[A Year After Batman and Robin Eternal]

The Dark Knight's large footsteps echoed throughout the long, dark hallway. His brooding expression was clearly visible, though no one saw it. Lightning cracked in the distance, splitting the sky and hurling thunder throughout the gloomy streets of Gotham City.

As rainwater trickled through the cracks in the ceiling of the abandoned factory, the Dark Knight stayed focused on what was at the end of the hallway: a wooden door, leading to the one who started it all.

As the Knight approached, the faint sound of wicked cackling bled through the air, warning the Caped Crusader of what was to come.

Unpredictable, he thought, ruthless, motiveless.

Insane.

"Master Bruce," the voice of the Knight's butler and long-time friend, Alfred J. Pennyworth, said through the communications device embedded within the Knight's cowl. His steps quickened into a speed walk, rapidly getting close to the door. "What are you doing?!" Alfred demanded as he watched the Crusader's vitals on a computer screen, from the batcave. No oral response was given, only the quickening of pace. "Master Bruce," faster. "You know what he is capable of," faster. "He will be waiting for you," faster. "He will be prepared," faster.

The Knight was now in a full sprint toward the door.

"You know that he is not afraid to--"

Bang!

Thud

On the screens, nothing.

"Master Bruce?" He called out, staring at the screens. "M-Master Bruce?" Only silence. "Bruce!" He shouted, terror filling his mind.

"Oh god..."

[One hour earlier]

"Alright, there you go!" A voice cheered. "You got this!" They stood, watching a friend, cheering them on and congratulating them. "C'mon, you got this."

"I know!" The friend responded. "But this is the most pain I've been in since the incident itself." They continued. "I've never struggled with anything as much as this."

"It's alright, Babs, you're almost there. Just a few more steps." The voice encouraged their friend.

The friend went step by step, slowly making their way across the small room. She had long, red hair that had been done up in a ponytail, and wore exercise clothes and running shoes. Light freckles dotted her cheekbones, and her green eyes shined in the light emitted from the ceiling. She stood between two extended bars, from one side of the room to the other, and held herself up with her arms in an attempt to walk.

Every step was agony, and her arms were quickly growing tired, but she needed to do this. If she wanted to walk ever again, she would have to persevere and train herself to do it again.

The operation had gone well, but she still needed to get used to walking.

As she reached the other side of the room, she sat down on a chair and began panting. Her friend whooped and congratulated her.

It was the first time she had walked all the way across the room.

"Thanks, Dick. I'm glad you're here to help me." She thanked him. "Just wish Bruce or Dad were here."

"Don't worry, Babs, you'll be up and walking in no time. I guarantee they'll be proud." He reassured her. "Though, Bruce might not show it."

Babs chuckled a bit.

"Yeah, he's a hardass, but y'gotta love him." Babs replied.

"We're lucky he reciprocates." Dick said as he helped Babs to her wheelchair.

As he brought Babs out of the room, they both heard footsteps approaching from behind.

"Who do you think it is?" Dick jokingly asked the girl in the wheelchair that he was pushing.

"Well, the steps are too light to be rushed, so they're not running. Also too heavy to be Damian, plus he said he was going to stay at the Manor with Alfred and Tim. It's not Kate or Helena, or else we'd've heard them by now." Babs said, listing the possibilities of who's footsteps were behind them. "It's Jason."

"Nice guessing, Barb--" The male voice was interrupted by a loud crack and then a thud. Behind Barbara Gordon, also known as Oracle and formerly Batgirl, stood Dick with two electrified sticks, and on the floor was Jason Todd, also known as Red Hood.

Barbara sighed loudly and scolded the man who was now standing in front of her, after she had turned her chair around.

As Jason stood up, Dick Grayson, also known as Nightwing, got into a defensive position and warned the masked vigilante in front of him, "You're not supposed to be here. Bruce told us not to let you in."

"Well clearly," Jason began, as he stretched his neck, followed by his arms. "You didn't really enforce it. Either that or you're just really bad at following directions."

"I shouldn't have to enforce it, you should have known not to come here--" Dick began shouting as he got closer to Jason's face.

"Hey," Barbara tried to interrupt.

"Oh, really?" Jason challenged.

"Hey!" Barbara shouted, catching the attention of the clashing men in front of her. "Stop!" They obeyed.

"Fine." They both said in unison before turning to look at Barbara.

"Jason, why are you here?" She asked genuinely, hoping to find a way to get Jason to leave.

"It's Bruce," he said simply, immediately catching their attention. "There's something with him. In his blood. Cassie and Harper went to go find him," He looked at Dick in the eye, knowing that he, Tim, Dick, and Bruce were the only ones who knew about Harper and Cassandra. "Damian went to find Talia. Alfred, Tim, Helena and Kate stayed at the manor to try and find out what it could have been, Steph stayed at her apartment to protect Harper's brother and I, obviously, came to get you guys.

"He turned off all of his systems. We can't find him anywhere, we only know his vitals, and that's it. He's also encrypted his comms, and we're having a hard time getting through those."

"Alright." Barbara said with a blank expression and a monotone voice. "See you at the batcave."

[One and a half hours later, now]

"Alright, Dick, we're here." Harper Row, also known as Bluebird, spoke into the comms. "We haven't found any traces of Bruce, but we're one hundred percent sure someone was here."

"Okay, Harper. That warehouse is the closest I could find his signal. You'll have to search from there." The fellow vigilante replied with an eerie seriousness that was often heard in recent days.

"Alright. We'll search for him until we find him." Harper said, giving the man a sense of hope that he knew that they could fulfill.

"Thank you, Harper." The man replied.

"No problem, this is nothing. He helped me. Time to try to repay half of that debt." BlueBird said as Cassandra Cain, A.K.A. Orphan, pointed out a splatter of blood on the floor. "But he still owes me that training."

BlueBird knelt down and scanned the blood. The blood splatter was too large to have dropped from a bullet wound and didn't lead into a trail.

She figured that he was either hit by someone or something or that he had coughed it up.

"My best guess is that he coughed it up. There's no one here who could have hit him, they'd be unconscious right here. Dick, do you know what his vitals were like before he was lost?" Bluebird asked over the comm.

"They were completely normal. I heard him coughing, but Bruce has had the cold these past few days." The man responded. "He can't be coughing up blood from that."

"No," BlueBird said. "No, he can't." She was staring down the hallway at a door.

Orphan noticed BlueBird's gaze and followed it. She looked back at Bluebird and confirmed that they had the same idea.

Bluebird quickly looked back down at the blood, swiped her finger through it, reconfirming that it was recent, and stood up. Orphan and Bluebird exchanged looks before heading toward the door.

Although the hallway was not long, it felt as if it were taking forever to reach the end.

It seemed to stretch to impossibly long lengths, reaching miles, while the door seemed to shrink. Bluebird reached out toward the door, before stumbling to her knees.

Orphan caught her arm, and slowly lowered her down to the floor.

Bluebird shut her eyes tightly, and wailed in agony. In the front of her vision, she saw her brother.

"Cullen! What are you doing here?" She called out, only to have a bright flash blind her. What appeared next cut deep into her emotions, unleashing her pent up rage. "Cullen!" She shouted at the top of her lungs.

In her eyes, she saw her brother, tied up in a crucifix with his throat slit. On the floor in front of him lay the words Little Birdie Can't Guard The Nest.

"Cullen!" She cried out once more.

"Harper." A soft, feminine voice called out, and soon she felt someone hugging her from the side. "Harper." They said again, and she began to calm down, her real vision returning to her. "Not real."

Bluebird took quick, deep breaths as she scanned her surroundings. She was still in the warehouse, only a few feet from the door that seemed to have been a mile away only moments before.

She looked up at the woman who was holding her up, and giving a gentle side hug.

"Thank you, Cass." She said. "I-I don't know what happened." She quickly wrapped her arms around her partner, and released.

Orphan looked up at the door in front of them and scowled.

They both stood up and approached the door. They stopped, and once more exchanged glances. Bluebird raised her hand and signalled a countdown.

3... ... ...

2... ...

1...

Orphan burst the door open and both her and Bluebird rushed in. Bluebird held a large gun in her hands that let out large electric shocks to any target in the way while Orphan only had her fists ready.

The room did not contain what they expected, and even brought slight disappointment. It was empty, if only for a small end table, a sticky note on top with poorly written instructions, and Batman's cowl.

She read the note, but did not understand. It was an odd message, or perhaps a riddle.

"A beacon of hope, that lights up the sky, this family, it seems, are quite known to die." The note read. Bluebird examined it intensely, before lifting her head to briefly search the room by eye. There was nothing of note that she could find.

"Dick, his cowl is here. That's why you traced it here." She said into her comms.

A few moments passed before Orphan gained Bluebird's attention.

"Harper." She said. "Come...see."

Bluebird approached Orphan and looked at what she was signalling to. It was a hole in the wall. Bluebird got onto her toes and barely managed to look through the hole. It only allowed her to see one thing: Wayne Tower.

She'd have thought nothing of this had the building not suddenly been engulfed in flames after a few seconds.

Out of nowhere, static erupted from her comms.

"--Bird!--Breach--ayne Tower--ow!" The voice of what sounded like Dick Grayson said, and though half of the message was scrambled, she knew exactly what it meant.

"Come on, Cass, we gotta go to Wayne Tower." Bluebird said as she and Orphan began running out of the warehouse.

As they both ran across rooftops, Bluebird attempted to reconnect her comms to Dick, but to no avail.

They reached the Wayne Tower within only a few minutes and when they arrived, the magnitude of the situation was much worse than they had anticipated. Not only were the majority of floors on fire, but the blocks surrounding the tower were infested with rioters and other criminals. The streets closest to the tower harboured multiple warring factions, each controlling one side and battling the others.

To the north was the former District Attorney turned villain Harvey Dent, also known as Two-Face, holding his ground phenomenally, almost pouring into the other gangs' territory.

To the south was the infamous weapons dealer and club owner known as Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot, also known as The Penguin. His forces were stronger, if only slightly, than Dent's gang, and were also beginning to pour into the territory of the east and west gangs.

To the east was the genius madman Edward Nigma, also known as The Riddler. His gang were equipped with top of the line equipment, but did not stand a chance against the incoming Penguin and Two-Face thugs.

To the west, surprisingly, was Bane. His forces were holding a small defensive as they focused more on actually breaking into the Wayne Tower. They were having trouble, as the hacking was, at the very least, inefficient and the steel doors may have been between three to ten feet thick.

"Alright, Cass," Bluebird began. "We gotta do this carefully. We gotta plan this--" By the time Bluebird noticed, Orphan was already down on the street fighting thugs. "I like your thinking." Bluebird said as she went down to join her partner.