Ok, I know I didn't do this in the previous chapter but now I feel obligated to do it now. I don't own Teen Titans, Batman, Static or Gear. If I did, I don't think I'd be writing this…well maybe if I was really bored or something.

Don't forget to R and R.

Chapter Two: Interrogation via Telephone

Virgil Hawkins walked through the door of his house contemplating whether or not he would spend most of the upcoming Saturday patrolling the city since Gear would be taking an out-of-town-trip to go visit a sick relative.

I did it before without Richie, he thought calmly. Yes, this was something he could handle all by his lonesome.

Before he could even shut the door, Virgil heard his father call his name and without waiting for a response, charge right towards the front door of their house.

"Son," exhaled Robert. "You aren't going to believe me when I say this…but you got a phone call from Bruce Wayne!"

Virgil could feel his stomach drop. But for some reason he didn't know if that was good or not.

"Bat—" he began but quickly cut himself off after revealing half of the billionaire's alter ego.

"What was that, son?" Robert asked with a raise eyebrow.

Now was the time Virgil hated the most about being a superhero: He had to lie to his father. It wasn't a task he enjoyed but to keep his and his father's life as 'normal' as possible. It was the only choice.

"Bah," said Virgil as he waved his hand at his father like he thought Robert had made a joke. "Why would Bruce Wayne call me?"

"About that letter you wrote him," proclaimed Robert proudly. "He seemed very impressed by it. You do know which letter I am talking about, right?"

"Of course," Virgil quickly lied. "Its-uh-been so long since I wrote it and all. You know, you just forget about it."

"Well," said his father as he retreated back into the kitchen, "I put his number next to your phone."

"Thanks, Pop," said Virgil as he quickly used his feet to pull off his shoes. As soon as they were off he dashed up the stairs while being quiet enough to hear his father tell him that he could use all the time he needed.

As soon as Virgil was in his room he shut the door and braced the door with as many heavy objects he could find. Hopefully his father and sister would respect his privacy and not come barging in while referring to one of the richest men in the world as Batman.

As his trembling hand approached the phone, Virgil considered whether he should tell Richie or not. He was his best friend and since he had worked with Batman before, it seemed only fair.

Picking up the receiver and pushing the first speed-dial button, Virgil put the receiver to his ear and listened to the dial tone. Before the second tone could go off, he heard a familiar, "Hello?"

"Rich?" asked Virgil frantically, "its Virgil."

"What's up?" asked the teen genius.

Virgil thought to himself why his friend did not take into account to urgency of his voice. Was Richie so smart that he could even tell when Bang-Babies were attacking just by the sound of people's voice?

"Virg, are you there?"

"Yea-sorry. Listen…did you get a call from Bruce Wayne?"

There was silence at the other end. Then, "Wait a minute you mean…well I can't say it here since this is an open line."

"Yea," agreed Virgil. "No need to put that phone scrambler on. Just let me know…did you get a call from him?"

"No. Why, did he call you?"

"Yea," sighed Virgil in an almost defeated manner.

"Well," said Richie in an equally defeated-sounding manner, "you know what this means?"

"No…what?" asked Virgil with a puzzled voice.

There was another pause on the other line which was quickly followed by a sing-song version of, "You got in trou-ble, you got in trou-ble, you got in trou-ble." This was followed by juvenile laughing.

Virgil gave a furious sigh but couldn't help but allow a small smile to form at the bottom of his lips.

"I'll see you later," said Virgil.

"Yea…if you're still alive!"

Virgil hit the hang-up button and then hit it again so that he would have an open channel to call Bruce Wayne.

After dialing the nine digit number his father had written down, he was quickly greeted verbally with a female voice saying, "Bruce Wayne's office."

This made Virgil even more nervous than before. Would Wayne's secretary put his call through? Of course, she would have to. After all Bruce had probably told her that he was gonna call. But then again…his name always made him sound a lot older than what he really was. Damn and his voice still didn't sound completely like an adult's.

"Uh-Virgil Hawkins. I'm returning a call…"

"One moment please," replied the voice. There was silence (AN: Isn't there always) at the other end. Then Virgil heard the other end pick up and a cold familiar voice said, "Hello, Virgil. Thanks for returning my call."

"Um, no problem," replied the teen superhero. "What's up?"

"I need to ask you a few questions," replied Wayne. The voice held no indication as to what the questions were about. All Virgil knew was that the voice on the other end of the line wanted answers. And he wanted them badly.

"A-abo-about what?" asked Virgil while trying to sound as calm as he could.

"The future," replied Wayne with his stone-cold voice.

Virgil knew that this might happen. To know what would happen tomorrow would mean a great deal to a man who actually cared about it. Wayne had made promise not to tell anyone what the future looked like. But something in the back of his mind told him that he would have to do this one day.

"This is about what happened a few days ago," concluded Virgil. "What do you wanna know?"

"As much as you can tell me," replied Wayne. "First off…does Batman still exist?"

"Yea," replied Virgil instantly. "I helped him save me…or rather my future self."

"Was it Dick?"

Virgil stopped. "Sorry?"

"Was it Dick?"

"Who's Dick?"

"Nightwing," snapped Wayne on the other end. "God, didn't you know that?"

"No. Anyway, I didn't hear anything about him."

Virgil heard Bruce sigh.

"All right? What about Batgirl. What's Barbara doing?"

Virgil smiled. "She's taking after her dad. Commissioner of the police."

"And how's Robin doing?"

Virgil wished that Bruce didn't ask him that. He had wanted to tell his fellow teenaged friend what his future held but there was that damn temporal directive which could screw up the future if he told anyone. But to hell with protocol. Batman was asking the questions now and Virgil knew that if he didn't tell him, he would wake up in the batcave with some truth-telling serum flowing throughout his body.

"He…he's a civilian. He quit."

For a second Virgil thought he had heard the receiver on the other end drop to the floor. Had he been in Bruce's position he would have probably felt the same way. He knew Robin-not that well but still knew-and had heard the Boy Wonder say that he would stay in the crime fighting business until he died. Also, Robin had told Virgil that as soon as Bruce retired, he would most likely assume the role of Nightwing since the current holder of that name would become the new Batman.

"Are you sure you heard that correctly?" Bruce finally asked.

"Yea…" replied Virgil with a voice that indicated that this was a burden for him to do. "The guy who was Batman in the future…sounded…well-a bit sad when he told me that."

"Really?"

Virgil shrugged. "Well it was either that or great disappointment. Anything else you need to know?"

The sound of Bruce clearing his throat was first heard, followed by, "No that is all. Thank you, Virgil. You've been most helpful."

"Yea," replied Virgil in an uneasy voice.

On the other end, Bruce Wayne hung up first before he could allow the other party to do so. He sighed and rested his elbows on his desk, then his head upon his hands.

Was what Virgil said true? It had to be. He would never lie to him and for what purpose would he have to. He held no personal grudge against Tim. In fact the first time they met, Virgil was in awe of his sidekick.

But was something going to happen to Tim that would turn him away from the superhero business forever? Did he fall in love with a girl who would fall victim to a stray bullet which Tim tried to take. Or was it something that he, Bruce, would do. Would he pressure the boy so much that eventually Tim would just turn away and never look back?

It had to be prevented. To hell with the timeline. To hell with it all. Tim was the closest thing he had to a son ever since Dick moved out. He had to protect him.

Picking up the phone for the forth time that day, Bruce Wayne hit the first speed-dial button.

"Wayne Manor."

"Alfred? Is Tim home?"

"Yes, Sir," replied the faithful butler.

"Keep him there," said Bruce firmly. "I should be back in about thirty minutes."

Bruce Wayne didn't wait for a reply because he knew that his old friend would do as he said like he always did over the years. Placing the receiver back down, he jumped out of his chair and immediately made his way out of his office and towards the elevator-while telling Caroline that he was going home early today-and make his way down the sixty floors down to the ground level.

To Be Continued…

Yea, I know what you're thinking: Where's Robin? Where are the others? Why is Static here? Yadda yadda yadda.

First, Robin is in the next chapter.

Second: The others are coming. Give me time.

Third: We will not be seeing Static again. I got a review which said I should have put this in the Static Shock category. Don't worry, that was just a cameo.

Next Chapter: Bruce has a talk with Tim about what must be done.