It's All Relative
Chapter 12: The Dark Knight Returns
By Teala373
Batman, the original Batman, stood just outside of Central City, watching the red line that protected it. Most people couldn't see the red line; they didn't even know it was there.
But Batman wasn't just anyone.
He concentrated for several moments before reaching his hand into the red light.
He tightened his grip.
The red line stopped.
The Flash stood before Batman, whose hand was secured around his throat.
"Hey… (cough)… Batman," Flash chocked out, "long… time…"
Batman released his grip by throwing Flash to the ground.
"I can do it again," he threatened.
Flash stood up and stayed still. He had heard Batman's intimidating voice threaten people many times when they worked together in the League, but he never remembered anything this menacing.
"S-so what do I owe the honor?" he asked casually while rubbing his neck. "Haven't heard of you being out and about in years. And in your original costume, no less. What happened to the new guy? You scare him off, too?"
He regretted it the minute he said it.
"I didn't come here to chat," Batman practically roared, causing Flash to cower back several steps. "I came here for answers."
"An-answers?"
"You know what I'm talking about." He grabbed the material under Flash's neck and hoisted him up off the ground to his eye level. "How many of you were in on it? Was it the whole league?"
Flash withered visibly. He had wondered if this day would come. "We thought we were doing the right thing."
"Explain."
Flash's voice dropped to a low, defeated tone. "Wonder Woman told us Oracle's identity. She said Oracle had come to her at the embassy hysterical after finding out she was pregnant. Oracle had said she was terrified because you wouldn't let her out of 'the life' and she wanted to disappear. Wonder Woman and Ted Kord had it all set. They needed Aquaman and I to help with evidence. Make it look legit," he lifted his head to look at Batman. "You have to know it wasn't the whole league. Supes'd never go for it."
"Why, Wally?" Batman shook him before dropping him to the ground. "Did you honestly believe I would threaten a pregnant woman?"
"No… no, I never believed that, but apparently Oracle had been so upset, she almost lost the baby… The night she went into the embassy, she never came out. They doctored the security tapes. They hooked her up to a machine Kord built and wiped her memory. I figured she was running from something and I didn't want her to…"
"What else?" Batman interrupted. Flash may have been something of a comedian, but agreeing to one of Wonder Woman's crazy schemes for no good reason wasn't his style.
Flash dropped his head in his hands. "She had… she was hanging Linda over my head. If I helped them, they'd use the machine to reinstate Linda's memories… if I didn't… they'd give her false memories so she would… hate me forever… the machine can give you fake memories, too…"
Batman tried to control the onslaught of rage that flooded through him. He needed more answers.
"How involved was Kord?"
"All the way. He always knew who we all were – who Barbara was. He was in love with her as Barbara Gordon long before she was Oracle. Wonder Woman… I don't know what her deal was. I don't know if she played Kord to get Barbara away from you or if he played her to get Barbara. They had an odd relationship. They were both too smart in a, you know, bad way."
"Why didn't you notify the League?"
Flash's head shot up. "Because I didn't know what the truth was. I didn't know whom to trust. I didn't know what Wonder Woman would do if I couldn't bring her down. I had no proof. I didn't know if Aquaman would back me up. I don't know why he was along for the ride. My hands were tied!"
Batman grimaced. Wonder Woman was the real enemy. Not Flash. "Do you know why this was so important to her?"
"I don't know," he confessed honestly, "She claimed she and Barbara were close. Maybe she was worried about her. Maybe she wanted to help her. Maybe she owed Ted," his voice started rising and filling with frustration. "I don't know! I have no idea what makes that psycho Amazon tick!"
Batman held out a hand, which Flash accepted, and helped him to his feet.
"Listen," Flash continued, "I'm sorry. I should have talked to you. I should have investigated. I should have brought it to Kal and J'onn," he hung his head. "I was selfish. I wanted Linda back and I didn't want to jeopardize the seemingly only chance I had at getting her back… If I could do it all over again… I'm sorry."
"Actually," Batman had dropped his tone to a less menacing one, "there is something you can do for me."
Flash looked up at him, his mask barely hiding his questioning glance.
"Here," Batman produced two shiny objects that had been hanging from his belt and tossed them over. Flash noted how heavy they were as he took them and Batman's instructions.
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Terry lay in a strange bed, in a strange room, in a strange building, staring up at a strange ceiling.
He didn't like this.
His mother and brother were in the other two bedrooms of the suite they had been shown to. His mother, who had felt immediate relief of being within these walls, had no problem going to sleep. Matt was too overwhelmed and exhausted to fight his tired state.
But Terry was Batman. Sleep was not a luxury that those who donned the dreaded cowl could afford.
His mother may have high praise for the Amazon Princess, but Terry didn't. He didn't like her. He didn't like this place. He wanted his sweet, caring mother back. He wanted his own bed. He wanted to see his father. His real father.
Springing up from bed, he began scanning the room for surveillance. He was going to take a look a round and then try to get a hold of Bruce.
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Princess Diana of Themescyra rubbed her wrists as she took of her heavy bracelets and placed them on her nightstand. She wasn't supposed to ever take them off, but they had really been bothering her for the past few hours. She slathered her wrists with a sweet smelling ointment before refitting the bracelets and then laying down. She couldn't remember the last time she had felt this tired. She needed to rest before executing the next phase of her plan.
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The main cray of the bat computer was almost completely dismantled as Dick and Tim looked for just what was making it tick. Bruce had made several serious custom upgrades to the system and Tim believed part of it was hardwired.
"What do you think he's hiding?" Tim asked as he pulled out another RAM module.
Dick gave out a long, low whistle as he tried to make sense of a massive tangle of wires. "We could make a hundred guesses and none of them would be even remotely close."
They had agreed to not leave the house, but they never said anything about trying to open his virtually inaccessible files.
"Found it!" Tim called out triumphantly as he produced a small metal box. "It looks like he wired a voice print ID system just for these select files."
It was nearly an hour later when they compromised the voice print ID system and pieced the massive computer back together. It took all of Tim's hacking prowess to open the files Bruce had hidden so deep, they almost hadn't registered their existence.
"Ok, before we open them, one last bet."
"I'm gonna go with porn."
"Dick, c'mon! Be serious."
"I am! I say its porn."
Tim rolled his eyes. "I say we are going to find the answer to where Bruce went."
"Alright, alright," Dick held up his hands in mock surrender. "I think we're going to find a little bit more on what makes dear ol' pops tick."
Turning to throw him a wicked smirk, Tim wondered if the two if them would ever grow up. "To quote a beautiful lady: 'where you learned to use humor in such situations is beyond me'."
"Ha freakin' ha. Let's start digging. If we're supposed to be back up, because you know we will end up being backup, we should be informed backup," a more serious look overtook his face. "I want this to be over with."
Tim nodded before returning to the keyboard. He was able to open the files in much less time than he anticipated. Babs had taught him well. The technology may have changed, but the principals were still the same.
The first folder held secret case files. There were pages and pages of extended notes on case files, personal notes Bruce added after his usual matter-of-fact notes that he had hidden. These were filled with emotion. They were Bruce's thoughts and feelings on some of his most intense cases.
Dick and Tim sat in awe as they read his frustration, his devastation, his self-doubt, his pain and his fears. Many of his fears revolved around losing the people he loved most, mostly Dick and Tim.
"As they grow into men and come into their own," one passage began, "I realize that I can no longer treat them as children that I have to protect and teach. It is difficult for me to treat them as equals. I still want to protect them. I am still angry with my self for letting my fate befall them. I couldn't live with myself if anything happened to them. That is why I am so hard on them; I want them to survive. No father ever wants to bury his children."
There were extensive notes on how horrible he felt when Dick had quit being Robin. How disappointed he was with himself for letting their relationship come to such terms, his devastation at worrying about where he was and how he was doing.
Tim shut the file folder and opened one labeled "media". This file contained digital video images. There were videos Alfred had taken of all of them during holidays and other special occasions. Tears stung in Tim's eyes at a video showing one of his birthday parties. They were all so happy, then. Even Bruce laughed when Dick shoved Tim's face into the cake.
And then he opened the other files. They were all home videos of the Wayne family. They had been a very happy, loving, normal family.
"Turn it off," came a Dick's hoarse, emotion filled voice. "I can't watch this."
Tim closed the media player, but checked the properties on the files. They were accessed frequently.
"Let's see what this folder is." It was labeled "delphi". Inside were files documenting Bruce's findings on Barbara's disappearance and reappearance.
"Are you going to be okay if we read this?" Tim asked.
"What are you talking about?"
"You're not going to like this."
Dick looked at his brother questioningly. "I don't understand."
Sighing, Tim opened a file labeled "kord". "Just remember that he's already dead."
To say that Dick was angry to discover that Barbara had been living the last seventeen years with Ted Kord was an understatement.