Chapter 28: You have to Move Forward

"There. That's the last box." Dad proclaimed, putting said box in the living room.

"Well, of your stuff anyway." I said from my spot at the kitchen island.

"You can't have that much stuff left at the manor." He came over and stole a sip of my coffee.

"I didn't have much to begin with. But school was busy this week. It's like teachers wanted us brain dead over break." I complained, taking my coffee back.

"Well only a few more days and you won't have to worry about school until next year."

"Lucky me." I said flatly. My laptop dinged, indicating an alert I had set up for MedCorp activity. Dad looked over my shoulder.

"Still tracking your mother?" he sounded slightly disappointed.

"Not her as much as her company. It can't hurt to be aware." I said casually. "Plus, Mr. Stauffer wants us to write a report about a robotics company over break. So its more for school than anything." I lied. I had no homework over break, but Dad didn't need to know that. It would be a good excuse while I worked on and modified the suit.

"Okay. So what's this about?" he pointed at the screen. I skimmed the article.

"Apparently MedCorp is throwing it's New Year's party in New York in stead of at headquarters in San Francisco. Some people are mad about it. Nothing note worthy." I shrugged and closed the laptop. "Speaking of New Year's, I was wondering, if maybe, I could spend it at home?" I asked hesitantly.

"You were just there for Thanksgiving. And last week." Dad countered.

"Yeah, but last week can't count for a visit. I've never missed a New Year's, and Ko and I wanted to do something to honor Anni." I pleaded. I wasn't really that interested in being there for New Year's, but it was a good cover so I could go check out MedCorp's New York office. If I wanted to know more, I needed to raid more locations. And New York was the next most accessible spot besides Gotham.

"I'll think about it." he sighed.

"I'll take it!" I kissed his cheek. "I'm gonna go pick up some stuff from the manor. I'll be back soo-" The whole place started to shake. I grabbed onto the counter to keep from falling. It only lasted about ten seconds.

"You okay?" Dad said, looking me over.

"Yeah. I'm fine. You?" I asked.

"Been through worse. This was minuscule compared to others."

"Oh yeah. Wasn't there one that destroyed the whole city?"

"Yeah. The government wouldn't send any help, so the city became a No Man's Land. That was also how your Aunt Cass became Batgirl. Gotham has been earthquake proofed since then. We should be fine." Dad shrugged.

"Anyways, I'll be back later." I waved and headed out the door.


"It was unbelievable!" Terry exclaimed as I entered the cave.

"A word I rarely use." Bruce told him.

"You think I'm crazy don't you?" Terry pouted.

"Terry, the sample you gave me was just soil, plain old dirt."

"It was alive." Terry insisted. What the hell were they talking about?

"Alright, supposing it was, do really think last night will be the end of it?" Bruce countered

"End of what? I asked. They both looked over at me.

"Something's following my friend Jackie. I tried to stop it, but it got away." Terry explained.

"Made of soil? Clayface?" I guessed, looking at Bruce. He shook his head.

"The sample would've shown that. It's just dirt." Bruce said.

"Weird." I shrugged. "I was just wondering if you offer from the other day still stands? I think you're right about having some consistency."

"As long as you need. What did Dick think about that?"

"I haven't exactly told him yet." I grimaced. "I came by to take some stuff I don't need over there. I'll tell him then."

"If he says no that's the end of it." Bruce said.

"Now you listen to him." I said under my breath. "I guess that's fair. He did set up an awesome room for me at the gym, and no offense but his gym is so much better."

"Then why would you want to stay in this old place?" Terry asked.

"I have my reasons." I defended. "I'll be upstairs." I waved.


I slipped into Aunt Cass' old room and pulled the suit from it's most recent hiding spot. I tested the belt again just to make sure it wasn't fluke it worked the other night. It still worked and still held consistent. I couldn't be more pleased with myself. I stared at the suit where it laid on the bed.

If I was going to go through with this, I would have to try it on. My frequent denials to Dad about wearing a suit ran through my head. But I wasn't trying to be like Batman. I just wanted answers, and this happened to be an efficient way to get them. As bad as it sounded, I was doing this for purely selfish reasons. No mission for justice or vengeance. Just pure curiosity for information. At least, that's what I had to keep telling myself.

"Who cares what they think," I grabbed the suit and finally put it on.

It was slightly loose on me, but nothing too inconvenient. I put the belt on and pulled the hood over my head and face. With a click of the belt, I disappeared before the mirror.

"Whoa. This is so shway!" I felt giddy. Something I did actually worked! Maybe Bruce was right, and I should go into robotics. I turned off the belt and pulled the hood down. I couldn't help but beam at my reflection. This was going to work! I could feel it! Now that the suit was taken care of, I could work on other parts of the plan.


"Dad, I'm back. I need to talk to you about something," I hollered.

"In my room," He responded. I set my stuff in my room before going across the hall to his.

" I think I should go through my closet," He was standing in front of said closet, which was stuffed with clothes.

"You didn't do that before you moved?"

"Usually when I moved, I hadn't lived there long enough to collect so much stuff." he shrugged.

"We lived in the same apartment for thirteen years. You're gonna collect some stuff. How long did you live in places before that?"

"Usually until the lease was up. So two years, if the landlord didn't kick me out sooner."

"What did you do?" Dad didn't seem like the troublemaker.

"Dick Grayson did nothing, Nightwing, on the other hand, had some interesting visitors. The apartment we first lived in had been the longest I had been in one place since the Manor. Until we moved when you were four." He smiled.

"Yeah, about moving again," I started.

"You want to stay at the manor." he sighed.

"I just- Wait, you know?"

"Jamie, of course I know. I know when you don't want to do something. Your reluctance to pack up at the manor was a dead give away."

"It's not that I don't want to live here, I really do, but it's just-"

"You've been through a lot recently." he interrupted, "I understand. Take what time you need. I'll be here when you're ready."

"Really? Thank you Dad." I hugged him.

"You're welcome Little Bird. I just want you to be happy again." He hugged me back.


"See you at the New Year's party?" Sharon asked as we left school on Friday.

"Probably not. I'm hoping my Dad will let me go home so my friend and I can celebrate."

"Well if he says no, you're welcome to come," Sharon said as we reached her car.

"I'll keep that in mind. Merry Christmas!" I waved.

"Merry Christmas!"

I approached the car I had commandeered from Bruce's collection, only to find a familiar figure waiting for me.

"Ko?!"

"Man, you're not on break yet? Prep school's finally good for something," She teased.

"What are you doing here!" I hugged her.

"Convinced Sobo to let me stay here while she visits some old friends for the holidays. Your dad agreed I could stay with you guys, and here I am." She shrugged.

"Wow. Maybe you could help me convince him to let me go home for New Year's. Come on, let me show you the big city of Gotham." I hopped into the car, Ko followed.

"Where to first? You hungry? My friend Max and I found this great place not too far from school. Oh! Or I could show you the best arcade in town. No, I know! I'll take you the prettiest spot in Gotham. It nothing compared to home but-"

"Jay, could we actually go somewhere to talk. I really need to talk to you." Ko said somberly.

"Sure. I know a place." I said, heading towards the end of town.

"When I said a place to talk, I didn't think you'd take me into the middle of nowhere. Where are we going?" She asked as I turned down the familiar road.

"Don't worry. It's by far the safest place in Gotham, as well as the most private." We reached the gates to the manor. Ko gasped.

"No way. Am I even allowed here? Won't your grandfather be mad you bring in an outsider?"

I laughed. "Bruce has no room to judge, considering he used to throw wild parties all the time here. Plus all the kids he adopted. I doubt he'll even know you're here. Besides, we're not going inside."

"What? You bring me all the way here and you're not even going to show me inside?" She pouted as we got out of the car.

"Calm down. You wanted to talk. I'll give you the tour after." I said, heading towards the gardens.

The gardens weren't nearly as impressive in the winter. Everything had sharp branches sticking out, dead leaves littered the ground. The manor looked even more imposing amongst all the dormant vines and bushes.

Ko walked beside me in silent awe of the manor grounds. We walked past the edge of where Bruce's groundskeeper maintained, through a small cluster of trees, and to the cliff I had almost walked off of the day I found out about Anni. It was so secluded from the rest of the property, I didn't think Bruce knew I had been coming here.

"So what did you want to talk about?" I asked, pulling an old, ratty, blanket out of a dead, hollowed tree stump. I laid it down and sat on it. Ko joined me. We stared at the sea while I waited for her to speak.

"You read the autopsy I sent you right?" She started.

"Of course."

"Didn't it seem... strange to you?"

Holy crap, it wasn't just me. I knew something was wrong with it. And Ko knew it too! This was great! Well, I mean it was nice to have somebody else see it too. The fraudulent autopsy was still an issue.

"How so?" I tread carefully. Maybe what she thought was wrong wasn't the same as what I did.

"Isn't just a little bit odd that it took them a full week longer to do Mr. Michelson's than Anni's. I mean Detective G said the cause of death was pretty obvious. There shouldn't be a need for it to take that long."

"I thought the same thing!" I told her, "So I talked to a person I know here in Gotham, and she said there could be a number of reasons it took longer. But I'm still not convinced."

"I talked to Sobo about it, because she used to be a medical examiner for Washington D.C.'s police, and she told me something was wrong. It shouldn't take that long unless they found something. I had Sobo look at the autopsy and she couldn't find anything that would excuse how long it took them." Ko leaned in closer, "I think the police are hiding something." She whispered. She sat back up. "No offense to Detective G." She said quickly.

"He's retired now, and that wasn't his job." I shrugged, "But I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought it was weird. Its annoying being on the opposite of everyone else."

"Hey, I've always got your back. We owe it to Anni to stick together, especially now." She looped an arm around mine. "So, what are we going to do about it?"

"Us? How the hell can we do anything? What would we we even do?" I pulled away from her. I had bigger things to focus on at the moment. I still needed to get a layout to MedCorp's New York office, and sneak out more gear from the Batcave. Figuring out why the police would lie on an autopsy wasn't the most pressing on my priority list. Anni would still be dead.

"Oh come on Jay. We both have access to some pretty impressive bank accounts. We could hire a hacker, or buy something to help us get whatever they're hiding. We can figure out what really happened to Anni."

"Is that what this is about? Anni?"

"Of course! You don't really believe she'd be stupid enough to willingly go with her criminal father, do you?" Ko looked at me, hope in her eyes that I'd agree with her.

"Ko, you never met him, but he was a great father to Anni and Jake. When he was arrested, it broke Anni's heart. She always held out hope that he was a good man. And when he escaped, well you saw what that did to her. She was loyal to a fault, even knowing what he had done. So yes, I believe she would willingly go with him." I sighed. Ko put her head in her hands.

"No. No. How could she!" She screamed. She started crying. I put an arm around her and rubbed her back as she cried. "She was so much smarter than that. I don't want to believe it." She cried.

"I didn't either. All we can do now is move on." I was starting to sound like Dad. Dear god.

"I have no idea what to do without her," Ko sniffed, "I have no one to hang out with anymore, and who else is going to put up with my crap? I just feel so lost right now. That's why I asked if I could come here. I feel like you're all I have left."

"Ko, I'm always here for you," I hugged her, "And I agree something strange is going on, but I don't think it has to do with Anni. Let's just try to enjoy Christmas. You visiting is supposed to be happy! Anni would want that."

"You're right." She wiped her eyes, "How are you so calm? I'm still a disaster."

"I'm honestly not. I'm still hurting just like you. I feel like can't cry anymore though. Which sucks because I really want to. So I try to distract myself." I said, standing up, "So let's give you the grand tour." I pulled her up and we headed back to the manor.


Lots of things falling into place now.

Fun Fact: Jamie favorite holiday is Thanksgiving. She loves all the different food she gets to try every year from around the apartment building. Guess she's gonna have to find new places to try thanksgiving dinner in Gotham.