—
It's been one year since the Joker died and Gotham was as peaceful as ever. If this had been Metropolis or Keystone, the peace would have been a relief. But this was Gotham.
Bruce could feel it. Something bad was going to happen, and soon. It was only a matter of time.
A week before the incident, Bruce arrived at the cave only to find something slightly disturbing. Robin wasn't there.
He asked the team if they had seen him and only after all members had responded in the negative did his heart beat at a speed that would rival Barry's.
Bruce called Alfred and informed him of Dick's absence from the cave and ordered him to drive around Gotham and search for the boy. Bruce never ordered Alfred to do anything so it was a testament to how nervous he was.
Gotham was filled with people who would do anything for money, and most of those people would kidnap a billionaire's ward without batting an eye. When Alfred called Bruce four hours later with the unfortunate news that he had not found Dick, Bruce went to Wonder Woman and Superman.
"I'm sure he's fine, Bruce. The kid can handle himself." Clark told him.
Bruce was not comforted by that. He knew that Dick was able to handle himself, but if it had just been some simple thugs, Dick would have been home by now, which led to Bruce suspecting the worst.
"That's exactly my point, Clark." Bruce said, angrily typing on the watchtower's computer.
Diana put a hand on his shoulder and Bruce wanted to roll his eyes - something he must have picked up from Dick because he did not roll his eyes - at the pity rolling off her in waves.
"We'll find him." She said softly. Bruce grunted in response.
She was right. They would find him or Bruce would die trying.
—
Then, a week later an entire diner was exposed to Scarecrow's fear gas and attacked each other and Bruce felt his stomach tie itself in knots. The war that they had all been waiting for was here and Dick was still missing.
He hadn't told the Young Justice team despite all their questions as to where their youngest member had been the past week. Bruce told them he was sick and left it at that.
When he had informed them of Gotham's current state, they asked when the boy would return.
"I told you, Wally, Robin is sick. Now, if you'll turn your attention back-"
"Well, when will he be un-sick?"
Batman pursed his lips. It was obvious Wally - and the rest of the team, probably - didn't believe his half-assed excuse.
Batman was about to tell the boy not to worry about Robin and to pay attention but Superman cut him off.
"Batman, stop this. They deserve to know."
Batman didn't turn to him. He gestured to Superman, silently telling him to take the stage. He couldn't say it out loud.
"As you've probably all realized, Robin is not sick. He's missing." Superman explained, pretending not to notice the way Batman avoided looking at them. He couldn't see their shocked and worried expressions, not when he's spent nearly a week awake worrying and searching for clues that might point in the kidnapper's - because, whether Bruce wanted to admit it or not, the boy had been kidnapped - direction.
"What are we doing here, then? We should be out looking for him!" Wally stood, gathering the attention of everyone in the room.
"No, there's no need for that. I have it covered." Batman quickly said.
Flash turned to him. "You don't even know if he's in Gotham anymore, and if he isn't, you're just one person. You can't do this alone, Bruce." Thankfully, he said the last part low enough that none of the younger heroes heard them.
Despite the fact that he was wearing a mask, Flash could see the emotion in his eyes. Dick could handle himself, but at the end of the day, he was just a kid. He knew Bruce was blaming himself. All of the cameras and alarms that Bruce had and none of them picked up anything. But worse than all of that, Bruce hadn't noticed. Someone had broken into his house and kidnapped his… son… and he didn't know.
Batman sighed. "Ok."
Flash gave him a smile and nodded at Superman.
Everything was going to be okay. They were going to find Dick and defeat Scarecrow and everything was going to be fine.
Of course, there's no happy endings in Gotham.