Disclaimer:If i've said it once, I've said it a hundred times. I really think it's getting to 100 actually, or far past. I don't own anything DC comics. Can't profit off of this at all.
So here's the epilogue. And may I remind people, for the umpteeth time, STOP MAKING SUGGESTIONS. I'm not making one shots after this, i'm not taking this any farther than it needs to be, and there is no sequel to be made. The Epilogue is all the flash forward you're gonna get. Some people have guessed right, others are being really silly and it's getting on my nerves. When I write a story and post it here, in my head it's already done. This guy in particular was physically finished months ago. not that I didn't enjoy it, wouldn't have bothered writing it at all if I didn't, but i'm relieved to be done. Still have two others to finish here online (and one on hold until they're finished), but other stories are taking over my brain so it's gonna be a bit. And I'm not done playing with dimensional travel. Me and my sister used to run simulations of certain characters visiting TV land all the time. That's all the hints of future works you're getting from me for a bit.
Now that my rant and hints are done, I wanna say thanks for reading. I've got explanations at the bottom so I'm not leaving you high and dry. And remember, this was completed before 'Misplaced' aired.
Without Me
Epilogue – Robin Missions
Over the two years passing since that fateful week, much changed in the League's world, more than they ever thought possible. Robin had given them much to think about, and even more to do.
His intel on past events helped the League identify their new enemy, a group of elite supervillains calling themselves the Light. They were the type to never get their hands dirty, but they were the ones organizing nearly every crisis they faced over the previous year. They even had a hand in creating Superboy, but creation did not mean loyalty.
The boy easily switched sides when Superman arrived and took him away from Cadmus. His admiration for the man of steel, stemming from his DNA and the lessons he received from the G-nomes, grew to outright devotion and childlike love when the man accepted him into his life.
As the boy was far too old to be adopted by Clark Kent, or even claim he was an illegitimate child of his, they gave him the alibi of being his long lost cousin. Fearing the Light would identify him should he be seen in civilian guise in Metropolis, Superboy was sent to the Kent Farm in Smallville, to be officially adopted and raised by his grandparents. They helped Clark pick a suitable civilian name too, but he already knew what it'd be.
Conner Kent.
It wasn't enough though. Being as he was kryptonian, Clark felt he needed a second name. Feeling it shouldn't be too different from his Earth name, they chose together the name Kon-El. The day they picked these names they also decided to make his birthday. No one could tell who was happier that day.
It would be some time before Superboy made his public debut though. Superman felt the boy needed to control his powers first, especially since they would be growing greatly in the next few years. The League agreed this was the best course of action, especially since they already had another child hero to worry over.
It wasn't even a week after Robin left when Barry had taken his nephew to work with him to talk about the bullies at school. Thinking the kid would be safe in his lab, the speedster nearly forgot how he gained his abilities. That is, until a broken live wire hit the window and shattered into the chemicals in his lab, all over Wally. As soon as the boy recovered, he was running wild, and his uncle was running after him. His secret out, Flash accepted the inevitable and started grooming him into being a hero. Into being Kid Flash. He was the first to greet Superboy when he made his grand debut in Metropolis about six months later.
Aquaman didn't just tell the League about his new protégé Aqualad. He told the world. Garth went with him to the UN, initially as a bodyguard for his king, but swiftly displayed his skills and determination when an assassination attempt on the Rhelasian ambassadors took place. He saved both men, then growled at them to stop their bickering and start fixing their pollution problems. The king had a hard time not laughing at the stunned looks on people's faces. Garth usually didn't have that short of a temper, but he was thinking very much of his girlfriend at that moment, and how distant she was becoming of late.
He wasn't the only sidekick to come out of the woodwork either. Some months later, Wonder Woman brought her sister Donna Troy with her to Washington to show her the world of Man. The girl took to this strange new world like a fish to water, quickly integrating herself with the people around her. She fought under the guise of Wonder Girl, helping her sister when she could, but often going off for her own adventures.
She sought out both Conner and Garth on her own. Wally just ran into her for his own amusements. The four talked often and seemed to agree they should make a team of their own. As they were becoming adults shortly, they felt it'd be a good idea to learn to work together and with others, outside of the League's influence and shadow.
They called themselves the Teen Titans.
It wasn't long after the team was formed that J'onn finally found his "niece". M'gann M'orzz wasn't a green Martian, making it harder for the man to find her. She was a white, one of the very rare docile ones at that. She eagerly accepted his offer to leave Mars and go to Earth with him. Her life on the red planet was far worse than they ever imagined and she needed a place to feel safe. What better place than Earth?
She too joined the team in hopes to make great friends, and was shortly joined by one other green skinned ally. The Doom Patrol felt interacting with other children would help their Garfield in the future, so he came by and started hanging out with the Titans as well. Being the youngest didn't phase him in the slightest, but when he found out Superboy was only two, he laughed so hard he became a hyena. They had a hard time stopping the boy of steel from pounding him through the wall that day.
With Beast Boy now part of the group, it seemed there would be no more child heroes for a while. The Teen Titans set up a tower just outside of San Francisco and only listened to individuals in the League, never the collective body. As a group they protected one city, and did a fair job of it. They made mistakes, but always worked to correct them. Donna was a fair and just leader for the team, but everyone's lack of experience worried the world in general.
Still, they were learning. What else could they do?
Beyond just these friends fates were the fate of others Robin told them of. Artemis Crock remained in Juvenile Hall until she graduated high school. Shortly after she was released on parole and never seen again. There were rumors of her meeting the escaped Icicle Jr. and running off somewhere, but even the League wasn't sure where. The girl made certain she disappeared, and did a fine job of it.
Roy Harper though, he was a completely different matter. Dinah took special interest in his life to the point she practically became his mother. After transferring him to a rehab center in Seattle, he tried to run off. The clinic there had special orderlies though, and they made certain he didn't get far. His addiction and fear filled habits made it hard for him to think straight, and though he wanted to come clean and fix his life, it proved more difficult than anyone imagined. His motivation for becoming clean though didn't arrive for seven more months.
Unbeknown to anyone, a baby girl was left on the young man's bed while he was in a therapy session. A note and birth certificate laid beside her. After a quick DNA test provided by Dinah's connections, they knew for a fact the kid belonged to Roy. It only took finding the little girl in his bed to make the man love her unconditionally. When he held her in his arms, every part of him softened and started to warm. He desperately wanted to protect her and raise her properly, but because of his drug addiction the state would forbid any contact with his child.
The note said Lian would be better off with him. It was right. That night began his full resolve to come clean and take custody of his daughter. He was going to do the right thing by her, and nothing would detour him.
Dinah supported him through rehab and took care of his little girl until the day he was released, fully recovered. It wasn't easy, but in the end it was worth it. Even Oliver came in to help out a bit, though the archer's jaw still smarted from Robin's punch. When he saw Roy holding what could have been his granddaughter, his heart started to melt. The changing process on him was starting, slowly. Robin would have been proud.
The League would have liked to say everyone's lives turned out for the better after his encounter with them, but not all did. Zatanna wasn't happy with the boy's leaving and reread his letter of goodbye so often it was nearly worn to pieces. She continued to practice in private and learned what she could to fight, but her father continued to forbid her from joining the superhero community. That is, until the day he vanished.
Zatara's sudden disappearance didn't help the League in the slightest. Zatanna was constantly running around now, trying to find her dad and enlisting everyone's help whenever she had the slightest clue. On occasion the League asked for her spell casting help on different cases, so in a way she was part of the League. She never seemed interested in joining the Titans.
And Bruce? Well he was always a different story.
Batman thought over that week several times over the past two years. He watched the video recordings of his visit often, not wanting to forget Robin even the slightest. He had become fond of the boy, and that was no easy task. When he left, a small hole appeared in his chest. A very small one since he only knew the kid a week.
But it made him think. He really did need something more in his life other than work, work, and more work. More than Gotham, more than Wayne Enterprises, more than the League. Despite the dangers he could possibly put someone in, he needed someone. He needed his home to have some kind of laughter in it, some kind of light, at least on occasion. A stable relationship soon became out of the question since the next time he tried to have one it resulted with one old female friend moving to the other side of the country when she could take it anymore. So he tried another approach.
He volunteered to baby-sit his neighbor's kid.
Timothy Drake was always an inquisitive, and thankfully quiet and clean sort. He took to Alfred quite quickly, but still managed to cause his own kinds of trouble. Sneaking around was one of his many hobbies and talents, especially when it came to taking Alfred's cookies. Seeing how often little Timmy ran off with half a dozen chocolate chips under the butler's nose surprised Bruce to no end. When he was caught, he offered a cookie to his jailer and smiled innocently. This tactic worked well.
The boy was brilliant in his own ways. During many of those days when Bruce took care of the lad, he'd find him reading a larger book or taking an exploration tour around the manor. He had a knack for finding odd ball things lying around, making Bruce fear one day he'd find the Batcave and expose his secret to the world. He found the best way to detour the child was to be with him and encourage other activities. Reading always seemed to be a favorite, but a good mystery movie did the trick as well. And strangely enough, like Bruce he figured out the real culprit in the movie long before the climax.
Batman was thinking of his constant eight year old visitor as he strode down to Crime Alley where his car was parked that night. The previous day Bruce had narrowly escaped discovery when the kid was fiddling with the clock. The time was off and it bothered him. Timmy was a little OCD he realized, not surprising since nearly everything in his life was arranged perfectly. He just wanted to be helpful and fix something for Bruce.
Bruce had made a lame excuse to why the clock was always wrong, but it was enough for now to keep the kid out of the cave. He dreaded to think what the boy would do if he found the computer. The kid was nuts about them. The other day he found him reading a book on computer coding. That wasn't a normal read even for Batman. He was beginning to wonder what his parents were feeding the kid.
As he turned the final corner to his car, he stopped short. His jaw nearly dropped to the floor. Some twelve year old punk was jacking the tires off his car. Jacking because three of the wheels were already off. "Unreal."
At the sound of his voice, the boy jerked to full height, his green eyes locking on the figure down the alleyway. His eyes widened dangerously as CAUGHT wrote itself across his face. "Ah crap!"
Quickly he threw the tool he was using in his hand at Batman (not realizing it was him) and ran out of the alley as fast as he possibly could. Batman sidestepped the bar and followed after the kid. It didn't matter who the kid was. There was no way he was getting away with taking the wheels off his ride. There was only one other thought running through his head as he tracked down the kid.
'He's not afraid of me. He's just upset about getting caught. Only one other kid has never been afraid of the Batman.'
Part of him grinned there. Here was another kid not afraid of Batman. Maybe he should teach him to be afraid. Or maybe he should just teach him.
THE END
A/N: Thank you all so much for reading 'Without Me' and waiting through the longer than intended hiatus! I wasn't rushing the end, just in case you were wondering. I always planned for it to end after a week in their world. I also planned from the beginning for it to end with Batman finding Jason. Making Timmy part of Batman's future was just something I thought of after someone suggested putting him in the end a few months back. *shrug*
And remember, I finished this before 'Misplaced' aired
Well, here we have a new set of Teen Titans starting up, one without both Robin and Speedy, though the other founders are there. I think Donna would be next in line to be leader under these conditions, even if now Wally is the one with the most experience and maturity (Really, can anyone see Beast Boy being leader?). Under these circumstances, the team couldn't form as Young Justice for covert missions, so only the Titans were an option in my mind. This was also plotted out from the beginning.
Roy's not a hero or a villain in the end. He just an ordinary ex-junkie trying to make his life right for the sake of his daughter. Yes I brought back Lian, I thought it was appropriate. I do believe that after all of this Oliver would give Roy a security job and maybe get to know him, but for the most part the two will remain strangers. Ollie also doesn't get Dinah in the end so their lives aren't going to be like the comics at all.
Zatara did disappear in the comics so I thought the best thing to do for Zatanna is have him vanish and her kinda take his place in the League. I know she's still a kid and could have joined the Titans, but I thought it best she didn't. She's her own girl.
And as for Artemis going out of the picture with Icicle Jr., I believe that's cannon in the comics. Since she took the darker road in this world, it'd make sense for her path to never cross with Wally and therefore no spitfire. In the comics she really did hook up with Jr. and they even have a kid (which nearly kills her). So in a way I kinda set her life back on the original course here. =/ poor girl.
Well, I think I explained everyone! Mostly at least. Thanks again for reading and enduring my ramblings for so long. Now I need to finish the other near novels and get on with life. So many stories, so little time. TTFN! ^^V
