Here's the new chapter. Please R&R and I hope you enjoy reading it.


Cass was at Steph's house to do homework. She had a paper for English that was due in 3 days and she hadn't done much for it yet. She really didn't like the subject and the fact that she was still learning English didn't help one bit. Luckily Steph shared that class with her and had offered to help her with the paper if Cass taught her a move Steph had seen Cass make the night before in return. That was the reason Cass was there now trying to write something but without Steph present to help it went really slow and she didn't know how long she could keep going if Steph didn't return. She had only been there for like a minute when Steph's mom called for her daughter to come downstairs for a moment, a moment that was now over an hour ago.

Steph was in the kitchen helping her mother prepare diner but what she wanted was to go upstairs to Cass who was waiting for her. She'd promised Cass help with that paper for English (which she still had to write herself) and instead she was here assisting her mother. "mom can't I go to my room to do my homework? Cass has been waiting for me to come back for like a million hours now."
"Stephanie I asked you to come here because we have to talk and why didn't you tell me you had a friend over earlier? Could you go and ask her to come back later because this is important." her mother answered and Steph winced remembering that she indeed should have told her mother that Cass was there.
"Can I go to her place after diner then?" she asked looking at her mother with a pleading look.
"I don't see why not if her parents are okay with it.".
Steph immediately raced out of the kitchen pecking her mother on the cheek and said "Thanks mom.".

Cass looked up when she heard someone in the hallway but relaxed again when she recognized Steph's footsteps. A moment later the door to the bedroom opened and said girl came in. Steph's stance told her something wasn't right so it didn't come as a surprise when Steph told her she should leave because her mother wanted some mother-daughter time. She looked really guilty and quickly continued "But I could come to your place later?".
Cass shook her head and said "I'm going to Barbara for a case."
"Oh. Okay then I'll see you tomorrow at school I guess." Steph then said with a disappointed look on her face.

Cass went to the Clock Tower which she found empty except for Barbara who was, as usual, working on the computer. Cass walked up to her from behind and tapped on her shoulder to alert Barbara of her presence. The older girl literally jumped, not having noticed that Cass had arrived.
"Geez Cass next time make a sound. I'm not up for getting a heart attack!".
Cass nodded and stored the info for the next time she came here before asking "Have you found something?".
Barbara looked at the 16-year old and saw how nervous the normally collected Cass was at the thought of having family. She smiled and pointed towards a chair in which Cass sat down while Barbara opened the file containing the results.
When Cass got to see them she didn't want Barbara to read them out loud, this she wanted to read by herself. After she was done she asked "So he really is my brother?"
"Was but yes if the sample is correct then he was your brother. Dick and Bruce are going to take a new sample tonight so with a little luck we'll have confirmation by tomorrow. If you want you can stay here to be present when the results get in." Barbara answered.
Cass nodded and said "I'd like that but do you have food?".
This made Barbara laugh after which she told her that there was some pizza left in the kitchen.

When Tim and Dick arrived in the Cave they found Bruce working at the computer. Tim went to the training area to do his daily exercises while Dick went directly to Bruce but before he let the older man know he was there the chair turned around to face him and a stoic looking Bruce stood up.
"Dick now that you're here we can start." he said and walked towards the stairs that lead to his study with Dick quickly following him.

When they reached the end of the staircase Bruce opened the secret entrance and they walked into the study where Alfred was waiting for them with a very grave face. It was clear to his charges that he didn't like what they were about to do but he didn't say anything because he saw the necessity of the task. He lead them to the garden and handed them shovels before heading back inside while Dick and Bruce went on towards the Wayne Family Graveyard. Dick had always thought that it was creepy to have dead people in your backyard but now he was actually thankful for it, he really didn't want to do this in a real graveyard.
Once they entered the holy ground they were both silent for a minute as if they were asking permission from the dead for the horrid action they were forced to take. Then they looked at each other before starting to dig in front of one specific headstone that read:
Jason Peter Todd-Wayne
Son – Brother – Friend
1995-2008
A headstone they both tried to avoid looking at.

The last light of the sun had completely disappeared when Dick hit something solid which turned out to be the coffin and it didn't take them long to uncover the rest of it and get it out of the pit they had dug. But then came the hardest task: they had to open it to take the sample. With a heavy heart Bruce picked up a crowbar to break the lock and shuddered when he thought about the fact that a crowbar just like the one in his hands had been used to torture his son not even three years before. He was pulled out of his thoughts when Dick said "Bruce look at this." while clearing a spot on the lid of the dirt that was still covering it.
Bruce looked and saw a hole in the lid. Now he really wanted to get that coffin open! He took the crowbar with both hands again and broke the lock before opening the lid.
He didn't know what he had been expecting but it was still a very unpleasant surprise to see that there was NO BODY INSIDE!
What they noticed upon closer examination were the scratches on the inside of the lid surrounded by the teared fabric that had once covered the wood. They looked at each other not knowing what to say for a moment. Dick was the first to find his tongue back and started rattling "Shit he was alive? Bruce how could that happen? He couldn't have been buried alive,could he? Shit my little brother was alive in there, he was buried alive!".
Bruce then interrupted him saying "No he was dead. If there had been even a small chance that he could have been alive I would have done anything to keep him that way but he was already dead the moment I found him in Sarajevo."
"So basically what you are saying is that he must have come back to life when he was already buried but that's impossible, isn't it?" Dick said looking really pale now before burying his head in his hands. The only reply he got was a grunt.
When he looked back up after calming down a little he saw Bruce examining the coffin and taking a sample from the edge of the hole in the lid and coming towards him to hand him the sample.
"Okay we have what we came for. We'll carry the coffin to the Cave for further testing and you can go to Barbara to deliver the sample." Bruce said before taking a shovel and starting to fill the pit they dug.
Dick moved to help him and afterwards they carried the coffin to the Cave. Dick was really glad they didn't see Alfred on the way there because he wanted to spare the elder man this sight.
After getting it to the Cave Dick looked at the sample and saw it was the blood that must have been in the scratches on the lid. He shuddered at the thought of having to to crawl out of your own grave before putting the sample away and leaving for the Clock Tower.

When Dick had left Bruce went to work on the coffin. He knew it had been opened from the inside because he had installed sensors to alert him in case someone tried to open it from the outside and the only time they had gone off had been tonight when he himself opened it.
He scraped some more blood from the lid and made the computer scan it for strange elements before he started collecting anything that could help him find out how long ago the hole had been made.

Tim saw what Bruce was doing from the training area but he didn't want to ask his mentor what was going on because the man was clearly emotionally distressed so he left for the Tower thinking that Barbara would probably be able to tell him everything he needed to know.