Chapter 3: Damian's Impact
The screen now showed a large room. A room once belonging to someone. They watched as a man stepped into the room and sat beside the bed. He grabbed a hand full of the sheets before releasing it. He looked down at the bed sadly before getting up and leaving the room.
Damian recognized the position of the hall and the decor.
"What's he doing in my room?" Damian asked.
They watched as the man walked down the hallway, stopped at an open door and peered inside. They saw an old man. He seemed to be staring at something.
The angle changed and they saw the man was staring at a picture. It was a picture of a young boy. He had dazzling blue eyes, and an even more dazzling smile. He was posing for a photo and they saw that he was not the only one in said picture but they couldn't see the rest. The old man let a single tear run down his face before pulling the white fabric over it.
"You shouldn't be torturing yourself like that Alfred," said the man.
"I will cease to torture myself with the memories that young Master Damian left behind when I go join him, sir. He was like a beloved grandson to me and it was tragic that he died at the tender age of eleven," said Alfred.
"Eleven?" asked the Team, the Justice League, and Batman Beyond.
"I need you to call Nightwing and tell him that I need him to patrol Gotham."
"Of course, Master Bruce. I assume you've got Justice League issues to attend to," said Alfred.
"Not this time, Alfred. Not this time," said Bruce.
He walked down the hallway until he reached the room that had his name written on it. He went in and then came back out with a shoe box. He passed the room that he saw Alfred in and saw that he was nowhere to be seen. It was as if he wasn't there in the first place.
"I'll never figure out how that man does it. Maybe I can convince him to teach me that so I can really scare those criminals. If he doesn't then he might as well as take my position as Batman."
He re-entered the boy's room and sat on the bed with the box right in front of him. He opened the shoe box and pulled out three items.
There was a whoosh and they saw a figure floating beside the man on the bed.
"Clark," said Bruce.
"It's Superman while I'm in costume, Br-," he said before looking down. "What are you doing with a gun?"
Both men reached out to grab it.
To say the Team, the League, Batman Beyond, and Damian were surprised to see what came after was an understatement. They were completely bewildered or flabbergasted when they saw Bruce pull out a piece of Kryptonite and slashed Superman's hand with it and take the gun.
"GAAH!" he shouted clutching his hand.
"Sorry to have to resort to your weakness but I didn't want you to destroy it. Believe me or not but this is just a symbol than a weapon."
"Then why is it loaded?" Superman demanded.
"I haven't touched this since the day some man killed Joe Chill, the man who murdered my parents, before I had a chance to decide to pull the trigger. This gun is a symbol of my desperation. For what I thought was vengeance and justice. It was before I became Batman. Years later, I did the same thing I'm doing now. I was staring at this gun on Jason's bed after he died. Yet again, I was contemplating murder. How I wanted to kill Joker for killing one of my soldiers, for killing one of my boys. There was something this time. Something more. I wasn't really sure what it was until after my own biological son, Damian, died. I was also contemplating suicide," he said letting the gun slip out of his grasp and hit the bed.
Bruce reached out for the second item which was a Robin costume with a hole in its gut and was torn.
Damian involuntarily reached down to his own gut and hoped that no one had noticed but everyone apart of the Bat Family, young and old, noticed the action. They also knew that the costume was his.
"Ra's stole his own daughter's, Talia's, D.N.A. and had her cloned. Ra's ordered her to take down the original Talia and shove her into the pod. Talia's clone came to Gotham to force me to make the most difficult decision in my life. She told me I had to pick one over the other. When I chose one, the other would have to die. It wasn't something I was planning to choose one over the other. I was actually trying to find the flaws in their plans so I can save both. I had to choose between saving Gotham... or saving my son."
Everyone's eyes widened with the exception of Damian. They all looked over at Batman since the boy was still in his arms. Damian had his eyes on his belt, suddenly finding it interesting.
"From what Nightwing told me, Damian declared to make the decision himself out of fear of me actually choosing his life over all of Gotham. Even if it was going to kill him he wasn't about to let me make that decision," said Bruce whose voice cracked a little.
"What's the last item represent?" asked Superman looking at the photo that was on the bed.
"Unity," Bruce said picking up the photo,"It's the only picture that everyone in my extended family is in. There's my blood sister, her husband, who should be dead but isn't, her sons, Goten, who's the youngest, his girlfriend Valese, Gohan, my sister's other and older son, with his wife Videl and their daughter Pan and my sister's father. Talia and I were standing together with our son standing in front of us. Dick was standing with his girlfriend Kori Anders and their daughter Mar'i and Dick's other son Zachary Zatara with his mom Zatanna and her father Giovanni. Wally and his wife with his kids, his aunt's and uncle's kids, and with his sister, her husband and their kids. Roy with his family and Jason. Tim, Stephenie and the rest of the Teen Titans; Barbara and her father as well as Cassandra. Damian's best friend, Colin and the rest of the Team and League. I really want to know how Alfred got all of us in the picture without cutting someone else out of the picture and manage to get in the picture as well. You know, this is the only picture we have of Damian where he is smiling out of pure joy and not out of obligation. I'm such a horrible father," said Bruce.
"No you're not," said Superman on the screen and Damian who was still in Batman's arms.
"If Damian was here, he'd say the same thing."
"No, he's probably call me a weakling for contemplating suicide. I know I'm a horrible father. Not once since Damian moved here to the Manor have I actually told my son 'I love you'. Sure it was implied on occasions but those words never came out of my mouth when talking to him."
"Bruce believe it or not, I've spent a good part of my time with your boy."
"Tt."
"From the sound you just made, I can safely assume that you have too. He loves you Bruce. He's fond of all the times you spend with him. He's fond of the teasing, the ruffling of his hair, even of your short jokes, and a whole lot more. Half of our conversations end up being about you. The last conversation I had with him started when he said 'Kent, do you think my dad loves me?' When I told him that he was one of the best things that's ever happened to you, he said he didn't believe me but by looking at his eyes I could tell that he really wanted to hear about the extent of your love. I told him about how after he came to live with you that you started to smile more. How you were more approachable now that people knew how to start a conversation with you. All they had to do was ask about your son and you would smile then talk about him. That once when you were talking about him that you called him your little ray of sunshine because just having him around, safe and healthy, brought some light into your life. I told him if that he wanted to hear you say those words then he should just ask you or to tell you just how much you mean to him by talking to you about it or write a letter and give it to you if he was to shy to tell you. Actually, I recall him saying that he was going to write a letter and give it to you but never got to since it was the day he died. Unless..."
He looked over and around the room carefully and his eyes widened. Bruce watched as the man flew over to a desk. He grabbed a long book like object. He removed the cloth that was wrapped around it. It was a sketch pad and he walked over to the bed flipping through the pad.
"Wow, he's amazing. To think he was only eleven!" said Superman.
As he was flipping through, a disk fell out. Superman caught it and looked at it even though he knew that it was in there and what it was.
"A CD. Hey Bruce, do you know what kind of music Damian listens to?" he asked.
Bruce shrugs. Superman walks over to the stereo and slips the disc in. He clicks 'Play' and waits for it to start. The song starts to play.