, this is not beta-ed.