Chapter 4: Healing

Nightwing awoke two weeks later into a different world. Blackgate had been shut down and cleaned up of all its bodies. The only body not accounted for was that of the Joker. All the prisoners were heavily interrogated but they knew nothing about it. Those that were captured were dispersed throughout detention facilities across America.

At the League sponsored hospital, he awoke every morning to a different superhero that checked on how he was doing and whether or not he heard from Batman. Superman, Wonder Woman, the Martian Manhunter, Green Lantern, and all the other heavy hitters were on other worlds fighting the good fight and franchising the Justice League name to any hero out there as to prevent other misfortunes in the galaxy. Flash had bigger concerns in Central City. Barbara would stop by on occasion to give him news of the outside world that was much closer than he thought. Apparently, in response to the Blackgate breakout, they established a Gotham City Task Force headed by Green Arrow to find the escapees. So far success was minimal at best. They said it would only be temporary until Batman could be found.

While they were searching for them, Nightwing had his own mystery to solve. How did the Joker's body get into Blackgate? He made a stop over at Wayne Manor to begin his investigation much like Batman would.

"Good evening, Master Grayson. I trust that your wounds have healed enough for you to limp down to the Batcave."

"Just enough, Alfred."

"I brewed up a kettle of tea when you're going through the records. It's better than coffee."

"Thanks. Has Barbara been around?"

"I'm afraid not, sir. The last time I saw her was…well, not a very pleasant memory to say the least."

"If you see her, you know where I'll be."

Barbara was also visiting another hospital. Her father had a cardiac arrest after being taken hostage by Poison Ivy. He was in stable condition but she was aware that this may be the first of many such heart problems. Bullock was sitting outside his door with his arm in a cast and a crutch next to his seat. On his lap was a box of freshly made donuts.

"Hey, Babs, your dad's asleep now. Come back later."

"Is he doing all right?"

"As good as any man nearly strangled to death by a giant vine."

He took a bite out of a donut.

"You look kinda beat up yourself. Got into any trouble lately?"

"Not more than any other."

"I tell ya, if it weren't for that Bat-bitch coming up to us, we coulda made it out pretty well."

"I wouldn't know that. I mean, the intentions were good."

"Yeah, well intentions don't mean nothing when you end up here. To think everyone thought I would be the one with heart problems."

He took another bite out of his donut, jelly dripping down onto his short.

"Why do we even need these freaks in costumes running around? We can handle it fine. Before they came, all we had to deal was the usual things plaguing any city. Drugs. Gangs. You name it. Then Batman comes and suddenly we get these crazy super criminals running around. What has he done to stop it? He just puts them in the looney bin and they come out and it starts all over again. It just don't work, Babs, it just don't work."

Her cell phone was ringing again. It was Dick.

"I…got to go. Tell pop I said hi."

She turned toward the corridor and walked away down the dimly lit hallway.

Through the years of watching Bruce master this great machine with ease, he never had a chance to understand it in depth. He flipped through the database searching for the records of who was working the delivery room over at Blackgate that day. It was more of a nuisance than a pleasure. For every piece of information that came up, he had to go through the bureaucratic papers to see who stamped what when. It was a time consuming process that he didn't really have time for. He wanted to go out into the field but his wounds still needed mending before he could make any unexpected entrances.

All he found was that a man named Henry Sklar was working the room that day. Trouble was that he had been dead for three years. The last place he was at before his death was over at the Iceberg Lounge. Figures. He should have shut that place down years ago but Batman always wanted it open so he knew where he could plug people for information. He checked his bandages and realized he couldn't go out like this. Barbara had to go.

The Iceberg Lounge was emptier than usual. The heat was coming down on it from the Gotham City Task Force and no criminal mastermind would be caught dead there. That is except the Penguin. He owned the joint and he stayed to protect his investment. Rain or shine the place has to function to keep up the façade of any shady dealings happening in the backrooms. Batgirl entered without the usual scuffling of patrons to the exits. She pressed her telecom link to Nightwing.

"This is freaky. There is nearly nobody here."

"We're just looking for Penguin. We don't need to care about everyone else."

"At least we can count on him for being so darn reliable."

"Hey, that's what makes going to the Iceberg so fun."

"Remember that time Batman held him upside down in that tank of killer seals?"

"Killer seals? Some arch-enemies have the stupidest ideas. It's like fighting Farmer Brown all over again."

She walked up to his office and knocked.

"Weird. No one's answering."

"Like that ever stopped you?"

"True."

She knocked the window pane out and opened the door.

"Hey, Penguie, we got…"

She saw him slumped over his desk and blood was splashed on the opposite wall. Two bullet holes were in his head. She gasped.

"I think we have a problem…"

"A couple of them." Two Face said.

He had two guns pointed at the back of her head.

"Nightwing is on the other line. He'll be here soon."

"Good."

BLAM! BLAM!

Bruce Wayne, still gashed and bruised from the mountain climb, was doing a hand stand on top of a pillar with a thousand foot drop-off below in every direction.

"What do you fear to lose, Mr. Wayne?"

"My balance."

"You're avoiding the question. Concentrate."

He stood there still for a few moments before it came to him.

"I don't want to lose my family."

"But that already happened. Your mother and father are dead and have been for a very long time. What do you have to lose?"

"My family...Alfred. Dick. Barbara."

With a pause he struggled to say the last name.

"Tim."

"The only way to heal, Mr. Wayne, is to let go from all those you can lose. Loss is but an impediment that weakens you. When you can let go of that, you can conquer anything. You can even conquer death himself."

"Did Lao Tzu say that?"

"No. I did. Concentrate. I won't let you leave before you are completely healed."

In the darkness outside of the Seasons restaurant, a young debutante was robbed of her purse. The thief ran as fast as he could down an alley to avoid the police that would eventually come after him. After leaving Blackgate, he was left with nothing but to get back into his bad habits. He wasn't one of the bad ones there but, as he always told it, it was his only means of making a living in Gotham. Things were expensive. It wasn't long before he was overtaken but something…something with a cowl and a cape. He looked up and only got this one answer before he was stabbed to death.

"I'm Batman."