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A young boy with jet black hair ran down a long gloomy lit corridor his breath coming in ragged gasps. Wrenching the black door open he was met by the sight of a room with a depression in the centre, a dias with a intriguing arch sat at the centre.
Figures were dancing round it, flashes of light shooting from wooden sticks they held only for their opponent to block the jet of light returning their own. Over half were dressed in black robes of some sort, white masks covering their identity.
The smaller force were dressed in bright red and gold their faces visible, the unmasked side seemed too be losing thought the jet black boy hardly noticed as he weaved between the fighters occasionally shooting a spell at the masked men.
He jumped the last few steps landing hard before staggering to his feet and climbing onto the dais to reach a man in his thirties, a haunted expression visible in the depths of his eye's. "Sirius" the young man exclaimed happiness clearly visible "Harry no time" The gaunt man replied dodging a spell his opponent shot at him hoping he'd be caught off guard "you need to get the others out Voldermort's on his way"
The young man clearly looked unhappy but complied with the mans wishes turning only to come face to face with a tall man dressed in black though unlike his companions was unmasked, his blood red eye's shining with delight "Harry Potter such a pleasure you could join us".
The boy glared right back into the red eye's of his nemesis "Voldermort" He simply stated. Voldermort surveyed the young man "so Harry any final words before I finish you" Harry stood tall glaring in defiance "even if you finish me their will always be others Voldermort, one day you will fall"
The red eye's narrowed slightly "Harry you know the prophecy" "Prophecy" the boy Harry butted in. The dark Lords eyes shone in triumph "you mean Dumbledore didn't tell you" Voldermort stated slightly incredulously "but of course the old man was always rather manipulative. You see Harry the prophecy that I acquired earlier this evening told that the person with a chance to defeat me would be born at the end of the seventh month to parents who have thrice defied me"
The young mans face was scrunched up in confusion "so it means I'm the one destined to defeat you" he asked as though he was still thinking it through "the funny thing is it could have meant either you or Neville Longbottom" "So I might not be the chosen one" Harry said as though speaking the though aloud would cleanse him of the 'chosen one' and its responsibilities.
"No Harry one line of the prophecy referred 'marked as his equal', yes Harry your scar" Voldermort said a smug smile on his face as Harry reached up to touch his lightening bolt scar. "But enough talk" Voldermort snapped more business like "say your farewells Harry" Voldermort raised his yew wand.
BOOM, one of the doors that lined the room was blasted off its hinges taking out two of the robed men 'Master, Dumbledore has arrived' a snake to Voldermort's right hissed. Harry sensing it was a chance to make a break darted off,Voldermort spotted the action "NO" he hissed brandishing his wand.
Harry managed to block the first curse but the second, a sickening green one went straight through the shield impacting on Harry before he could move blasting him through the Veil the last thing he saw was the terrified face of the gaunt man.
----
Bruce shot up shaking slightly, the face of the gaunt man haunting him. Flopping back down he glanced at the clock that sat beside his bed, the glowing figures revealing the time as 5:30. Sighing Bruce swung his legs out of bed noticing that they were shaking and barely supported his weight.
Staggering to the window he looked out over the sleeping city of Gotham. For years he had considered Gotham his home and he did his best as Bruce Wayne to help Gotham at the same time he had also been protecting the city from crime under the guise of the Vigilante known as Batman.
Pulling on his dressing gown Bruce wandered the halls of Wayne manor stopping before a bookcase. The bookcase slide away to reveal a well lit lift. Stepping inside the doors swished shut behind him.
The doors opened to reveal a large cavernous space with several metal layers, poles and stairs connecting the two. Striding over to his work area he reclined into the leather chair his mind already back on the dream. Could it be that I have a link with someone who experienced those events, just a thing created by his subconscious, could it be a warning or.... could he have experienced it himself.
The name Harry did sound familiar and when he was a child he did pick up on thing extraordinarily quickly, almost like he already knew it'. The whirring of the turbolift pulled Bruce out of his thoughts, Alfred stepped out dressed in his usual butler suit "Good Morning Master Bruce sleep well" "not bad" Bruce said in his usual gruff voice.
"any breakouts from arkham, robberies or master plots I should be aware off" Alfred said his typical English dry humour shining through. "apart from a burglary that Tim stopped its been quite for once" Bruce said tempting fate. Remembering what plagued him he turned to Alfred his gaze seriuos "Alfred does the name Harry, Potter or Voldermort ring any bells".
Alfred understanding the serious tone quickly scanned his mind for any mention of the names "I believe Sir that your parents owned a suitcase with the intitals engraved on it might that be what you were thing of"
Not surprisingly he wasn't disappointed as the bat-wave lit up summoning him to a Justice League meeting "speaking of the devil" Bruce murmured "looks like breakfast is going to have to wait"
----
"your usual Master Bruce" Alfred said over his shoulder as he headed back to the lift
The roar of a motorbikes engine announced the arrive of Robin.
"Morning Bruce, sleep well" Robin said removing the black latex mask that covered his eye's revealing a young man with bright blue, his name Tim Drake. "not bad" Bruce said shortly his mind still on the dream. Tim instantly picked upon the fact that bruce appeared preoccupied "what's up".
Bruce sighed realising that someone had spotted his lack of attention not surprisingly it was Tim the third robin who had spotted it after all he did want to become the worlds greatest detective. "An unusual dream" bruce said hoping the lack of detail would make the subject boring or more likely tim would dismiss it as just a dream.
"Unusal in what way" tim asked his interested peaked, what could scare or confuse the Batman the worlds greatest detective. Bruce contenplated how best to answer "It started off with a young boy called Harry he was running down a corridor, he entered a large room and found people fight though they were shooting balls of light at each other. He found a older man in his mid-thirties who I guess he was searching for, anyway another man called Voldermort appeared boasting about Harry was the only one who could defeat him.
Then another man, elderly with a silver beard arrived I think the snake called him Dumbledore" "The snake spoke!" Tim exclaimed causing Bruce to frown how could the snake have talked unless it was some power the boy and snake faced man had, if so it could help deturmine whether it was a dream or something more.
"Then Voldermort pointed a stick of some sort at him, Harry dodged the first but was hit by the second knocking him through an archway". The two sat in silence, "so what are you going to do about it" Tim asked questioningly though Bruce sensed that the boy wonder was thinking up all sorts of possibilities.
"First I'm going search through my parents belongings for any clues. I'll also check my DNA for anything odd in my genetic coding, but first lets go find a snake" "Why" Tim asked before answering his own question "because if the dream is related to you you might be able to speak to snakes".
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His musing was interrupted by the arrival of the lift which opened to reveal Alfred, dressed in his usual butler suit.
"Good morning Master Wayne" "morning to you to Alfred, sleep well" Bruce asked on the off chance something had affected not only his dreams but those of his butler "yes thank you sir, did you", Bruce grinned ruefully knowing alfred if he said no he would rush him off to bed but he couldn't say yes either
"I had an interesting night" Bruce said carefully avoiding a direct yes or no. Alfred looked up from the tray of food he'd just set down and finally caught a glance of his master Bruce certainly did look the worst for wear his eye's were slightly bloodshot, his hair was incrediablely messy and sticking at odd angles and a sense of tireness surrounded him.
"Master Bruce" Alfred began no doubt to tell him that he should not be out of bed etc only to be cut off by the Bat-wave "Duty calls" Bruce said a small smile on his face before rising and striding to get his suit. Five minutes later and he was suited and ready to go "Sir.." Alferd desperately tried only to be greeted with the thrumm of the Batmobile.
----
Tim stepped out of the lift to see the Batmobile disappearing down the tunnel and a agitated Alfred left behind "Alfred what's up" he asked rushing forward "master Tim you must go after Bruce he looks ready to drop" Tim nodded and three minutes later blasted into the dark tunnel in search of his mentor.
----
Batman arrive at Gotham General Bank to find the Vault open, his eye caught the whisp of Green hair
Bruce spent an hour searching through his parents stuff and as her neared the end of the pile he stumbled across a mahogany trunk with a intricate design, trying the lid he found it locked. To his shock the trunk didn't come with a lock so he was at a loss as to why it didn't open.
He completed his search of the items and nothing else unusual or inexplicable turned up so he left the loft carrying the box. Bat analysis was more revealing as it revealed that the box held several stable inter-dimension pockets that allowed it to store more than it normal could.
"Bruce" he jumped in shock, he'd been so wrapped up in through that he hadn't noticed Robin's approach.
----
Tim Drake entered the cave after a hard nights patrol, penguin was causing havoc again he appeared to have purchased a new bird one which was much more ferocious. Swinging his leg of his bike he grasped the pole and shot skywards, letting go he elegantly landed. He noticed Bruce was already up and appeared to be deep in thought.
"Bruce" Tim was surprised when Bruce jumped 'weird that's not happened before' Tim though his detective skills noting Bruce's dishevelled appearance and the fact he was wearing his dressing gown, as Tim took in this particular piece of clothing he was officially worried Bruce never wore his dressing gown down here as he said it didn't go with the feel of the cave.
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Bruce turned in his seat to spy Robin approaching him, he had to admit he had been surprised when Tim Drake had found out about his secret identity even more so when Tim talked his way onto the team arguing that Batman needed Robin. Looking back he was glad Tim had joined the team as he had proved to be a dedicated learner and was able to help Bruce get over jason death even if Tim had realised what he was doing.
Noticing Tim's torn and bloodied suit he raised his eyebrows "having fun" he said his voice hinting at Bruce's weariness even though he'd had a fairly long night (6 hours). Tim seemed to pick up on the weariness as his face showed concern "Bruce are you alright your tired and your attention is terrrible, BRUCE" Bruce jerked his head up "huh what".
----
Bruce turned in his chair and his whole appearance spoke weariness, "having fun" the voice wasn't its usual self this time it had a slight softening, Tim detected the weariness behind the 'Bat-Voice'. Tim was freaked out now Bruce was tired, unaware of his surroundings and his attention seemed to be non existent "Bruce are you alright your tired and your attention is terrrible, BRUCE" Tim yelled the last part shaking the Dark knight out of his complacent thoughts
Bruce Wayne had never had a easy life, he had seen his parents gunned down when he was eight years old and that night he'd made a promise that he would never let anyone else suffer the loss of a parent to criminals again.
So he had trained travelling the worlds learning Martial arts, detective skills and all manor of things that would be needed to combat the criminal underworld. He had returned to Gotham years later and begun his crusade against crime.
Originally he had been dismissed as a urban legend but over time and after many sightings (not to mention the number of criminal that appeared unconscious outside police Headquarters) the people of Gotham had excepted the existence of the Vigilante known as Batman.
Years passed and he was joined by