Ch 2

I turned the chopper off as it slowly lowered to the ground. I smashed through the cockpit glass and existed the now-landed helicopter. Superman was standing there, smiling.

"Little early for bats to be flying around, isn't it? Sun hasn't even gone down yet."

"I had that under control." I growled at him.

"I know you did. I just wanted to help. That's what we do, right?" He looked around. There was a crowd gathering around us and the downed helicopter. "Maybe we should go somewhere a little more private. We seem to be gathering quite the fan club."

What? Did this guy even hear himself? Fan club?

I pulled my grapple gun from my belt and shot it at a nearby rooftop. I felt a rush of air behind me as Superman flew by, landing on the rooftop moments before I'd arrived.

"Danny," He said with a smile once we were on the roof. "You're doing a great job."

I took off my helmet and put it on the ground. My head hurt like hell from that shotgun blast, but there was no damage on my skin. I would probably wake up tomorrow with a horrible headache and some pretty bad whiplash though. It was certainly better than getting my head blasted off by a thug with a shotgun though.

"What do you want?" I asked, trying not to sound cold or distant. Alfred had been telling me that I needed to work on my people skills.

"The Justice League is having a meeting tomorrow night. We haven't seen Batman there since Bruce. I am here to formally invite you to that meeting."

"Is there anything big happening? Any big threats?" I asked.

"Well… no, but-"

"I won't be coming then."

"Batman is a principal member of the League. I really think-"

"Batman was a principal member of the League. That time is over. I work alone now."

"That's not true." Superman interjected with some attitude. "You have Robin and Batgirl still."

"Look, Clark," I said, this time more calmly, "I don't think the League needs Batman. I'm still giving you all the necessary funds, but I don't care about the League. Call me when there's a real emergency."

Superman sighed and shook his head. He covered his face with his hands, then he looked at me and smiled.

"You know, you are so much like him." The Kryptonian told me, "That's exactly what he said when I first proposed the idea of the Justice League to him. He didn't want any part of it."

"What changed his mind?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"Diana came and talked to him about it." Superman said, smiling. He was talking about Wonder Woman. I knew that Bruce had feelings for her. No wonder he joined the League after that. "Bruce was my best friend. You didn't know that did you?"

I shook my head.

"He always loved Diana. I knew he did. His heart rate would accelerate whenever she was around. Bruce's heart rate rarely ever got above 60 beats per minute resting. He never got stressed. But around Diana, it was different. I think I was the only member of the League who knew."

I nodded, though I didn't know what he was trying to do.

"Why are you telling me this?" I asked calmly.

"There's more to life than living in shadow and faking as though you have a real life, Daniel. I know how you feel about J'onn's niece."

I turned away from him, blushing. I wasn't embarrassed of the fact that I loved her. I was embarrassed of the fact that I hadn't seen her in three years. I could've. I just… I felt different.

"Is she… how is she?" I asked quietly.

"Why don't you find out? She is technically still a Titan, but she does a lot of work with the League. I think she is considering joining us."

The Titans were no longer the team that they had been intended to be. Originally, it was supposed to be a preparatory "Justice League," the Teen Titans. But within the past few years, Dick had completely changed it. It was a separate team of almost equal caliber. I was proud of my best friend for his leadership. Although Starfire and Cyborg had left the Titans to join the Justice League, the Titans were just as strong. They even recruited a few more members. Surprisingly, even a few meta humans who we had defeated a few years back had been reformed and recruited.

"I don't know." I said quietly, "I don't think I can show my face to her."

"Why not?" He asked me.

"I haven't seen her in years. Honestly Clark, I am too ashamed now that I didn't reach out to her. It was the grief of losing Bruce at first, but now I am just ashamed of myself."

"Danny, the more you put it off, the worse you're going to-" he started to say, before looking off into the distance.

"What's wrong?" I asked, picking up my helmet from the ground.

"There's trouble. A bomb has just been set off near Arkham Asylum."

"What?" I asked, "We need to move."

"Agreed." He said, before taking off. I put my helmet on and jumped off the ledge. I activated my rocket boots and flew into the air.

"Batgirl, Robin, come in." I said over comms.

"Batgirl here. Batman, you're not gonna believe this…" Babs said over my radio.

"A bomb went off at Arkham?" I asked her.

"Yeah!"

"Superman and I are on the way:"

"Superman?" I heard Jason ask, admirably.

"Batgirl, contain as many inmates as you can. Robin, use the R-Cycle to set up a perimeter."

I heard Jason grumble a little, but no one else said anything.

"Alfred, any idea what happened?"

"Nothing definite." He told me, "However, the Police are reporting that this may be a possible terror attack."

"Who would set off a bomb at Arkham?" I asked, "It would be more effective to set one off downtown."

"Perhaps the League is Shadows, Master Daniel…" Alfred replied, his voice filled with disgust.

The League of Shadows was a group of assassins and terrorists. They were mostly religious fanatics, of a sort. They followed a Ra's Al-Ghul, who was called the Demon. Supposedly, he was an immortal, who had been the leader of the group for a thousand years. My suspicion however, was that it was led by successors who took the name of Ra's Al-Ghul and the title of the Demon. I had met the current Leader's daughter, Talia, before. It was the League's fault that Helena Bertinelli, my first girlfriend, had died in a battle. They had been trying to kill me, because of a prophecy stating that I would kill Al-Ghul and put an end to the Demon. Helena had died saving me.

But they hadn't attacked me in years. The last attack was just a week or so before Trigon had killed Bruce.