Prologue 3: Her Chosen Path

Jonah was excited to reach the park. It was a bright sunny day, perfect for playing with his friends! He couldn't wait to show off his new toy, a heavily scarred cowboy from his favorite show. He just knew everyone would love it! When he finally reached the park, he gave his mother a quick hug before running off to join the others. His friends were just as excited for his new toy as he was. They spent the next hour taking turns playing with it, pretending to fight off outlaws and other villains!

After a time, Jonah noticed silver eyes watching them from a nearby bench. A dark-haired girl around their age. Wanting to be kind, he ran over to the girl. "Hiya!"

The girl seemed surprised that he was speaking to her. "Hello." She sounded almost like an adult.

"I saw you watching! Do you wanna play too?" Jonah asked with a big grin on his face.

The girl just stared at him for a moment, unsmiling. "I'm okay. Go have fun."

Jonah frowned, but shrugged. He tried to be nice, but he guessed this girl just didn't want to play.

Ruby watched the little kid run back off. He couldn't have been older than eight years old, just like her. But the interaction highlighted an important difference, one Ruby had been contemplating for a while now. She knew what other children her age did. Things like playing with toys and making friends. So why did she feel no urge to join them? It was fascinating enough to watch, but only because everyone else seemed so different from her.

She felt someone sit on the bench beside her and turned to face her Uncle Dick. He handed her one of the two ice cream cups he was holding. Ruby had to set down the book she was reading to take the treat, and Dick raised his brow at the title. "Intro to Circuit Theory? That's pretty big reading."

"I might as well learn something, if I'm forced to break from training," Ruby explained. "No reason to waste the hours."

Dick frowned. "Relaxing isn't wasting anything, it's important to rest. You can't be 'on' all the time. Why not go have fun with those three? That one seemed interested." Ruby turned her eyes back to the group of children, they're excited shouts easily heard.

"I'll stop you, evil outlaw! Bang Bang!"

"No! You have beaten me again!"

"Hey, it's my turn to be the cowboy!"

Ruby's face remained unreadable. "They seem just fine without me," she excused, not knowing what else to say.

"Well, we should be getting back to the manor before Barb throws a fit. She needs me to watch James while she heads to work. Unless there's someone you want to visit while we're in town?" Dick added the last part leadingly.

Ruby shook her head. "I'd rather just get back to the manor."

"Ruby, you need to see your family," Dick insisted. "When's the last time they even spoke to you in person? Video calls won't cut it."

"They don't understand why I still want to stay with Bruce," Ruby explained. "It's easier like this. Less arguments."

Dick sighed, "well, maybe they have a point, Ruby."

"Can we please not argue about this too, Uncle Dick?" Ruby pleaded, or as close as she got to pleading with her ever-flat tones. "I just want to get back to the manor."

"Fine," Dick conceded. He took a last, long look at the toy the other kids had, one last idea forming in his mind.

Ruby sighed for what she felt was the umpteenth time that day. Her Uncle Dick had just brought her back to the manor and he was already trying to get her to play with that toy he had just bought her. Frankly, Ruby didn't see the appeal in wasting time with such a… menial task.

"Come on Ruby, you've barely even touched it, don't want to try your hand at something... normal?"

Ruby rolled her eyes, that toy was unnecessary, and she told him as much. " I don't see the point in playing with a small piece of plastic," she replied, already making a beeline for her room. "I'll be in my room if you need me," she said, closing the door before her Uncle Dick could get another word in.

Dick frowned, it had been a little over four years since she began to live with Bruce and she only resembled the man more and more with each passing day. He shook his head, spotting Bruce and Barbara waiting in the living room.

Barbara spoke first, "well?"

He said nothing, his silence being the only answer they needed.

They fell into what felt like an uncomfortable silence after that, with no one seeming to have any more ideas for Ruby's reintegration into society. Surprisingly, Bruce was the one who broke the silence. "She's not getting better," he said, his generally firm tone replaced by a noticeably more somber one.

Dick's shoulders sagged at this, knowing it had to be true if Bruce of all people seemed to be giving up on the matter. "Her sole focus seems to be training, and the rare moments she's not she's reading about things like circuit theory of all things. Her progress is incredible, despite her age, she'd probably be able to beat most Beacon first years! I haven't seen this kind of progression since - "

"Damian," Bruce supplied, well aware of his son's combat prowess. He had to be if he was capable of leading and reforming the legendary League of Assassins.

"We're getting off topic," Barbara interrupted, this was about Ruby's mental health, not her combat ability.

Dick nodded, "She's right, but if Ruby isn't healing...then what do we do?"

Bruce hummed in contemplation, he had an idea, he just wasn't sure if they'd approve of it.

Ruby nearly scoffed as she halfheartedly 'played' with the figure in her hands. She just didn't get it. After her Uncle Dick had left, Ruby admittedly felt bad at her causal dismissal of his idea. He had gone out of his way to buy her the toy, so she figured that she'd may as well indulge him in that regard. Still, she just didn't get the point of it all. It's not that she didn't understand the act of having 'fun', it just wasn't something she felt that she herself could get behind.

Ruby felt a rare frown form on her face. Why do I even bother? She felt her body drooping at the thought. She drummed her fingers on the table, analyzing her surroundings for anything that could 'entertain' her for the time being. When she inevitably found nothing, she stood up and exited her room, scanning the manor for anything that could make her 'downtime' more practical.

She came to a stop at the old grandfather clock, she always felt there was more to it. Ruby liked to think of herself as pragmatic, but she couldn't help but feel the pull every time she was near it. Whatever it was, it would have to wait as she knelt down, picking up what looked to be some kind of device. It was old, that much was clear as she felt the rusted metal scratch itself against her fingers. However, what intrigued Ruby the most wasn't the device itself, but the fact that she was feeling the same pull she often felt towards the clock.

Having accomplished her objective, Ruby returned to her room. She put the odd device on her desk, before pulling open a drawer underneath full of her personal collection of tools she knew was necessary for the job. Slowly, she took it apart piece by piece, as she became oblivious to the world around her.

With the adults still talking in the living room, James found himself wandering the Manor. There were a few different places he liked to go, but one place in particular he always found himself going at least once a day. He stepped into Ruby's room, knocking on the open door as he entered. If she heard him, she didn't show it. He shrugged and stepped inside anyways, she had yet to throw him out so he always felt welcome.

It was unsurprising to find Ruby huddled over her desk. Whether she was reading a book or disassembling her scroll again, she was always trying to learn something. Since she was occupied, he busied himself by looking around the room itself. It was sparsely decorated. She didn't seem to have anything that didn't have a purpose. A punching bag in one corner, a bookshelf filled with non-fiction, and her wardrobe that was surprisingly neat for someone who hardly cared about that stuff.

He did notice one new addition, a toy of some cowboy. That did surprise him. Ruby never showed any interest in things like that. He wondered if someone else got it for her. Seeing how it was now abandoned, he could guess how well that plan went. Ruby really was never that kind of kid. She constantly strived to improve herself somehow, someway, always working toward some undetermined goal.

It's really something to admire…

James felt his cheeks heat up at the stray thought. He turned away from Ruby, who he realized he had been staring at. She probably wasn't going to face him, but if she did he didn't want her seeing his blush. Instead, his eyes found another constant fixture of the room. Hung up over Ruby's personal fireplace in a thick picture frame was her mother's cape.

James used to hate looking at it. Even after he was old enough for it to stop being scary, he just couldn't understand how someone could keep something like that, especially in plain sight. He understood now, though. He understood the same way he now understood Ruby better than he used to. He wished he had something similar from his own father, after he was shot in the back by his own allies while on assignment…

James used to want to be a huntsman like his father. After seeing firsthand how many huntsmen operate, he now wanted to be anything but. However, unlike Ruby, he hadn't the slightest idea what he truly wanted. He tried some physical training with her, but he just couldn't keep up. Although recently, he did find himself enjoying playing with computer code… though he still didn't know how to turn that into a future for himself. Not to mention the eye strain.

"James?"

Not a hint of surprise in her voice. Of course Ruby knew he was there the entire time. She always did. "What's up?" he asked, trying to sound as casual as possible.

"I think I need to connect this wire here, but I don't want to let go and lose my place," Ruby explained, gesturing to the equipment she was holding together with both her hands. "Could you plug in the solder and hand it to me?"

"As you wish," James smirked. He liked being helpful, especially to Ruby. He did as she asked and watched her continue to put the strange device together. "What is this?"

"I don't know," Ruby answered, "I found it by the broken grandfather clock."

"I swear I felt a draft by that clock once."

"Me too. Da- Bruce never did answer my questions."

James decided to ignore the odd slip, and took another careful look over the device. "How can you fix it if you don't know what it does?"

"A bit of guesswork," Ruby admitted. "I think I've nearly got it, though. I just need to connect the power source."

A high pitched tone filled the entire room, the kind only the sensitive ears of young children and animals could even hear. A moment passed with nothing but that piercing noise. James looked around, "is that all it-"

He was cut off by a swarm of bats darting in through the window. The creatures swept towards the two of them. James was battered by the bodies of the disoriented flyers, eventually falling to the ground. Ruby wasn't touched by them, in fact they seemed to circle around her like a leather-winged tornado. The young girl watched them for a moment before her eyes fell to the device in her hand.

When her gaze shifted next, they found Bruce himself, watching her through the door. The two stared, their faces mirroring each other's. Ruby gripped the power wire and disconnected it, freeing the bats. They flew past Bruce and into the Manor's halls. Bruce didn't flinch. When he finally did move it was to turn to leave, accompanied by a single command. "Follow me."

Ruby followed Bruce out to the sitting room, where the old man had also summoned Barbara and Dick. James had been sent back to 'his' room, the one he used when staying at the Manor. Even if this conversation was for his ears, it wasn't Bruce's place to decide that. The group took their seats, and they could see on Bruce's face that this talk would be serious. Dick was getting the feeling he wouldn't like what would be said.

"Ruby isn't getting better," Bruce finally opened. "Her skills are improving, and her drive is growing by the day, but her psyche isn't healing."

"Yes, we covered this already," Barbara interjected. "Should Ruby really be here for this?" she added, concerned how the young girl might react to the prognosis.

"Our plan failed," Bruce continued. "I think we need to admit that we failed."

"Bruce!" Dick shouted, gesturing to Ruby.

"If I tried to send her away, she would have only eavesdropped anyway," Bruce pointed out. "I think treating her like a child has been part of the problem. She deserves to hear this."

"Then what were we supposed to do?" Barbara questioned calmly.

"I still don't think our plan was inherently flawed, it worked before after all," Bruce explained, looking to Dick as he spoke. "The problem here is that even we can't help someone who doesn't want to be helped."

The room was silent as everyone drank in the words. Even Barbara was blind to the fact that Ruby was actively rejecting any healing of her psyche, though maybe that was only because she didn't want to see it. "Then what can we do?"

"The only thing we can do now is provide focus. To give her a mission."

"Mission!?" The implication had Dick jumping to his feet. "I told you, I wasn't going to train her for that!"

"I'm not asking you to!" Bruce stood as well, asserting his authority here. "And I'm not going to force her, either. If she does this, it will be her choice. But I am going to give her the choice."

Barbara crossed her arms, deep in thought. "Are you sure about this, Bruce?"

Bruce nodded. "We once agreed that Vale should always have one of us. Perhaps she's gone too long without. Perhaps that's why Ruby found her way to me…"

"What choice?" Ruby finally spoke up. She knew she was smart, but she was still missing a critical piece of information to actually understand what was being said.

Bruce nodded to her and walked to the other end of the room, straight to that strange clock. He opened the front of it and began manipulating the hands. A click could be heard as the time set to 10:47, and the clock swung open like a door. In all her time exploring the house, Ruby had no idea something like this was here.

He let Ruby pass through first so she could take her own time going down the stairs, and process things at her own pace. The clock led deep into a cave system underneath the Manor. A large chamber sat right at the bottom of the stairs. When the group reached the bottom Bruce flipped a switch on the wall and lights began to flicker to life.

Ruby didn't know what to focus on first. The high-tech training arena? The black jet-like vehicle? The actual supercomputer dominating the far wall? The full forensics lab attached to it? Her eyes did finally focus on something that brought her understanding to completion. A series of glass cases containing various suits that she recognized. The bookshelf in her room had several biographies dedicated to the subject.

The Batman. Bruce Wayne was the Batman.

Ruby turned back to the others, looking to Barbara and Dick in turn. "Batgirl? Robin?"

Barbara chuckled while Dick fumed. "Nightwing, actually…"

"But he was Robin first," Barbara betrayed. "He just doesn't like talking about it."

Ruby's eyes passed throughout the Batcave once more. "All of this is yours?" Ruby addressed Bruce without turning to him.

"Yes. And it can be yours."

"Wait, all of it?" Dick questioned.

"What did you think?" Barbara pointed out, "she'd be a Robin without a Batman?"

"But everything? The cowl, too? What about Damien?"

"I offered this to Damien before he left," Bruce confessed. "He turned it down, felt there was still too much of his grandfather in him. He felt he could do more good to the world by reforming the League of Assassins."

"Besides, you have met the girl, right?" Barbara smirked. "Appearance aside, even Damien wasn't quite the spitting image."

While the three continued to bicker, Ruby approached one of the glass cases. One of Bruce's first batsuits, the emblem bold against the grayer fabric. "Yes."

The three voices stopped. Dick was the first to walk toward Ruby. "You should really take some time to think about this, Ruby."

Ruby shook her head. "I know what I want."

"Dick is right, Ruby," Bruce countered. "It's not just skills and a suit I'm offering. There's a legacy here, a significance. An ideal that you would have to uphold. It wouldn't be a way of life, it would be your life. You can't have one side without the other. I know you are capable of understanding what this means, but you should still take the time to contemplate it."

"Please, Ruby," Dick pleaded. "For me?"

Ruby reluctantly nodded.

The days passed by quickly. On her desk was every book and reference to the Batman that she could find, strewn about in the messiest fashion that desk had ever beheld. A laptop connected to the files of the Batcomputer, given by Bruce at Ruby's request, sat there as well.

She had done nothing but read in all this time, slowly fulfilling her comprehension of Bruce's mission and the full weight of his offer. Bruce was right. It wasn't just a lifestyle she could try on and cast away at a moment's notice. Ruby knew the time was coming soon to give her final answer. This choice would define the entire rest of her life.

But what choice was there, really? What exactly was her alternative? The only reason her answer had taken this long was because she had yet to even figure out what option two was supposed to be. A normal childhood? That was already stolen by some unknown figure's malicious taunt.

But... Ruby couldn't deny the idea of a normal childhood was entirely unthought of.

I'll stop you, evil outlaw! Bang Bang!

No! You have beaten me again!

Hey, it's my turn to be the cowboy!

She held that toy now, the same toy she so callously disregarded before. Childhood. Children played. They had fun. They didn't take responsibilities that placed such heavy weights on their little shoulders. They didn't abuse themselves, risking their lives, for a mission they knew would likely outlive them.

But I'm not a child, am I?

It was the only answer she could have ever reached. She knew that. She always knew that. The toy was tossed into the fireplace. She watched for a moment as the flames licked the plastic, blackening it in some areas and melting it in others. Then her eyes panned above, to the frame over the mantle. I will avenge you. And anyone who has suffered the same fate.

Ruby went straight to the Batcave. Bruce would know the moment she entered. And that would be answer enough for him. This wasn't a choice. This was her only path forward.

It had been a few days since Ruby had made her decision, and besides the fact that she started training in the cave, nothing about her routine had changed all that much. The only thing different was Bruce himself. Shortly after she made her decision, Bruce had called someone over the phone. When Ruby asked who he called, Bruce answered with a vague "you'll see."

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard footsteps near the stairs of the cave. She paused, looking around to confirm that Bruce, Dick, and Barbara were still in the cave. She looked back to the stairs in confusion, if everyone else was here, then who was entering the cave? Noticing that they were moving towards the entrance, Ruby's curiosity overwhelmed her as she too walked to stairs at the front of the cave.

Once she neared the stairs, she got a better look at the visitor. The person who had entered the cave was someone she had never seen in all of her years at staying at the manor. He was tall, about as tall as Bruce was actually. He was garbed in a seemingly black suit, followed by a golden pin shaped into a symbol that Ruby had never seen before. She raised an eyebrow at that, staring at the man in a mixture of confusion and suspicion.

The man, she realized, had been staring at her as well. He was analyzing her very being with a stare similar to that of Bruce's. Ruby didn't let that intimidate her though, as she glared back, unafraid of the man before her.

The man hummed in thought, before turning his gaze towards Bruce. "I can see why you chose her," he said, his voice dripping with what seemed to be indifference? He turned back towards the girl in question, "my name is Damien Wayne, and starting today, I will be your new master."

Ruby's eyes widened in surprise, this was Damien? She looked to Bruce for confirmation. After she saw him nod, she looked back to Damien with new appreciation in her eyes. Ruby gave her own nod out of respect. "Understood sir."

Damien briefly stared at the girl again before replying with, "good, we'll leave at once. I will give you a moment to say your farewells."

Ruby flinched back, not expecting her to be leaving. She turned back to her caretakers - no, her family. "Am I really leaving?" she asked. Her aunt and uncle looked at her sadly while Bruce was stoic as ever. She embraced her aunt and uncle first, feeling tears flowing from her eyes as she held them tight.

After that, she turned to Bruce, the man who had given her life purpose. Ruby briefly bit her lip in contemplation, before hugging him as tight as she could. However, unlike the silent hugs she gave Dick and Barb, she thanked him in the way she had been wanting to for years now. "Thank you, dad. For everything. I love you."

The room was so quiet that they could've heard a pin drop. Dick and Barbara looked over to Ruby with surprise, even Damien's brow furrowed at the comment. Bruce was a hard man to surprise, but even his jaw was dropped at Ruby's words. For once in his life, the world's greatest detective was shocked.

In reality, he should have seen this coming after spending all that time with her, even if the vast majority of it was him overseeing her training. While Ruby had many similarities to Bruce, the one thing that caused her to stand out from him was her love for affection. She didn't hesitate to admit how much she cared for someone, even giving his former proteges the title of aunt and uncle despite there being no blood relation between them.

Bruce never saw himself as a father, as even his relationship with his biological son was strict and formal. He tried to speak, but he found himself speechless.

"It's okay dad, I know," Ruby smiled a rare, genuine smile. She knew the type of man he was, and she was content with that.

With that, Ruby turned towards Damien, and after taking one final glance at her family, she left.

Hey everyone! I know, I'm actually keeping a constant update schedule right! Well, you can thank my co-writer for that. He actually wrote a bit over half of this chapter actually, so make sure to check him out if you haven't already! This was also the final prologue chapter, as chapter 4 will officially take place during the start of volume 1! Anyways though, I hope you enjoy it, and as always, reviews are always appreciated!