"Dad?" Jason said, still waiting for a response from his father "Are you okay?"
"What?" Bruce said "Uh, yeah, yeah, I'm fine, Jason."
"Right..." The nine year old said "So, why are you stood in a cave?"
"Because, well, uh..." Bruce said, not entirely sure what to say.
He'd never expected Jason to find the cave; heck, if Damian hadn't opened it, Bruce probably never would have set foot in there again. But there he was.
"You should tell him, honey." A female voice said from behind Jason as his mother walked up, putting her hands on her son's shoulders "He has a right to know, I guess."
"Fine..." Bruce said, finally conceding defeat after his moments of planning what he was going to say "You see Jason, before you were born, I used to be Batman."
"You used to be Batman?" The child said in disbelief, looking at his mother, who only nodded in confirmation "Are you guys serious?"
"Yes, we are." His mother said "Your father was the original Batman. There were, how many was it honey?"
"Officially, three." Bruce said "Five if you include people who claimed to be Batman but were never really the real deal."
"Five?" She said, this obviously being news to her "I know there was you and Dick, but who were the other three?"
"Well, first, there was me. Then, when I had a major injury that prevented me from being Batman, a man named Jean Paul Valley took over briefly, before I took it back from him. Dick replaced me during a, uh, absence." Bruce said, before his wife cut him off.
"Absence?" She said "Is that the thing you once told me about?"
"Yes." Bruce said "However, before Dick took over, both Jason Todd and Tim Drake claimed to be Batman, even though Tim was only trying to stop Jason."
"Jason Todd?" Jason said "I've heard you mention most of those, except that Valley guy, but why was there one with my name?"
Bruce sighed. He looked at his wife, apparently for support. She just looked at him, tilting her head. He sighed.
"Jason Todd was my second partner." He began "See, there were some things with him, and, well, I made some mistakes with him. When you were born, I named you for him in the hopes it would prevent me from making the same mistakes with you."
"So I'm called Jason because you don't want to make a mistake?" Jason said "That seems kind of weird..."
"Yeah, well, don't worry." Bruce said, before slapping his knees "Anyway, you, bed. Honey, do you mind tucking him in?"
"Sure." Bruce's wife said, taking Jason by the hand and leading him out.
Bruce walked back to the case with the costumes. He ran his hand over his old suit and sighed. Damian had been right on the mark. Bruce did miss being Batman, but there was nothing he could do. He could either be Batman or guarantee his families safety. There was just no contest.
He thought about it for a moment then pulled the suit out. Damian was a big boy and could handle himself, but maybe, just maybe, he would end up digging a hole too deep for Nightwing.
Maybe he'd need Batman.
"Mum, where's Damian?" Jason asked his mother when he was lying in his bed once again.
"I don't know sweetie." His mother replied honestly "He's probably just out with his friends. When you're older, you'll probably be out on some nights too."
"Is he Batman now?" Jason asked.
"No." His mother laughed "Your daddy specifically said to him when he was, ooh, about five years older than you that he wasn't allowed to be Batman. He wouldn't break that rule."
"Okay." Jason said "It's just one of the kids at school said that apparently Batman killed some guy that was stealing stuff in his neighbourhood."
"No, neither your father nor your brother would be doing something like that." Miranda replied "They're a lot of things but they're not killers."
"Okay." Jason said, rolling onto his side and curling up under the quilt "Night mum."
"Good night Jason." Miranda said, walking to the door and switching off the light, taking one last look at her son as she did so.
Bruce stepped out of the room he had always used to suit up. The old suit still fitted him perfectly, more or less. He wasn't quite as muscular as he had been ten years ago, but he was muscular enough for it not to just go slack. He looked over to the platform where the Batmobile was sat. He began walking towards it when he heard a voice behind him.
"You're going to try and find Damian, aren't you?" Miranda said to him, walking down the stairs until she was standing on the second step, eye level with Bruce "Bruce, you know Damian's a big boy now, right? You know he can take care of himself?"
"Yes." Bruce said coolly "But I don't know what's out there."
"I do." His wife replied "Apparently there's some new Batman out there killing people. What if you, or Damian, run into him?"
"Then I'll deal with him." He replied coldly "No matter what. I refuse to let anyone else get hurt by my mistake."
"Your mistake? What do you mean by that?" Miranda replied "Bruce, do you know who he is."
"Yes." Bruce said "He tried this when Batman was absent before. It's Jason Todd. He's this new Batman."
