Terry walked into the GCPD building. He walked up to the front desk and leant on it, smiling at the young woman sat there.
"Hi, I'm here to see the Commissioner." He said, seeing she was about to give him some lecture about it being totally against regulations, cutting her off "Look, I know it's against your protocols and all that, but tell her it's Bruce Wayne's assistant and it's about what we discussed earlier on."
The woman paused for a moment before pressing some controls on the computer in front of her. She waited for a moment while reading what was coming up on her screen.
"She says go on through." The woman said, somewhat begrudgingly "Her office is on the fourth floor, take a left and-"
"I know the way, thanks." Terry said, walking through to the elevator and getting in.
...
Barbara Gordon sat in her office, waiting for her visitor. Terry was showing just how unlike Bruce he was; Bruce would never have gone to see the commissioner about something official out of costume. Then again, Bruce had had a secret identity to hold up, whereas she'd worked out Terry's the first time she met him.
If anything, Terry reminded Barbara of Dick in his younger years. Cocky, reckless, insubordinate and very much in need of seasoning. Then again, that had been a running theme in a lot of Bruce's partners, and Terry might be Bruce's replacement instead, but he was still exactly the same.
As she sat there thinking about it, Terry came walking in, tossing his bag on one of the chairs across from her. He leant forward, leaning on her desk with both hands clenched into fists.
"Did you call Grayson?" He asked simply, apparently deciding to skip the pleasantries.
"Yeah kid, I did." She replied "He said he's too busy to come running to Gotham from Bludhaven on the whim of a punk kid."
"It's not a 'punk kid' who's asking." Terry said "It's Batman. Come to think of it, he's not asking, he's demanding. Tell Grayson he's coming to Gotham, tonight, whether he likes it or not."
"I wasn't done, I just knew you'd but in there so decided to take a breath." She said "I talked him around. He's meeting you on the roof in ten minutes. You'd better go suit up."
"Got it." Terry said, grabbing his bag and starting to walk out, tossing back as he left "Thanks for the help."
...
Dick Grayson stood on the roof of the GCPD building. It had been twenty-five years since he'd stepped foot in Gotham. That had been the last time he and Bruce had spoken as well. Back when the old man had still been Batman and Dick had still been Nightwing.
Well, when Dick had been back to being Nightwing. Following an incident with Bane in 2013, Bruce had been temporarily crippled, and Dick had came back to Gotham to fill in as Batman. It had only lasted about eighteen months. Eighteen months during which Dick broke a few of Bruce's big vetoes that had been put in since Bruce's final showdown with the Joker in 2008. What had been his final showdown until recently, anyway.
Dick didn't even need to be concentrating to know that someone had just touched down on the roof behind him. He turned to face the other person, smirking at the sight. Sure, the colour scheme may have been wrong, and there wasn't a cape, but it was definitely Batman.
"Glad you could make it Mr. Grayson." The man said, his voice giving away his youth more than the relatively small frame of him ever did "I've called you here because I want to talk to you about-"
"The Red Hood, I know. Barbara told me." Dick replied "I've got a hunch as to who it is, as well, given what's been said."
"It can't be Jason Todd, I've been looking into that one." Batman shot back "All the listings I've seen list him as having died fifteen years ago."
"Jason Todd is smart, and he's come back from the dead before." Dick said "Anyway, I read those reports too, and he was listed as missing presumed dead; there was no body present."
"So you think he's still alive? That's a bit- Hold on." Batman said, touching his ear "Yeah? Gotham national bank? Okay, and I'm sending someone to the cave. He'll be coming in the batmobile."
Batman lowered his fingers from his ear, looking back to Dick as he pressed a control on his belt.
"sorry, gotta run, something's come up across town, might be our guy." Batman said "The Batmobile's on its way to pick you up."
"I'm not going to the cave." Dick said "Bruce and I cut ties a long time ago, and I don't intend to restore them. You want to know this stuff, you know it now. Get someone else on it. You've got a Robin, right?"
"No..." Batman said, before pressing his fingers to his ear again "Change of plan. Call the League. Tell them to get someone over to the bank, and then we'll consider ourselves even from that little Starro incident."
"Starro incident?" Dick asked as Batman lowered his fingers again.
"It's a long story." Batman replied "Now, tell me what you know."
"Okay." Dick began "It all started in early 2014. I was out on patrol... with my Robin."
...
Okay, so here's part four. The next chapter will be a flashback one, showing a bit of Dick Grayson's tenure as Batman and exactly what went wrong that ended in Bruce removing him from the role. It's also going to debut Damian Wayne here, as Dick Grayson's Robin in his mid-teens. I've done the approximate maths for the timeline; I see this fic occurring after season 3, in roughly the year 2052 (though I don't recall an official timeline being put in place, I always put Batman Beyond as occurring between 2049 and 2051). Of course, if anyone wants to correct me on this, I'll happily amend the dates for the Beyond portion. R&R, please, no flames. B.
