Dick doesn't...
No. He does. He keeps contact with Bruce. He keeps his phone number on his phone, and reads his emails daily and he's always ready and quick to answer whenever Bruce calls him, whether just to check up or for a mission.
He even sees him quite a few times, mostly in missions, granted, and the small talk doesn't really count as small talk, not when Bruce doesn't say anything.
But he doesn't keep up as much with Bruce as he used to. He spends most of his time with the Titans, really. Maybe that's his fault, just maybe, that he didn't try hard enough, try harder to keep contact with Bruce, maybe that's why.
He doesn't learn about Cassandra until he reads the newspaper.
Until she comes by to visit him personally.
Dick's not angry. He doesn't get angry, not anymore. Not really. He likes to think he cooled down.
But somehow, Black Bat's existence makes him want to scream. He wants to scream because he's the one that's supposed to be Batman's sidekick, the sidekick that's supposed to be buried and gone, the sidekick that was him, and him only.
( It's not that she gets to be called Black Bat specifically, it isn't, it's not the fact that she's closer to Bruce, as his daughter, who's infinitely smarter and better at fighting and kinder and intelligent and perfect- )
And that's. That's selfish. He doesn't have the right to claim Batman's partnership as his own, not when he left it. It's unreasonable. He knows that. He does.
Bruce didn't tell him. He didn't. Maybe he didn't have to, maybe he thought he didn't need to tell him or that he didn't deserve to be told, but-
" You're upset." Cassandra says. She looks at him worriedly- from her side of the table. " Do you need anything?"
" No. Thank you." Cassandra responds. Tersely, although possibly not on purpose. " You were... the former Robin?
" Only," Dick says, smiling. He takes as sip of his coffee, trying to clear his brain of its morning haze. " Black Bat's a nice name. I'd thought that you'd want to be Batgirl or something."
Cassandra shook her head politely, here eyes suprisingly serious- too serious- for a twelve year old. " That is Barbara's title. She left it to be Oracle, but ... I have no... right to take it."
She cleared her throat, looking at him apologetically. " I'm sorry. I am still learning english."
Dick nodded. Understandable. " That's alright." he said. " So where'd you come from? I know several languages myself, if you want to ever talk."
Cassandra shook her head quickly, looking at him it a way that Dick almost instantly registers as embarrassment. " I'm sorry." she says. " It's not... that. I was not taught how to speak in any language. This is my first."
Dick stares, he tries, tries, not to show his rage and confusion and all those other emotions running haywire. Tries not to drop his cup of coffee onto the ground, not when it's still hot and boiling and just a few centimetres away from his lips.
" I'll need some context." he manages to force out without letting the rage show.
Obviously, Cassandra sees it anyways.
It's the thought that counts.
So. Apparently.
Cassandra Cain was raised by birth by her assassian father who never taught her how to speak and tried to train her to become an assassian, who thought that shooting at your children was a fine way to establish parent-child bonding, who was the reason Cassandra ended up having to kill another person at age seven, and who was also hunting for Batman as of now because of this.
For a brief, shock-full moment, Dick's brain forcibly pieces together a single coherent thought- that being, guess you really can't compete with that backstory-
And his second thought was wanting to beat up David Cain and Batman, in that precise order.
Bruce lets him rant.
he lets Tanagar storm into Wayne Manor- into the Batcave, and yell at him.
And Dick does. He does angrily and hurt and self-righteous-
she's a human being you can't just make her fight crime for you she's a child, she was already trained to be an assassian, she doesn't deserve this, she-
And to be fair, to be fair, he's right, sort of.
Dick finishes his rant in angry pants, his fists curled, and he glares at Bruce as he clicks something on the batcomputer, virtually ignoring him except for the gentle 'hmm' he emits.
" Well?" Dick asks.
Bruce turns over, and Dick can't see the look from beneath the mask, but he knows that it's pitying, he just knows.
" Barbara said the same thing." Bruce responds, coldly. " I gave Cassandra a choice. She wishes to fight, Dick. She will be alright. She's trained- even more so than you at your age."
Dick feels his back straighten instantly, a needle-sharp feeling of hurt stabbing its' way into his chest.
He knows that's not what Batman means. What he means is that Dick shouldn't worry about her. That Cassandra's skilled, she won't get hurt.
What he hears- what he hears, is that Dick wasn't good enough. Not then.
Maybe not now, even.
" Right." Dick chokes out, gruffly. " Well. Don't come looking for me when she gets blown up."
It's harsh. Too harsh. He regrets it, instantly, when Bruce snaps around to stare at him hollow.
Dick swallows quickly, guilt flooding him.
" Sorry." he says, and means it.
Cassandra is a good fighter. Better than he is.
She can read people better than he can. She listens to Bruce and she never asks why they don't kill, never.
Not like Dick.
Dick knows just how close he came to killing people before. Tony Zucco is the first that springs to mind.
The Joker. Two-Face. More. Not often, of course. But the fact that they happened, the fact that they could have happened, and the fact that Cassandra doesn't need to learn it, she just knows- and sure, maybe she needed the mob boss, sure, sure, but the fact still stands-
Dick had to learn. He had to learn from Bruce. From experience. He learned how to save a life after he learned how to end it.
Cassandra did it herself. She fashioned her morals out of patchworks from nothing that she knew. She knew.
That's a difference. And really, she's a better person than Dick was, better sidekick. Better everything.
He can see that.
That's not to say they don't get along. They're both investigators.
Dick's solved six of the FBI's cold cases in a morning.
Cassandra found her way from some region somewhere between Beijing and Hong Kong to Gotham age eleven without being able to speak.
Sure, Dick spends a lot of time in Bludhaven and with the Titans, but he comes by whenever he can.
" So how's life?" Dick asks, taking her out for ice cream. Conehead has discounts every Friday.
" Good." Cass says happily. She's looking over the menu for ice cream flavors. Her fingers trace over the coconut chocolate and the strawberry tomato.
The last one is probably more confusion than anything, but.
" I might end up joining the Birds of Prey, later. I want to stay with Bruce, but Barbara and Black Canary have let me join them. Sometimes."
" Canary?" Dick prompted with interest, ordering the French vanilla ice cream, topped with a single dollop of whipped cream, blue berries, and a delicate drizzle of melted caramel.
" She comes by often." Cassandra confirms. " She has…" she pauses, eyes flittering before frowning. "… mentioned you. You are friends with her son?"
Dick winced as he waited patiently. " Man, I really don't like thinking about it like that. Yeah. Roy's technically her son…. and uh, well seeing as I interact with Dinah on a daily basis, I really don't like thinking about it like that. It's a lot more complicated than that.
Cassandra nodded, apparently choosing to abandon all hopes of coconut or tomato flavored ice cream to choose salted caramel ice cream with whipped cream and hot fudge.
Not bad.
" Like us?" she says, as Dick gets his own ice cream. " Bruce is…our father?"
Dick frowned. Wondered for a moment if he could articulate it properly or if he was even capable to say it.
" Now that's complicated, too." Dick affirmed. " Everything is, I guess. Especially when you factor in Huntress and Barbara and Kate…" he took a bite of his ice cream.
Cassandra stared at him contemplatively for a moment, wordlessly taking the ice cream cone handed to her.
" Bruce is my father." she says slowly- and if it weren't for the carefully light tone, he might have mistook it for patronizing. " And you are my brother. Doesn't that mean he's yours as well?"
" Maybe. Maybe not." Dick says honestly. He smiles, taking Cassandra's hand in his- it's sticky, cold, even in the summer heat. " It's not... family's complicated. But you're right, too. I guess. You're my sister, Cass. You are."
Cass stares at him for the briefest of seconds, nodding.
Dick hears that Cass's spending time with the Birds of Prey, lately, more and more.
They still visit each other, of course, spend time together, and all that.
It's just that Dick has a lot more problems to deal with now- they're on good terms, him and Bruce and Cass- so-
Dick fiddled with his shirt collar as he stood in doorway. He tapped his feet impatiently as he looked outward.
" You don't have to stand there." Talia remarks pleasantly. Irritation burned inside him. Dick honestly couldn't see what Bruce saw in her, for all he knew, she could just be waiting for the perfect time to beat their asses and throw them to Ra's for some world-domination bullshit.
Still. Bruce had asked him to come with him for a double date with Clark and Lois.
He could tolerate Talia, just like he could tolerate the restricting, cologne riddled suit that he was forced to wear.
" 'M fine." he brushed off, squinting. " Can't see why I had to come here, that's all. You could bring Cass."
" She has work to do with Barbara."
" And I have to do it with the Titans." Dick points out too. Talia looked at him almost sympathetically.
" He prefers it when you're hear." she says simply.
Dick swallows, and really, really wishes she wasn't right.
" Hey. Dick. Dick." Wally's voice gets increasingly louder as he leans into Dick's ear.
Dick's busy narrowing his eyes seriously at the screen in front of him, the list of files that show the criminal record of every member of Black Mask's Keystone Criminal Division.
Wally, Superboy, and Dick had been working together to catch them- although Superboy wasn't available at the moment. Dick tries to ignore the increasingly loud whisper into his ear as he scrolled down the list of information on the newest member, John 'Spithead' Lars.
God knows what he did to get a name like that.
Finally, Dick sighed, irritated. He flopped his head over accusingly. Wally gave him a shared accusing look, leaning over the back of his swivel chair.
" What?" he asked. Wally gave him a more firmer- no, poutier, glare.
" Why didn't you tell us you had an aunt?" he asked.
Dick stared. His brain blanked out for a brief second.
" Do you mean Kate?" he asks finally. His voice sounded leaden, even to his own ears.
" Yeah." Wally said. " How come we never met her? It's always just Batman this, Batman that, et cetera, et cetera." he waved his hand for emphasis.
" You met Alfred." Dick offered. " And you also met me."
Still, Wally continued rambling lightly. " And we haven't even met Batgirl, yet, either, which is really unfair, too."
He shook his head smiling. " Point is, it'd be nice if we could actually meet a member of the 'Batfamily' that doesn't make me want to tear my hair out."
" You met me." Dick points out again. He let a grin spread over his face, twisting the un-used pen between his fingers.
Wally laughed suddenly at that- bright and loud and rambunctious.
' Oh, no- no, no, no-" he said, still heaving in laughter. He broke out in a series of giggles between his words. "- no, no, no- ha! Dick, I love you- and I hate to say this, but you, too, my dear wannabe Swedish pop star, make me want to tear my head out."
" Hair." Dick interjects quickly, for the sake of interjecting.
" No, I meant head." Wally responds instantly. He shook his head solemnly. " Here lies Wally West, murdered by his own teammate's Bat-iness."
" Cheers." Dick says, deadpan. He rolls his eyes. He's almost back to researching when Wally's voice pops back up again.
" Hey-" he says. " Are you still part of the whole Bat-clique, or-" he waved his hand wildly.
Dick glared. " Lets go back to work. We're missing at least thirty-two members of the East End- unaccounted."
Wally holds his eyes.
And then holds up a printed out series of pages.
" They are now."
"-AND you didn't tell me that you had an incredibly attractive older sister who uses a bow and arrow."
" You don't have a chance." Dick cuts in solemnly. " If its any comfort, Roy never had either."
" Rip to him, but I'm different." Wally said. He fumbled his hand into the bag of chips again, taking out a large shovelful into his palms. He then shoveled them into his mouth, eyes glued to the screen.
Well, eyes glued to Tom Cruise, but considering that he occupied three-fourths of the whole- and he meant WHOLE- screen, that was basically the same thing.
Dick made a point to carefully take his chips one by one out of the bag and into his mouth.
" You! You- I knew we shouldn't have fucking trusted-"
Dick- calm down-" Bruce begins hurriedly. Dick struggled to breath, fingers clenched.
" You let her get fucking kidnapped! And don't act like you didn't- like you had no, absolutely no idea, because you do- you have to have an idea!"
Talia's face is perfectly sorrowful and not upset at all and somewhat pitying and Dick is angry and angry and angry- because his sister just got the equivalent of kidnapped by fucking Ra's and Talia's here and she doesn't know anything.
" I had no idea of my father's plans, and if I did, I would have stopped it." Talia says reassuringly. It's not reassuring. Talia continues. " We will find her, Richard. She is strong, Ra's will not kill her easily."
Dick forced himself to stop, breathing heavily. He struggled to look at Talia without screaming again.
" 'Will not kill her easily?' That's your comforting speech?"
" It is the truth. I understand your pain, Richard." she begins again.
Dick stares at her.
Bruce cleared his throat. " We still need to track down Black Bat's location. Currently, we can narrow it down to-"
" And you!" Dick snaps, turning around abruptly. He stormed over to where Bruce was sitting.
" Her father just kidnapped Cassie! Your sidekick! Your freaking daughter- how are you not at least suspicious?" he threw his hands out, gesturing to where Talia was sitting. Talia rolled her eyes from just beyond Dick's vision.
" I trust her. You should to." Bruce responds calmly.
And suddenly, Dick's struck by a familiar urge to shake him, ask why the hell he's so calm when Cass is missing- but the thing is, he knows Bruce. Bruce doesn't simply show his emotions, no. He hides them under his emotionally constipated skin and never says what he thinks and forces everyone else to untangle his words and clean up after him-
No. He's- he's being...ridiculous. Dick swallowed.
" Fine." he said, forcing out the word. " Tell me when you find something. I'm seeing if Barbara has anything."
" HER MOTHER?" Dick asks. Talia nods.
" Lady Shiva." she repeats. Dick's brain raices to fill in the blanks now in his head. Lady Shiva- worked for Ra's Al Ghul, now with own faction, travelling around the world training, murdering, and apparently kidnapping her own child to force Cass to kill her-
He turned to Bruce. Gave him a bitter look. Then back at Talia.
" You make it. Very difficult. To trust you."
Talia gave him an apologetic look. She threaded her long hair through her fingers, as though contemplating something. She looked back at him.
" Deathstroke also worked for Ra's before." she told him quickly.
Dick blinked suddenly, jolted out of his mindspace. He doesn't have the ability to respond before Talia continued. " So did Cass's father, too. Entirely different times with Shiva. Better now than later, to tell you, I suppose."
"... That's not all. Is it." Bruce filled in the silence between them. His cowl shifted.
Talia smiled softly at him. " No. But it's whats important now. " Turned back. " I hope you trust me, Richard. I can help you, both of you."
" Not as though I have much of a choice." Dick responds.
Talia nods as though she didn't expect any different answer.
Eventually, they ( they, being Bruce and Dick, because Ra's cares too much about his daughter to tie her with them over a lava pit ) don't exactly manage to finish the rescue attempt. They get captured, of course, tied up, threatened with murder, all those things.
Gravity pulls sickeningly at Dick's stomach, an unreasonable terror running through his limbs, still as he watched the scene below him.
Not the lava- well, yes, the lava, but that's a minimal part.
He can see Cass and Shiva over the pit, a thin wood board over it, like some sick, incredibly dangerous circus trick- and Dick knows all about circus tricks, he's a circus boy, after all.
His parents died in a circus.
The height doesn't scare him. It doesn't.
" You fine?" Bruce asks in the emotionally unintelligent way he is. Dick swallows. Forces the unreasonable, persistent fear from his throat.
" Fine. Fine. We might die. I'm fine."
Cass readies on the board. Her suit is tattered, and Dick's scared for her, too, because no matter how well trained, Shiva is Shiva and she might trip, or make a mistake, or something, or maybe Shiva's going to cheat and push her over, and if she does, she's going to die.
They're all going to die, Dick thinks, hyperventilating, braing running over with so many different fears that at this point he might not even need any hallucinogenic drugs to force him into paralysis.
Cass walks shakily- shakily- up the board.
She says something to Shiva. Pause.
She looks up.
Dick tries to force a hopeful smile through the frantic pounding of his heart. It's okay, he doesn't say.
He can't see Cass' entire reaction from this distance.
That's okay.
That's perfectly okay.
" You can do this." he says.
He's not sure if she can hear.
He hopes she knows what he said anyways.
As it turns out, of the many secrets that Talia has apparently failed to inform them of, consisting Lady Shiva, Deathstroke, and David Cain, there was an additional one.
A son.
Dick Grayson is this close to throwing a riot, because she had a son, a son, and he was just now being introduced after spending his entire life in. An. Assassian. Cult. He's angrier than he ever has been before. He's pretty sure Cass' pretty angry too, if the twitching of her eye when Talia informs them of this while also introducing Damian to them is any indicator.
Damian al Ghul, now going by Damian Wayne, is eight years old, boasts about being the Son of the Bat, is determined to be the Heir of the Bat, Is Not Very Fond of Cassandra Using the Word Bat in her Alias, wants to stab everyone, is quite frankly very annoying and self-absorbed, and he's been trained in an assassian cult. Which is something that bears repeating.
And now, Dick was stuck with introducing Damian to the wider world, alongside Bruce.
( A great thing that Talia had since quit her job from LexCorp, changed her name, and went to work on a job to preserve animal habitats because then things might've gotten really heated )
" Mr. Grayson." Lex says, wrinkles deepening as he smiled. His eyes flickered between him and Cass. Cass gave a solemn nod. " It must be very exciting to have a new sibling."
" It is." Dick remarks. He smiled. " We are very grateful to have Damian now in our lives."
" Ah, yes-" Lex says cheerily. He waved his hand flippantly to the side as he spoke. "- though I do find it rather disappointing that your father is only now owning up to it."
" He only now found out, sir." Dick answered back.
" Of course. One only wonders why it was hidden, then." His eyes turn to Cassandra. Cass' jaw is tight. Her eyes stare cold and hard into Lex's own.
" She had her reasons. The point is, she introduced him to Mr. Wayne now."
" Mhm." Lex mumbles. He turns his head to where Damian is. Dick can't help but turn his head over too, a sudden surge of sympathy and anger and an odd protectiveness washing over him.
Damian's hair is gelled back, a what can only be described as regally pompous look on his face as he sipped on his grape juice. Angrily.
Lex turned back. " Will we be seeing him more often?"
" I don't know." Dick says.
" Ah. Then a curious case, he is, though no more than you were, or Cassandra, I assure you. I know that many are throwing a fit over this scandal, what with him being in the political spotlight at the moment."
" He won't endorse you." Dick nearly spits out scathingly, biting back his words as they begin to form in his mouth. Instead, he grips his glass of undrunk wine as Lex continues to speak, an irritating, cold, smile over his face.
" I do wonder what role he will play in the Wayne Family buisness." he says calmly. Dick swallowed, the same question, hate as he may admit it, floating into his brain, the same as Lex's own.
" As do I." he says, lips pulling apart. He nodded.
" Hey Dick! Hey Cassie! Hey- actually I don't know you're actual name, but you're Batman's kid, right? Yeah, I think so."
" Superboy!" Dick waves. He grins as Kon nears closer, feet dangling as he floats in the air. He's still waving giddily when Dick continues. " How's Rapture?"
" Oh, better than ever-" Kon says. " We're making great progress. He says he might even let me be the one to beat him up the next time we fight."
" Oh, don't do that to him." Dick half-whines. " I'm sure he regrets it."
Kon shrugged. " No- we're really doing great though- even if he's still being moody and not wanting to join a team. Even Roy's getting concerned over his social life- he's tried introducing Mia to him, at least. " He scrunched up his nose. " Jason says he's too old to have playdates."
He finished his last words in a hurry as he tumbled down. Superboy waved enthusiastically as he landed, black jacket fluttering wildly off his shoulders.
Which might be a safety hazard, considering that there were spikes over the shoulders of the jacket.
Damian scowled. The boy fixed his eyes bitterly onto Kon's face, green-brown-black into blue-grey-white. Kon held out his hand, red gloveless fingers- also with spikes, even if they were shorter, Dick silently disapproved of the modified costume that Kon wore, but hey, whatever floats your boat, right.
Perhaps also seeing the weird unnecessary spikes over the knuckles, Damian decided not to shake it.
" Superboy." he addresses respectfully. " What brings you here?"
" Just wanted to hang out." Kon says, as Dick shakes his hand. " You know how it is- scroll through Twitter- mine, anyways, Dick's an old soul- giggle over celebrities, mourn the state of government in this country, gossip, games, movies, snacks, typical vigilante things, you know the drill."
Damian scowled in irritation. Dick had the urge to smooth out the skin at the bridge of his nose before he got premature wrinkles in that area.
" One might think that a more productive way to spend 'vigilante time' to be training."
Kon doesn'r respond to that. He turns to Cass, brightening instantly.
" And hey! Black Bat, how are you?" Obligatory handshake. Cass gives him an acknowledging nod, expressions more harder to see due to the full face mask, but Dick's certain she's smiling.
" Good. " she says. " And how are you?"
" Admittedly, could be better, but not anything that time in your company could solve." Kon says. Still smiling.
" Careful, Kon," Dick adds, at the same time Damian scowls, " Watch it, Superboy."
Kon held up his hands in mock surrender. " Okay- okay." he says. He rolled his eyes, elegantly whipping a CD out of his pocket. " Anyways, you're in for a suprise!. Guess what I just got? Whoever wants to watch ' Heartburn' say aye."
They do end up letting Damian watch the movie, obviously. The boy manages make a few quips between the mouthfuls of popcorn as he watches.
Dick even thinks he can see Damian smile.
Which would be cuter if it wasn't. You know. The execution scene.
Bruce dies.
Dick... Dick doesn't know. He runs back to Metropolis as soon as he can. He goes to the funeral. He grieves. He cries. He helps everyone else grieve, too, because that's what he's supposed to do, and he patrols and makes sure everyone else is safe and unharmed and recovering properly and- well. The problem really is that Alfred doesn't let any of them go out to patrol. That's alright, of course, because Dick doesn't think any of them want to go out anyways.
He's gotten three separate phone calls from Kate. He needs to answer them, at some point.
He'll need to answer a lot of things, at some point, technically. Like, how is he going to fill in Batman's shoes- does he even want to fill in his shoes? He has to, clearly. How is he going to talk with Barbara or the Titans again or-
Swallows.
What's going to happen with Damian? Dick tapped his fingers irritated over the bandages covering his abdomen.
" You don't have to be Batman." Cass' voice suddenly pipes up from the now-open window. Dick nearly shot up straight before a shot of pain burst through his side. He stiffened instinctively, forcing a sickly grin onto his face.
" Cass!" he said.
Cass didn't exactly return the greeting. Still, she gave Dick a worried look. " I could be Batman. It's what I would like."
Dick blinked.
" What?" he asked. Cass continued, slowly dropping into the room.
" Batman. I could be him. You don't have to. It's the only thing I've...really. Wanted. I'm trained."
Dick blinked. He swallowed again, shifting himself so that he could face her. Locks of Cass' hair flew out from the messily tied knot on her head.
" Cass, you really don't have to." he said, slowly. His eyes watched her. Cass folded her arms angrily.
" Well. I want to. You don't want to, anyways, so there's not really an option."
Dick grit his teeth. " I know. Cass, I know you want to do this- but you...shouldn't. Not because you aren't skilled, I know you are, but you shouldn't have to. I'm more experienced, I know how to talk with Metropolis and the Justice League, and-"
" I can do it. Too." Cass amends. She narrowed her eyes. " You can help, if you want."
A burning sensation flickered in Dick's chest. He dug his nails into his palms.
" That's not the point. The point is that Batman's more than just a vigilante beating up goons in the street."
Cass blinked. Dick continued hesitantly.
" He's a symbol." he said slowly." To the civilians, sure, but also to the superhero community, too. He's supposed to lead them, talk... or brood, I guess, to them. Give out missions. Briefings. Check-ups, I guess. And occasionally plots to take down all of his co-workers if they ever go rogue in increasingly uncomfortable and invasive ways- look, that's not the point, either, okay- but Batman, he does more than just..."
He waved his hand. Cass let out a small grin- more akin to a sorrowful smirk. " Beat up goons?" she offers.
Dick lets out a shallow laugh, giggling softly.
" Yeah." he says.
" And you don't think I can take it." Dick winced.
" No." he admits. " I... I don't think you can. I don't really think anyone can."
" But you think that you have more experience."
" I don't want you to think you have to do this. Even if you want to, it doesn't mean you should have to."
Cass stared. She pressed her hand over her face, eyebrows scrunching miserably.
" Alright." she whispered. " Fine."
" I can't believe you just had to break her heart like that." Helena remarks to him once he tells her. She's kneeling by Damian's side, adjusting his posture as he holds the crossbow.
" What was I supposed to do, just let her ruin her life by becoming Batman?"
" Oof, harsh." Helena winced. Dick couldn't tell if she referring to his words, or Damian's arrow flying rampantly over the board, hitting a thick tree with a loud thonk. She turned back to him.
" That's what I would do." she remarked. Dick gave her a half-hearted glare. " It's not as though she could have done the Justice League duties, right?" he asked pleadingly.
" No, of course not." Huntress agreed. " I just can't figure out why you think there can be only one Batman."
Dick frowns, he straightens, the question 'what do you mean?' on the tip of his tongue before the realization slams into him. His chest constricts, and his feet feel weightless in a sudden motion.
He blinks. Helena gave a weary sigh.
" Mind telling her, then?" Dick didn't speak immediately. Helena moved on, turning to Damian. " Hey, kid, guess what. You're Batgirl, now."
Damian rolled his eyes. " Under which one?"
" You could also be my apprentice if you want."
Damian hmphs but he doesn't refute it.
" I'll let you rename yourself. Trust me. I know how sucky Batgirl can be as a title. The costume, too."
" Tt." he says. Which is as good of a confirmation as any.
Dick goes to the League.
Which, honestly, he thinks in a morbid sort of fashion- is more like the Titans than anything. Wally and Roy and Donna nod at him in a sort of formal respectfulness. Jason's here, too, although he's only filling in until Superman can get his stuff sorted out.
He misses them, he realizes, with a gut-wrenching thought. Bruce and Diana and Clark and Hal and Barry and Arthur and Kara...and it just wasn't... It wasn't fair, the thought, childish as it was, rang in his head in bitter echoes.
" Lets get to work." he whispered.
It's as if there are ghosts haunting the corners of his vision.
He hopes Cass is doing better.
" I'm leaving to search for Father." Damian announces, and Dick thinks he's joking. He swallows his avacado toast as he looks at the eleven year old. " You two clearly aren't doing a good enough job of being Batman. So I will recover him and have him resume his place."
Dick blinked. He looked at Cass.
Cass blinked.
" He's dead." she said. Damian scowled.
" To you, perhaps. I know he is alive." Cass stared.
" How?" she asks.
Damian puffed out his chest proudly, as though he would suddenly whip out a series of files to defend his case. Instead, Damian took out his phone triumphantly. He scrolled it open, showing them footage of a cave.
Dick leaned in, squinting. On the wall, there was what looked to be a series of scratches, as well as an odd shape carved into it, all chalk and graphite. Thin, faint strips of chalk wrote out the words over it.
THE BAT, it said, written over the outline. Dick tried not to let his disbelief and worry show. Damian continued.
" There have been multiple sightings and documentations of about a man somehow having something to do with bats, many of which line up to that of Father. Black hair, blue eyes, quiet, reserved, intelligent, fit, in good shape, a certain bone structure at the face, stern look, serious, et cetera et cetera."
Cass raised an eyebrow. " Where?" she asks, seriously. Damian smirked further.
" From various places in the 15th, 18th, and 19th century." Damian says.
Cass stops. Dick can feel his jaw go slack in disbelief. Damian scowled at them.
" What?" Dick asks.
" I'm not lying!" Damian said defensively. " Look! If you just give me some more time and resources, and if I was able to go outside of Gotham to see and search for him myself-"
" How is he in the past?" Dick asks. Demands.
" I don't know, but he is!" Damian snapped back. He swallowed. " Trust me."
He doesn't.
" You know he's just upset. He wants Bruce back, just as much- maybe more than you do." Barbara tries to reassure him through the communication line. Her voice is soft and sort of hesitant through the familiar crackle of the computers. " Damian's a child. He lost his parent. It's reasonable for him to want him back."
" It is. I know that." Dick murmers back at her. His eyes are closed as he speaks, rocking as he sat on his bed. " I just... don't want to see him get hurt when he realizes that... Bruce. Bruce isn't coming back. He isn't."
" I don't either." Barbara agrees. Confesses. Admits. Any one of those. He breathes shakily.
" He's doing so well." He mutters finally as he speaks. He can hear Barbara smile from the other end.
" He is."
To: Barbara Gordon
From: Richard Grayson
Subject: Sidekick.
I heard you took up a sidekick?
Dick Grayson
To: Richard Grayson
From: Barbara Gordon
Subject: ( Re:) Sidekick.
Hey, Dick! Yep. You can come by and meet her if you want. Gotta join the trend, you know. Keep the legacy going and all that. You should mentor one, too. I don't want to have to feel left out of the Mentor Club.
Barbara
To: Barbara Gordon
From: Richard Grayson
Subject: ( Re:) ( Re:) Sidekick.
I don't think I'd be a good mentor. What if I'm too Batman-esque? I don't want to traumatize my protegees like that.
Dick Grayson
To: Richard Grayson
From: Barbara Gordon
Subject: ( Re:) ( Re:) ( Re:) Sidekick.
Relax. You would be the greatest mentor anyone could ever hope for. Never let anyone tell you that you are too Batman-esque. Unless they're me. If Helena wasn't mentor Damian, you'd be my first choice. And you'd do fucking wonderful. Is there anything else you want to talk about?
Barbara
To: Barbara Gordon
From: Richard Grayson
Subject: ( Re:) ( Re:) ( Re:) (Re: ) Sidekick.
Thanks! And no, not really. Have a great day. Sorry for bothering you.
Dick Grayson
Of course, Damian still leaves. He brings Goliath and a bunch of weird monks and his new friend ( Nobody? Odysseus? Who knows? ) with him but it still doesn't change the fact that he left.
He barely stops himself from screaming when he finds out, and its not like he blames Huntress or anything, even though she should have stopped him.
They should have stopped him. Given him more help.
Lex offers condolences when he announces through gritted teeth that Damian's missing, except they both know he's not, and he shakes hands and meets with the press, lies dripping worriedly from his mouth. He's worried. He's afraid. It's a lie, but the emotions, at least, are truthful, and that's good enough, right? Right?
It's not okay.
Blackest night comes and goes, Damian comes back ( Maya. Her name is Maya. ) and Superboy comes back and Kara and...
Bruce, too.
Dick swallows nervously at the entrance to the Medbay. Bruce's still going under check-ups, time displacement, disease swabs, mental check, physical, all that. He had to be re-introduced, of course. They had to explain why didn't Bruce Wayne die when they already had a funeral, after all.
" You can come in if you want, Master Richard." Alfred informs him suddenly. Dick nearly stumbles, rushing through the door.
Bruce's sitting more or less upright when he sees him. He gives a nod towards him, cushioned by a plethora of fluffy pillows behind him.
" Dick." he says.
" Bruce-" Dick says- and part of him can't quite believe it, even now. "- are you okay?"
" Better than ever." Bruce agrees. Dick swallowed.
" We were worried." he said. " Thought you were dead- Damian did too, for a while, I don't even know how he knew you weren't dead."
He let himself crack a grin. " Must be in the blood. World's Greatest Detective and all that."
Bruce snorted, giving him a steely gaze. " I would rather that he didn't. He's not skilled enough to risk his life like that for his old man, and all that." He shifted. " Anyways. I heard that you acted as Batman while I-"
" And Cassandra." Dick interrupts quickly. " She was Batman in Metropolis while you were gone. I just did your duties on the Justice League. Superboy and Kara are back too, do you know that?"
Bruce quirked his lip into a half-smile. " Does no one stay dead anymore?" he mused, eyes twinkling. Dick grinned further.
" No. That's good, though, you know? You, not being dead." He stopped. " Sorry. That doesn't make any sense, does it?"
Bruce doesn't respond. Dick wavered momentarily.
" Well." he said. " I'll leave you to it- recovering. Is there anything you would like me to deliver to the public- explain why you aren't dead?"
Bruce shook his head. " It's fine." he said clinically. " And we'll figure out my return to the public later."
" Alright." Dick says. He barely got a few feet away before Bruce's voice called him back again.
" Oh. And... thank you." he said. Bruce twisted his head, eyebrows slightly less narrowed than usual. " And to Cass. For taking up my duties."
" It takes two." Dick said. He bit his lip. " And your second might have to be Damian for now. Huntress' been training him while you were gone and I'm not sure if you want to lose your parental custody to her."
" Conner Kent, the only reason why I am not tearing you apart is because I have no kryptonite available at the moment, although rest assured, the state of affairs is by no means permanent-"
" Great martians, Batboy, can you please be quiet?" Jason snapped. Damian glared at the boy, stiffening.
" It's Wraith to you, Todd." he sneered. He huffed disappointedly. " And you can't even talk. You brought the wrong cake. It's ruined. You ruined everything, Todd."
" It's literally the exact same cake you told me to buy!" he said indignantly. Damian sniffed.
" It's missing the blue lines over the sides. See?" he held out his phone. " Here."
" Why are you so hung up over that?" Wallace asked.
" No concern to you, Kid Flash." Wraith said. " You've done well with the decorations job. Goes to show there's at least one other group of superheroes we can trust around here."
Jason gave Kon a disbelieving look.
" I still can't believe we're taking instructions from a toddler." Roy muttered from where he was setting out the plates and bowls of pizza and noodles and rice. He placed a final bowl of fruit down on the table with a heavy clatter.
" I. Am. The Demon's Heir." Damian growled. " And I am fourteen. And you, Red Arrow, have no reason to think you're any better than them. You had the audacity to bring chili."
" Ollie said that Bruce and Dick like it." Mia said.
" That's true." Cassandra added.
" Well we don't." Damian snapped. Wallace nodded along with him.
" It's too thick. It's like gravy. Incredibly spicy gravy."
" Too bad." Connor remarked cheerily as he looked over. " You guys lost the popular vote. Majority rules."
Damian opened his mouth to argue. Then he scowled and closed it. " Todd," he asked, walking over the the Supers again. " Did you reserve tickets at least?"
" That's Donna's job." he answered.
" I can't get to Troia."
Jason rolled his eyes. He paused. " I think so." he said finally. " Winterfeldt, right?"
" Indeed. Very good." Damian said, pleased. He hmphed proudly as he began re-inspecting the scene in the room. The large blue and gold banner was hung in the dim lighting of the room- HAPPY BIRTHDAY DICK GRAYSON with the -SON part of the banner unfortunately squished in a bit too tight, not that it mattered all that much.
The balloons were in varying shades of blue as well, fancy tablecloth and candles and cushions layering the tables and sofas and chairs as they sat.
He didn't get to relish his ( admittedly partial ) work for long.
" Hey, Damian?" Mia asked. " What are you doing?"
Damian grinned abruptly. " I brought a present." he said.
There was a pause. Roy glanced between Mia and him slowly. " We all brought presents?"
" Well, Red Arrow. It's better than your present, that's all."
" What you get?" He asked. A good number of the vigilantes in the room had turned around at that to look curiously at the two of them. Damian felt pride well up in him, grinning further.
" Picked it straight up from the animal shelter. Grayson said he wanted one. So of course, I did him a favor to adopt it for him. He doesn't need to pay for it, of course, I prepared everything for him already-"
" You got him rabies?" Huntress said instantly.
"- INCLUDING a leash, a collar, a dog bed, and dog food." Damian snapped, ignoring the interjection. He shot her a glare. " You can look at it if you want."
" Is it called Rabies?"
" Huntress-" Damian began, only to be cut off again.
" No, no." she said, bemused. Her eyes smiled at him. " That's actually really cute. Turns out you actually do have a brotherly bone in your body, Dami. I'm happy for you."
" Shut up." Damian gritted his teeth. " It is a respectable, honorable gift for Grayson, and fitting for him as well."
" Dick'll be happy." Cass said.
" Of course he will. I chose it."
" I'd rather stay home and pirate Hamilton."