Summary: Takes place about 6 months after Auld Acquaintance. Continuing right after the previous chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't own DC
Not-Bruce turned to Dick once more. "Sorry to burst your bubble, but we've got more to cover." The team got up from their knees upon hearing this, and Zatanna did her best to compose herself, though she was scared out of her mind for her boyfriend. She thought back to when Nabu said: at the end, Dick would be given a choice between life and death. Given all he's been through, she was horrified at the prospect that he might actually choose death. C'mon, get it together. For Dick. The monitor played a scene from 2010, one that Dick had recently been reminded of and was in no hurry to relive.
Tony Zucco had escaped prison, and he was pissed. The Bat and his new little sidekick had taken him down and thrown him into prison after he had murdered two of Haly's Circus's stars and orphaned a little boy. He was very eager to finish what he started.
Dick woke up early and went to school. Business as usual. However, once he got back home, Bruce was waiting for him with a not-so-good look on his face. He waited for Dick to settle in before turning on the news, and Dick instantly lost it. Three members of his old troupe in the circus had been found dead, burned by the same acid that was poured on the ropes that snapped during his parents' death. He jumped to his feet, heartbroken at his friends' passing, but also furious. He knew right away what was going on. All it took was Bruce giving him one last piece of information to confirm his suspicions.
"Tony Zucco escaped Blackgate last night. I...I'm sorry, Dick." Dick was already out the door by the time Bruce had finished speaking, and he jumped over the railing instead of walking down the stairs to get to the clock, completely ignoring Alfred scolding him. He made his way down to the Batcave and was already suited up by the time Bruce got down. "Dick, wait."
"What do you mean 'wait'?! The man who killed my family just broke out, and he's killing my friends! You and I both know this doesn't stop with those three! He's going after everyone in the circus, and I'm going to stop him!" Bruce put a hand on his shoulder to calm him down, but Dick was furious. He knocked the hand off and got back to work on the Batcomputer, trying to locate a point of origin for the acid Zucco used. Bruce frowned and suited up while he was doing so, and by the time Dick finished, Batman was waiting by the vehicle bay.
"We're going after Zucco, but you need to keep your head in the game. Follow my lead, don't let your emotions take over. I promise, we will find him." Dick nodded before getting into the car and letting Bruce lead the way. They tracked Zucco down to his hiding spot, only to be met by a slew of traps set up. They barely made it out alive before Bruce used his cowl's Detective Vision to find something. Zucco had left them a clue.
'You threw me in jail. This is payback. Enjoy, Birdy.' Dick gasped as he saw yet another one of his circus friends strung up behind the note, this one far more important to him. Olivia was the animal trainer, and she was Dick's first ever real friend in life, only 6 years older than him. Now she was gone. Bruce pulled him into his arms before he could collapse into his tears.
Bruce made Dick get some rest, promising that they would find him the next day. There was only 1 other performer, the strongman, left, plus Haly himself. He had already put them both on a watch-list, and he had alerted Gordon of their predicament. Dick was forced to go to school yet again, but he was in ruins. People noticed how morbid he was, and news about the circus deaths must have spread fast, because Barbara walked up to him over lunch and tried to comfort him with his loss. But Dick was having none of it. He tuned Babs and everyone else out for the day, just trying to get through school so he could go back on the hunt. There was a wild animal for him to find.
Dick made his way back home and IMMEDIATELY jumped down to the Batcave. Bruce stopped him before he could suit up. "I...I know you don't want this right now...but we have a gala. This one is really important, we can't miss it. It's a fundraiser for Gotham Medical." Dick wanted so badly to argue, but he knew that the hospital really needed it, especially after Poison Ivy's attack on it a few weeks ago. He sighed before putting on his formal attire and heading there.
At the fundraiser, disaster struck once again. Zucco, knowing Dick would attend, had already set up traps for him. He, of course, did not know Dick was Robin, but he knew the boy used to be in the troupe. Just one more name on his list. Just as the ceremony was about to end, Zucco and his crew sprung in, dragging Dick away whilst everyone was panicking. Nobody other than Bruce and Alfred noticed Dick was missing, and so Bruce immediately activated the tracker he had installed on Dick's phone thge night before. He had put the bug on him because he thought Dick would be reckless, not because he expected THIS to happen. Bruce saw Dick fighting against his captors, and so he came in to back him up. Zucco, upon seeing this, made a run for it, and Bruce had to hold Dick back to stop him from running after him.
"Why didn't you let me go after him?!" Bruce glared at Dick.
"You mean other than the fact that you were bleeding and hurt, and you going after him could risk our identities getting out?" Dick did not break his glare, but he thought about that.
"Guess your tracker was useful after all." Bruce looked to him with slight shock. "What? You didn't really think I wouldn't notice a bug on my phone? One, I know you too well, and two, I hack into everything." Bruce sighed.
"Sorry. It was just in-"
"In case you needed to stop me from going after him. Hmph, glad to see how much you trust me."
"This isn't about trust. It's about making sure you're safe. I know if my parents' killer got out, I wouldn't rest until I found him."
"So why are you stopping me from doing the same?!"
"Because, you going out like this will get you killed, or worse. Same way I would get killed if I went after Joe Chill in this state." Dick frowned.
"He's only got Haly and Clay Williams left. He's gonna go after them."
"I know. And I've got maximum security on them. I need to go get some work done. Don't try anything." Dick nodded and let Bruce leave before he turned to the computer and worked on tracking Zucco. 'Don't try anything. Yeah, right.' After about 30 minutes, he found Zucco's location, and he immediately suited up and went after him. Unbeknownst to Dick, Bruce was watching from his office and immediately followed after him.
Dick rode to the warehouse he had tracked Zucco to, and he walked around till he heard Zucco's voice yell out. "'S about time you got here, I was getting bored of waiting. I have to say, I was expecting the Bat, but this is better. You're the brat who threw me in."
"So go after me. Why kill all these innocents?!"
"I saw how angry you were after I killed those circus freaks and orphaned that kid. I have a feeling killing these clowns is the perfect way to go after you. Plus, I have a reputation to uphold, and these circus freaks are unfinished business for me."
"So you're killing all these people, people who haven't done a thing for you, BECAUSE OF A REPUTATION?!
"Bingo, now hurry up, bird-brain. I'm afraid the ropes won't hold on this guy. He's a big one." Dick's eyes widened and he ran to the source of Zucco's voice. 'Big one? Oh god...Clay...'
Dick found Zucco standing on a walkway above a vat of acid, and Clay was hanging over the acid from ropes. Dick slowly walked towards the walkway, readying a birdarang behind his back. "You don't have to do this."
"I know. But I want to." Zucco aimed an acid gun at the rope holding Clay. Dick flung the birdarang before Zucco could snap the wires, but he was a split second too late, as his birdarang knocked the gun away right after he got one shot off. Robin's eyes widened as he grappled forwards, trying to catch Clay. He landed on the platform and attempted to hold him up by the rope. Zucco got up and prepared to attack Dick whilst he was preoccupied, but the window behind him burst as Batman landed on the platform, taking him down. Dick was trying his hardest to keep Clay up, but he was just too heavy. He very nearly pulled him up, but just as he was about to, the rope snapped, and Dick had to watch Clay fall into the acid. Bruce's eyes widened at the sight, and he pulled Dick away, cradling his head as he once more started to break down.
"I-I w-wasn't th-there in t-time. I-I go-got him k-killed. I...I w-wasn't enough." Bruce closed his eyes, hugging Dick tightly as they awaited the police to arrest the unconscious Zucco.
Dick closed his eyes and tried to stabilize his breathing as the footage ended. The team was lost for words, completely unsure how to even begin to comprehend this. None of them knew or cared for the circus people, but Dick very much did, and they all died. Not just that, but he was present to watch one of them die, and he blamed himself for not being good enough to stop it. That would have been too much for any of them to handle, so how was the youngest of them all managing to keep it together?
Not-Bruce sat in silence for a while, letting Dick process things. "I..I wasn't enough for him. For any of them."
"You did your best."
"It wasn't good enough. Batman would have saved them. Easily. So why couldn't I?" Not-Bruce sighed.
"You couldn't save them, but don't let that discredit the hundreds you have saved. Nobody can win them all. Not even Batman. You've got a pretty good track record, especially considering your age."
"What good is all this training if I can't save the people I care about?" The monitor started playing a montage of Dick saving countless civilians, both in Gotham and with the team. Countless strangers.
"You saved them, and hundreds of others."
"They're strangers. I couldn't save the people I really wanted to." Not-Bruce sighed once more, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"But you did." The monitor showed Dick saving Barbara and Luke from kidnappers, Dick comforting Wally after Linda dumped him, Dick freeing Connor from Cadmus with KF and Aqualad, Robin holding Wrath and Scorn back from killing an unconscious and weakened Bruce, Dick freeing a mind-controlled Superman before he nearly killed Bruce, and Dick helping Batman save Gordon, Bullock, and countless others during Christmas when Joker kidnapped them. Finally, it showed Dick comforting Zatanna after her father was taken by the helm. Zee looked on and thought to herself. Dick, you saved me when I was at my weakest. You're so much more important than you think. Please...don't forget that. Dick was deep in thought. He knew that the number of people he had saved far outweighed those he failed, but it still hurt like hell.
The monitor shifted once more to modern times, with Dick talking to Dinah following the failed simulation. The team felt bad for him, but none of them truly knew the extreme crossroads he faced in that moment. None except for Connor. He knew exactly how Dick felt, because he felt it as well when he looked at Superman. Zatanna and Wally felt a pang of sympathy for him, since they were the two who knew more than any other what Bruce really meant to the Boy Wonder. Dick looked at Not-Bruce, not even flinching at this memory replay.
"I'm already past this one." As if on cue, the footage shifted to Dick and Bruce conversing after Dick told Bruce of this and when Bruce told him of his expectations for the Boy Wonder. Not-Bruce smiled at Dick's firmness.
"Glad to hear it." The footage started to wrap up, with the team watching Dick during the circus mission and, finally, during his battle with Batman on New Years'. Dick cringed at the footage of him getting stomped by Bruce in their fight. He knew, even during the fight, that he stood no chance against the Bat, but he also knew how determined he was to at least try and get him back. The team had already seen this battle unfold on New Years', but reliving it now, they were even more shocked at Dick's determination during the fight. He took blow after blow and didn't stop until he had finally gotten through to Bruce. Batman flinched even more at every hit Dick received. He knew he wasn't in control of himself when they fought, but he still felt horrible for it. Not-Bruce noticed Dick's discomfort, and so he spoke.
"You know, that beating wasn't the only thing you got on New Years'." The monitor changed scenes once more, and Dick couldn't help but smile as he saw Zee grab him by the arm and kiss him. The entire team looked over to Zee, who had turned a bright red. Artemis smirked and playfully hit her arm before they all turned back to the scene in front of them. Not-Bruce continued. "And that's only the start of it." The monitor played a montage of Dick's happiest moments. He saw himself having a friendly spar with Bruce in the cave, where they both cracked jokes and had a good time. He saw Alfred clean the Manor with him while he regaled him with stories of his heroics, vastly exaggerated to make himself seem more badass. He saw Wally high-five him after they escaped Cadmus and freed Superboy. He saw the entire team spending countless movie and game nights together. He saw Superman hang out with him in Gotham when Bruce was gone. He saw Wonder Woman have dinner with him and Bruce at the Manor. He saw Barbara and Luke hang out with him during school or galas. He saw Zatanna go on dates with him and kiss him. Dick let a small smile grace his face as he reminisced on all the bright spots of his life. But he quickly frowned as he remembered the weak points. Not-Bruce saw his inner turmoil and shut off the monitor. "It's time."
"Time? Time for what?"
"It's time for you to choose."
Sorry if it wasn't that great. I'm writing more with passion than skill, so my writing is probably not the best, but it's still fun for me to write and you guys seem to enjoy it, so I'm gonna keep doing it, even if it sucks. Next chapter is the final part of this sorta-ministory. Feel free to leave comments or suggestions. Next chapter up soon.