Since I published Out of the Shadows I've had a couple people asking for the rational behind the story; and since I did promise to explain, here it is.

Everything in this story revolves around Jason's death.

Because Jason died in the comic book, Tim became Robin; but when Bane showed up, Tim still wasn't ready to fight as Robin, and Bruce wouldn't let him anyway because he was still afraid of loosing another partner. Because of this, Bruce was worn down chasing after the criminals who escaped from Arkham and was then defeated by Bane. Jean-Paul Valley became Batman, but he went insane and when Batman recovered he defeated Azbats and Jean-Paul went off to straighten out his head, which eventually led to him becoming Azrael and ending up in the situation that allowed him to find the cure for the Ebola Gulf (I don't read Azrael, so I don't know exactly what happened).

Now, in my story Jason wasn't killed by the Joker and eventually became mentally stable (I think he was a few cards short of a full deck, from what I saw in the few comic books I read). Jason was fully trained when Bane came, and, as Bruce hadn't had the experiance of loosing a partner, he let Jason help him round up the Arkham escapees. When Bruce finally faced Bane, he wasn't as worn out and he defeated Bane. Jean-Paul never became Batman, and never ended up facing his past, therefore he wasn't in a position to help when the Ebula Gulf hit Gotham, though the cure was eventually found; Jason and Alfred died from the disease. Dick and Bruce had by then resolved their differences, and Dick stayed in Gotham after Jason and Alfred's funeral.

When the earthquake hit Gotham, Bruce died and Dick disappeared and was presumed dead. Dick devoted all his time to being Batman and protecting the people who remained in the ruins of Gotham. Tim eventually showed up and joined Dick as Robin, and later Huntress did as well and she and Dick hooked up.

As for Tim's family, I have only a little knowledge as to what happened to his parents in the canon storyline, and, even though it may not make sense, in my storyline it turned out much the same way it did there.

So that's the explaination, I hope it wasn't too confusing or too strange.

I may continue the story, but that'll probably take a lot more research and thought; after all, it _did_ take me nearly five years to come up with this!