Prologue

Beneath Wayne Manor, the Batcave:

The Batcomputer chair was huge. Barbara kept slipping out of it.

She didn't like sitting in this chair. But it was bolted to the floor in front of the computer. And Barbara wasn't about to take down Bruce's chair. Not yet. Maybe not ever.

"Barbara! Hey! Are you there?"

Barbara blinked. Then she reached across the keyboard to the Batphone monitor—it was almost out of her reach, damn Bruce and his long arms—and flipped the purple switch.

"Aren't you supposed to be in class, Stephanie?"

The sound of Stephanie Brown's amused snort blared from the Batcomputer speakers. "It's five pm, Babs. I just got out."

"Is it really?"

"Yeah really. I just wanted to see how B and R's car chase thingie went last night. You know, the one you wouldn't let me help out on because I had a test in your class today that you didn't even show up for so I didn't really have to take because it's not like you wouldn't have let me make it up some other time because Batgirls gotta stick together—"

"Keep your voice down with the Bat-stuff, Stephanie." Barbara sighed and straightened her glasses. "Car chase led to a plane chase, which led into a drug bust which sent them out to the suburbs. They should be getting back—" the sound of the Batcave door opening suddenly echoed through the cave— "Now, actually."

"Wow," said Stephanie as the Batmobile emerged from the dark tunnel and pulled up to its spot at the center of the cave. "Busy day, huh? All I did today was fall asleep in French. Hey guys!"

Barbara looked over her shoulder in time to see Dick and Damian vault from the Batmobile.

"Hi, Stephanie," said Dick, pushing back his cowl.

"Brown," acknowledged Damian, pulling up his hood.

"You heard anything from Tim?" Dick asked Barbara. The computer screens cast his face in a pale glow as he walked into their light. Behind him Damian slipped away into the shadows.

"Not even a text," said Barbara, turning back to her screen. "Have you?"

"Nothing."

"Maybe he's on to something."

Dick reached over Barbara's shoulder and poked at the stuffed Nightwing and Batgirl dolls sitting on one of the Batcomputer monitors. "If he is, I better get your crap out of the cave ASAP."

Stephanie's voice cut in: "What are you guys talking about?"

Barbara chuckled. "It is all mine, isn't it?"

"Yep. I just come here for the cars." His footsteps echoed through the Batcave as he paced away from Barbara's chair.

She took off her headset and spun the chair around to look at him. "You going to miss it, Once and Future Boy Wonder?"

Dick smiled and shook his head. "I was just thinking...that I might actually miss living with Damian."

"You know I can hear you, right?" Damian's voice echoed through the cave from an upper level, where he sat with his feet over the edge sharpening a sword.

Dick threw his head back to look up at him. "I know you can, Damian."

"Well—" Damian began, and then faltered.

"Aw, you confused him," Barbara said under her breath.

"Guys, I feel like I'm missing something," Stephanie said plaintively.

"Hold that thought, Steph," said Barbara. "Call coming in from the Watchtower." She tapped a button on her keyboard as Dick came to stand behind her chair. "Watchtower, this is Oracle at the Batcave."

Superman appeared on Barbara's main monitor. He wasn't smiling.

"I'm so sorry, you all," he said gravely, a catch in his deep voice.

Dick's hand fell to Barbara's shoulder and squeezed.

"Sorry about what, Superman?" said Barbara. Her voice sounded harsh and stiff in her ears.

Superman's miserable frown deepened. "Is Tim not back yet?"

"No," she snapped. "We didn't even know he was with you."

Dick dropped his other hand to Barbara's other shoulder. His grip was painful, but his voice was level as he said, "What happened, Clark?"

Superman dropped his chin, pressed a hand to his forehead. "Tim was right—Tim was right about everything. We found Bruce in the past. But when we tried to pull him back, the Omega radiation interference from Vandal Savage's bomb was too strong. Captain Atom, Flash, the Lanterns—they all tried their best. But—"

Superman fell silent as the sound of a revving motor echoed through the Batcave. From the tunnel entrance a motorbike appeared, bright red in the darkness. The bike stopped near the edge of the cave, well away from the Batmobile, and the rider lowered the kickstand and slowly dismounted.

"Is that Tim?" said Stephanie, her voice hushed and crackled over the speaker. "Is that—"

Tim removed his helmet, then pushed back his Red Robin cowl. He half-turned, and his eyes—red-rimmed and overbright—met Dick's across the cave, then flicked to a spot above Dick's head. At Damian.

Then Tim dropped his gaze and turned away.

Clark's deep sigh trembled through the computer speakers. "I'm so sorry."

Dick turned back to the screen as Tim disappeared in the cave's shadows. Above them, Damian had silently left as well. Dick's hand gripped Barbara's shoulder even harder.

"Clark," he said. "…Thanks. Thanks for telling us. I want to know more about—how it happened. But right now—"

"Of course," said Clark. "They need you." Superman took a step back from the monitor, a tic working in his chiseled jaw as he struggled to compose himself. "I'll be here, Dick."

"Thanks." Dick reached down and turned off the monitor. "Stephanie, are you still there?"
"Yes," said Stephanie softly. "Should I not be?"

"No. I'm glad. But we're going to have to hang up now."
"Right. Of course."

"I'll message you later, Steph," said Barbara.

"'Kay. And someone's gotta tell Cass—"

"We will," said Barbara.

"Kay. Bye...I mean... Okay, bye." There was a click, and the line went dead.

The cave was quiet. Dick and Barbara were the only ones left.

They looked at each other.

"What are we going to do now?"

...

Crossposted from gothamarise dot tumblr dot com.