ElseWorlds™: Saving James
Chapter 5
By: Christopher W. Blaine
e-mail: darth_yoshi@yahoo.com
DISCLAIMER: Refer to chapter 1 for the disclaimer for this entire story.
"No," Nightwing said, his arms folded over his chest. He stared out from behind his mask at the batman and the teenager in the modified Robin costume next to him. "It isn't going to happen."
Batman scowled and it almost seemed as if the shadows were drawn to him. The new Robin spoke up. "Look, I'm not trying to replace you…"
"You couldn't," Nightwing said to him and then he turned his attention back to the Batman. "Haven't you learned?"
"You don't come in here after all of this time and try to lecture me," Batman replied coldly. His former partner had not graced the Batcave in well over a year, not since before the assault on Barbara Gordon. He supposed he should have expected it when Tim Drake assumed the mantle of Robin, left vacant ever since the Joker had killed Jason Todd. "You seem to forget who is in charge here."
Nightwing laughed. "In charge? Not from what I've seen. The Oracle Group is running circles around you. I've heard the criminals talking; you're washed up. Face it, Bruce, you're losing your edge."
"That is doubtful and you certainly aren't anyone to judge. You lost the right to be Robin when you let the Joker shoot you," the Batman reminded him. Dick had been 19 when it occurred and it had been that decision that had started the rift between the two men. Six months afterwards, Dick had come up with the idea of Nightwing, basing the identity on his roots and Kryptonian myth.
"Like you never got shot," Nightwing said, cutting through Batman's argument. He pointed to Tim. "Does he know about Jason? About Barbara? About the failed relationships? About us? Have you told this boy about the loneliness he'll face if he wears that costume?" Robin started top talk, but Nightwing kept on. "Tell him, Bruce! Tell him that he puts his loved ones in danger every time he puts that mask on?"
"But I want to make a difference," Robin blurted out. "I've seen how the Batman has been over the past year or so. I think its because he's all alone. When you two were together, you did great things."
"If you want to make a difference, be a cop; become a lawyer and then a judge. Run for elected office." Nightwing shook his head. "Don't do this."
"Again, Nightwing," Batman said, refusing to use his son's name, "it isn't your decision to make."
"I'm going to be Robin; you can't stop me!"
Nightwing stepped over and stood close to Robin. "If I catch you with that costume on, I'll break your arm. Go home, kid."
Batman stepped up and put a hand on Nightwing's arm. The younger hero moved back and then spun, grabbing the Dark Knight's wrist. Batman countered with his own move and the two began a dance of martial arts and wrestling holds. Robin simply stepped back and watched as father and son battled for supremacy.
Growing up, Tim Drake had determined that the first Robin was Dick Grayson after he had seen the hero perform a move that only a member of the Flying Graysons could have performed. Before he became Bruce Wayne's ward, Dick Grayson had been a circus performer with his parents.
When the second Robin and Batgirl had disappeared and the Oracle Group began its war on crime, Tim had noticed that the Batman had seemed suddenly ineffective and useless. He couldn't know that the man behind the cowl was fighting his own personal demons.
The Batman had watched as his son deserted him, a girl he considered a daughter lost her simple life and his best friend become someone else. The Oracle Group was made up of, currently, three super-heroes: Huntress, Catwoman and Obsidian. They were actively recruiting more and they were doing more to make Gotham City safe than the Batman ever had.
There was a reason, though. Their methods were brutal; even Catwoman seemed to have tapped into her darker side. Batman tried to intervene several times, but he was running into more and more resistance not just from the Oracle Group, but also from the local police. The citizens were tired of law and order and justice; they wanted to clean house and if it meant causing some permanent harm to some thugs, so be it.
Batman realized that going at it alone was wearing him down and when Tim Drake offered to be his new partner, he had thought long and hard about it. He assumed that like Barbara Gordon, Tim would not take "no" for an answer and would just do it on his own.
He never thought that Nightwing would even care.
The two combatants were too evenly matched in skill, but Batman was the superior in strength and he eventually won out. "Ready to go again?" he asked.
Nightwing stared at him. "Bring another innocent into this hell you've created, then yes. I'll fight you every step of the way. No more, Bruce. For God's sake, a little baby is about to be born, a baby with a horrible legacy to live with. It stops now."
Batman shook his head. "This isn't a democracy; we don't vote on what's right and what's wrong. From the beginning I told you that it was my way."
"No, you told me we would do things right. It's too late for you and I and Barbara, but not for him." He inclined his head to Robin. "If you want to waste your life fighting this fight, then do it; don't let his hero worship cloud your judgment."
"You turned out fine," Batman said.
Nightwing laughed, but there was no joy in it. "Look at me! I'm a freak like you! I put on long underwear and find people to hit. I'm a trained killer with a moral code!"
"Then quit," Batman said, turning around.
"I am."
Batman stopped and turned around. "What?"
"For awhile, at least. I have a friend that needs me. She doesn't need Nightwing. She doesn't need someone out there trying to put psychos back in a hospital so they can break out again." He pulled off his mask and Batman could see his eyes were red. "But so help me, if you think I'll stand by and watch you destroy another life…"
Batman was shaken, but he showed no outward sign of it. Inside, he was boiling in anger at himself. All of the fruits of his labors were spoiling. "Fine. No Robin."
"Wait!" Robin cried out, his voice cracking.
"He's right," Batman said. He then turned and marched into the shadows in the back of the cave, repeating that same line over and over. Robin looked at Nightwing and then tore the costume off, exiting the Batcave in the skin he was born with.
* * * * *
Nightwing slowly walked through the monitor area, careful not to disturb Changeling's nap. In the green glow of the monitors, his emerald skinned friend was almost invisible. Any other time he supposed he would have awaken his fellow Teen Titan, but tonight he didn't feel like being in complete control.
Kory was waiting in the small room he kept in Titan's Tower. She was dressed in only a bathrobe, busy fixing her nails. She had a photo shoot in the morning in Rio and would be gone for almost a week so long as the team didn't need her. She looked up at him, her large green eyes filled with pain.
Over the past few weeks, the two lovers had become distant, talking less and less, sleeping with each other only once. She had made the comment the day before that they were acting more like brother and sister instead of two people engaged. "Where have you been?" she asked in a tone that told him that she suspected Metropolis.
"I had a talk with Bruce," he said as he took off his mask and unzipped his shirt. "He was training a new Robin. I told him not to."
"Did he listen?"
"Yeah," he told her, not bothering to mention his decision to give up being Nightwing for the time being. He hadn't even discussed the matter with Donna Troy, the resident den mother of the Teen Titans. "Though I don't think it did our relationship very much good."
"You've been doing pretty good at destroying those lately," she said, standing up. She let the robe remain open and he cast a glance at her nude body. It was flawless, the color of copper and hairless; skin as smooth as a calm lake. Her figure was shaped like an eight, but rated as a ten. The gentle sway of her breasts, firm and large, used to arouse him immediately. He used to desire her taste, so exotic and alien.
Now he felt nothing. She saw that her body did nothing to him and started to weep as she pulled the robe closed. "What happened to us?"
He ran a hand through his hair. He felt so bad about this. He was losing everything in his life but at the same time he was gaining perspective. He wasn't in love with Kory anymore; he doubted if he ever was. She was sweet, beautiful and charming, but she wasn't…
She wasn't Barbara. Kory did not strive to overcome limitations, she struck out at them in Tamarran fashion. She didn't understand human emotions because she wasn't human. "I don't know. Maybe we just grew up. We're not teenagers anymore, Kory."
"So, that's all I was? A teenager's wet dream come to life?" Her anger was evident, that fiery temper taking control. He knew he had to calm her down because if not, she would start using her energy powers to blow holes in the Tower.
"No, but not every relationship is meant to be. I've got too many other things to worry about right now," he said.
She sneered. "What? That little redheaded bitch? She dumped you and I picked you up and now she waves her little magic wand and you go crawling back!"
"She's my friend!"
"So am I!"
"She's pregnant and all alone. She's been deserted by those who should be loving her!"
Kory was in a full-blown fit now he could see. Tendrils of energy were drifting towards the floor, setting off sparks as they burned through. "Just like me, Dick!"
He didn't dare turn his back on her and so he reached down to pick his shirt up. He would have to leave. "I'm sorry, Kory."
She started to say something, but then she just screamed and ignited in a bath of energy. The heat was incredible and Nightwing had to jump into the adjoining bathroom to keep from getting burned. There was an explosion of light and sound and the air was soon filled with choking blue smoke.
Changeling was at the doorway. "Hey! You guys okay?"
The fire alarm went off and the sprinklers activated as Nightwing got back up to his feet. He looked into the mess that had been his room and then to the giant hole in the ceiling that had been burned out as Kory had left. He could just make out the tail of her plume as she streaked into the night.
The shower of water prevented Changeling from seeing the tears on his face. He wasn't crying for the end of the relationship, though; they were tears of joy. Despite himself, despite the fact that it was self-centered, he couldn't believe the feeling of weightlessness he had now that he had gotten through the break-up alive.
* * * * *
Barbara waddled into the kitchen to get another slice of the pie that Alfred had brought by. He was here every other day, helping out as best he could, but never saying a word about what was happening in Gotham City. He simply implied if she wanted to know, she should go there herself.
The best part though was how much time Dick was spending there and seeing him interact with Alfred told her a lot about how it must have been for him growing up. No wonder the Batman had become colder after Dick had left. Alfred and the former Robin were a riot in the way they carried on, but she could sense the genuine affection they had for each other.
The pie was good and the whipped cream was even better and she ended up eating the entire tub of that as well, washing it down with a tall glass of mineral water. As she sat alone at her table, belching like a drunken sailor and scratching at her belly, worrying about stretch marks, she considered her life at that moment.
The baby was due in another month and she still hadn't reconciled with her father. From working at the Daily Planet she knew about the Oracle Group and her father's new war on crime. Subsequently she had found out that sightings of the Batman were down as well, as if he were trying to figure out where his place was at now in the Neo-Gotham Jim Gordon was creating. When the new Robin had been reported, she had noticed Dick getting very upset about it.
Thankfully, there had not been a peep out of the Joker, which was ironic since she knew that he was the one person her father was hoping would break out of Arkham. Instead, by all accounts, the Joker was becoming a model inmate, attending all of his counseling sessions and avoiding contact with most of his peers. Odd behavior for him, but then he was insane after all, wasn't he?
Jason Bard, her ex-husband, had finally stopped by. Their divorce after only six months of marriage had left them both bitter and hurt. He had been in Metropolis attending a convention of model train collectors of all things, a new hobby he had confessed.
They had spent the afternoon talking and going over the things that had gone wrong between them. She had made a full confession to him. "Sometimes, when I'm alone, I have to wonder how different my life would have turned out if we would have just broken up instead of trying marriage," she had said.
Jason had shrugged. "Would it have made any real difference? Would your life be so different now?"
She shrugged in reply. "Would I have gone back to live with my dad if I hadn't been so hurt after our divorce? Maybe I would have done something else. Then maybe I would have been in the house that night."
"Maybe in some other reality, some parallel world, we didn't get married," he said. "But I can't imagine you not going back home. Face it, babe, you're a homebody through and through. If I was going to be think of possibilities, then I would be considering how my life would be if that bullet had nailed my spine."
Barbara had rubbed her stomach. "I don't want to even think about that."
Jason had remained quiet for several minutes and then pointed to her swollen belly. "You really love that kid, don't you? How can you?"
"Because I have to believe that out of every wrong think, God has a good purpose. This baby has to be good." She looked away and he saw that her bottom lip was trembling.
He tried to lighten the mood. "I noticed that Dick has been here a lot. I thought he was dating the super-model."
"He is."
Jason gave her a wry look. "Sure. Guy has a super-model girlfriend and he spends his time with the redheaded marshmallow."
"That's why we couldn't stay married," she had said, indicating his poor sense of humor. He had left very soon afterwards and she was sure it would be the last time she would ever see him. It had been a courtesy, a way to put some closure to her past.
She had meant what she said; getting married had been a mistake. It had been rebellion against her nature and it had proven to be a very expensive failure in terms of emotional payment. It had forced her to become limited in her social contacts; dating was definitely out. Because she never intended to date, she never bothered to get on birth control.
The baby kicked and she guessed that the whipped cream didn't agree with it. She didn't know the sex but she felt strongly it was a boy. It kicked like a boy.
She did believe that it had to be something good; it was the only true reason she had kept the child. Time and time again she found herself picking up her keys to go to an abortion clinic. Eventually, she decided she couldn't do that.
She would often wonder if she was so lonely that she was having this child so she could have a friend. After all, this was a constant reminder of the rape she suffered. Yet every time the baby kicked, rolled or shuffled, she couldn't help but smile. Something told her everything was going to be okay.
Dick entered through the balcony five minutes later. He wasn't talkative and she was worried that something major was wrong. She assumed it had to do with the Batman. "Dick…argh!" she cried out and fell to her knees. Her body, bloated with life giving fat and water, left her off-balance and she started to fall.
The strong arms of Dick Grayson caught her and held her. Through the pain she looked up and saw the face of that young boy who had stolen her heart over a decade before. "What is it?" he said. There was real fear in his voice and she understood why. This was the Joker's child and thoughts of a deformed devil trying to claw its way from the womb briefly crossed her mind as well.
"I don't know…ahhhhh!" she screamed again and her hands went to her belly. "Oh, God! Dick, I think my water broke!"
