IX.- One o'clock pee em! Hello, Insert Name Here!
The scent surrounded them as soon as the three Robins crossed the door. So strong and close that they could deconstruc it, the mixed scents that made it so unique and well known. Strong, expensive, manly perfume... tea... darjeeling, with perhaps a touch of cinamon... fireplace smoke... and this something that smelled old and reverent and was what really made it all feel right.
It smelled of Wayne Manor.
No.
It smelled of Wayne Manor's good days.
Alfred greeted them, a tray in his always busy hands.
"Good afternoon, young masters." He said, bowing gently. "May I keep your capes?"
Dick and Jason hesitated, startled by the turn of events.
Tim just shook his head.
"No, thanks, Alfred. We won't be long."
"Then don't let me delay you, young Masters. He is waiting for you by the fireplace."
"Thank you."
Dick and Jason also muttered their thanks while Alfred let the room, his half a curtsey a warning and a pray.
When the big doors closed behind the butler, Dick and Jason turned to Tim.
"Why are we here?"
"Is this the heart? Our house?"
"Not our house... Wayne's house." Said Tim, unable to move.
He looked at them, their worried expressions telling everything. This whole place meant for them a lot more than it would never mean for him. It was home for them, it was sanctuary... Or it should be.
It was up to him, for he was the only one that was not really a Wayne in a way or another.
"Do you think he is here?" Asked Dick while he clutched Tim's cape.
Tim nodded.
"Then, what are we waiting for?"
"I am waiting to be ready."
"I AM ready." Said Jason, crossing arms defensively.
"Me too." Said Dick.
Tim wasn't, but he will have to fake, for they weren't either, no matter what they said.
"Then, let's go."
With Tim on the lead, the three Robin aproached the armchair where a fine goodlooking man in his late twenties waited for them, a thin, amused smile in his lips.
Bruce Wayne in all his playboy mightyness.
Not the Bruce Wayne he knew. Not the one Jason or Dick knew either, he suspected.
They suspected too, for Dick crumpled Tim's cape nervously in his hands and Jason stood a step behind him.
Tim felt like a breakwater.
"My, my... Robin, Robin and... oh, Robin. Wellcome. Do sit down, please." He said to the three apalled younglins signaling the couch.
But they didn't move, wich made the rich dandy to frown in concern.
"Is something wrong, boys?"
"No, Mr. Wayne. Is only that we preffer to wait for him standing." Said Tim.
Dick and Jason looked puzzled at him, but Bruce only smiled.
"He was right. You are the smart one."
"Oh, is he? And what are we?"
"You are the Bold" he said, signaling Dick, "and the Brave." He said, now looking at Jason.
Bold, brave and smart.
Now he was beggining to see it clearly. It knoted his intestines and burned his chest.
"You know, Mr. Wayne? I don't think I'd like you at all if we were ever to meet."
"Don't be silly, of course you know him! He is Batman." Dick looked at him as if he had lost his mind.
"No. He is Bruce Wayne."
Jason was going to ad something, but shut his mouth and glowered.
"You mean..."
Dick put a hand in his mouth.
"No way!"
Bruce only smiled at them, paternalistic.
Gee! He was a total asshole!
Yes, come to think of it, perhaps he was happy, and lived in complete bliss... but he was an asshole nontheless. At least their not costumed versions had been nice.
"Not yours. You were an asshole too."
Yes, but he normally was this smartass, witty and obnoxious asshole anyway.
"And you are unfocussing, Timbo."
He returned to the grinning young man on the couch.
"Where is he, Mr. Wayne?"
"Where he belongs."
Of course.
Bruce Wayne belonged to the living room, by the fireplace...
He belonged to the cave.
"Then we won't disturb you further."
He bowed his head in this way Alfred used to bow when he wanted to show it was not a compliment at all. Then he walked to the library, where he triggered the switch that opened the secret entrance to the cave.
He stopped before entering, waiting for Dick and Jason. They had to enter there toghether. The bold, the brave... the smart... Because he was not going to be able to face him on his own.
Dick stopped by his right side, breathing deep.
"Holly Mess-tery!" He said, smiling nervously to him. "I hope you are right, Tim. I'm going to be grounded for life if it goes wrong."
Tim chuckled, feeling a little bolder himself.
Jason stomped the ground when he stopped by his left side.
"Forget this crap, Dickie." He said, a punch against his open palm enfazising his words. "This is going to be the fight of our lifes. What are we waiting for?"
Now he also felt braver.
"I was waiting for you."
They looked at him, nodding, understanding. For, toghether, they were what Robin must be.
"Let's go?" Asked Jason, anxious.
"Let's go."
"Let's go."
And toghether they descended to the Batcave, ready to face him..
They were Robin. Bold, brave and smart.
And most probably it won't mean a thing in front of the Bat.
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---Security code aproved---
---...---
---Voice scan aproved---
---Wellcome, Master---
---/Status of subject /report.---
---Subject constants: stable---
---cerebral functions: stable---
---checking revealed:---
---endorfine production: normal---
---adrenaline levels: normal---
---subject state: stable---
---subject entering fase2---
---/monitor---
---fase2 ready---
---monitoring whole proces---