We've finally reached the scene that was cut from Tales of a Brother (and Son)! Which means...

TW: Temporary Major Character Death, Canon-Typical Violence, Blood and Injury

Tim fidgeted with his jacket (correction: Dick's jacket. Shoot, he must have grabbed one from his stolen stash without thinking) as he looked around Bincy's Bar and Grill. He shoved the feeling that he should be out there working as far down as it could go. Nightwing and Batgirl could handle the case on their own for a few hours. It was fine. Bernard had finally gotten some free time between moving back into his parents' house, setting up his gear in the office space he was renting, and catching up on the work he'd missed during the move so Tim was looking forward to seeing him. Since Bernard's parents had flown out to National City for the winter holidays, Tim hadn't seen him in person in nearly a year.

They were supposed to do something for Spring Break with Darla, but then Scarecrow had broken out and Amethyst had asked Darla for help with some territory dispute and time in Gemworld had gone funny again. They'd both apologized, but Bernard had just laughed it off and told them it was fine.

Now they were both in the same city with nothing else to do (Nightwing and Batgirl didn't need him!) and Bernard had asked him if he wanted to get dinner together. It was fine.

Why was he so nervous?

"Tim!"

Tim spun around when he felt a hand on his shoulder, smiling at the familiar blond connected to it.

"Bernard! There you are." The two hugged then Tim gestured towards the tables. "Wanna go sit down? I hear this place has good burgers.

"They sure do." Bernard wrapped his arm around him and they started to walk. "But just to be clear, we're not splitting the bill, Mr. CEO."

Tim placed his hand on his chest dramatically. "I see how it is. You only like me for my money."

"Since the beginning, Wayne. Keep up."

The two laughed as they took their seats.

"So how's the channel doing?" Tim asked.

"What, you haven't been keeping up with it?"

"Bernard, you know I care about you and want to support you, but I've been listening to your crazy conspiracy theories since junior year. I don't need to watch you make a fool of yourself on the internet."

"They're not crazy!"

He gave Bernard a blank look. "Last week you tried to convince me Lois Lane was Wonder Woman."

"You don't know she isn't. Why else do you think she and Superman are so close when she's already married with kids? It's because they're teammates!"

"It's because she has no self-preservation when it comes to a scoop and, as a result, Superman's learned to keep an ear out for her."

"Why would he put in so much effort for one random reporter?"

"Why would he if she was Wonder Woman? Wouldn't she be able to get out of trouble on her own?"

"That's what she and Superman want us to think."

"Oh my God. Why did I miss you again?"

Bernard smirked and leaned over the table. "It's because I'm amazing."

"Sure."

He pouted at Tim's dismissive tone.

"So really, the channel's looking good. You've got some really good points on your current event and pop culture stuff, when you're not going off on crazy tangents. Are you working on something big for your anniversary? You've been in Gotham for over a month and this is the first chance I've gotten to see you. It must be keeping you busy."

Bernard smiled, but there was something off about it and one of his hands drifted to the other wrist. "I -"

CRASH!

Tim spun around as screams filled the air.

A horned figure was crouched on a planter with a waiter bleeding out on the floor below them.

"So ordered. So mannered. Disgusting!" the figure said, their voice a warped croak.

"The waiter! He's dead!" someone yelled.

"It's time for Gotham to experience a little chaos."

What was going on? Was that the chaos monster he and the others had been looking for? The one who'd been spiriting teens and young adults away without anyone spotting them? Why would they show themselves now? Unless they were getting bolder, which meant this could get very dangerous very fast.

"Bernard, get under the table," Tim said, grabbing Bernard's arm and tugging him down as he hit the hidden distress beacon on his watch.

Unfortunately, the monster headed right for them.

Tim pushed Bernard back when they grabbed the table and tossed it aside. He kicked them, then tried to follow up with a punch, but they caught his arm.

"You dare fight chaos?" They slammed against the floor, knocking the breath out of him. A device on their wrist released a plume of power into his face and his eyes widened as he recognized the scent of chloroform. "Embrace me."

He tried to hold his breath, but his lungs weren't cooperating after hitting the ground so hard. His vision blurred, then went dark.

Tim shifted in faux-fear as the two masked monsters dragged him down a hallway. "What's going on? Where are you taking me?"

"Hush. You will have all the answers you seek soon."

Tim considered where to go from there.

He, Nightwing, and Batgirl had deduced that there was a connection between the Chaos Monsters and a new cult called the Children of Dionysus. They were a cult that believed the answers to all of life's questions could be found through pain. They'd turned up evidence that most, if not all, of the kidnapped kids were initiates or members of the cult.

Including Bernard, who'd been spotted with welts on his arms and legs by some of the guys who worked at the same office building he used.

Tim had infiltrated the cult as an initiate, and the cult had taken the bait that was Tim Wayne. He'd let the Chaos Monsters take him when the cult practically delivered him to them on a silver platter and Batgirl followed using the tracker he'd hidden in his shoes. Nightwing was supposed to be with them, but they hadn't anticipated Tim would be taken on his first day so he had taken the night off to spend time with his partners. Thankfully Batwoman and Red Hood were close by if Batgirl saw something that made her think they needed backup and Tim had a distress beacon on him if something went wrong on his end.

Since no one had given him a sign or intervened yet, he figured it was better to just play along. But in what way? Should he play the fearful kidnappee that frets quietly, the too-used-to-this Tim Wayne that starts offering rewards for letting him go, the stereotypical rich boy that threatens retribution, or the cult brainwashed fanatic who obeys without question?

He didn't have a chance to decide before both monsters released him, collapsing with quiet grunts. He pulled his hands free from the cuffs he'd already picked and pulled the bag off his head.

"The prisoners are just ahead, but six of them are missing, Bernard included. The others said they were taken away," Batgirl said and held out his backpack.

He nodded and slipped into a nearby closet. A few moments later, Corvid stepped out. "Get those ones out, I'll find the others."

"Corvid."

"Go."

She huffed and ran off down the hall, disappearing from sight after two steps.

Corvid climbed up onto the ceiling and crawled down an adjoining hall. He searched the building until he came to a large room with a cell to one side and an altar in the center. Chaos monsters surrounded the altar with one lifting a large knife above it.

Bernard was tied to the altar.

Before Corvid could react, the knife went down.

He screeched and launched himself at the monsters. He slashed at them, dropping them quickly with his poisoned talons. Batgirl joined him at some point, but he didn't notice as he sliced his way to the altar.

He cut Bernard loose and pressed his hand against the wound. He patted Bernard's cheek with the other. "Hey, can you hear me?"

Bernard stared blankly up at him with glassy eyes.

"No, no, no."

"Corvid."

He turned to see Batgirl standing in the middle of downed monsters. "I-I need to get him out of here."

She looked Bernard over and her body drooped. When she trilled, her voice was apologetic. "Tim."

"I'm getting him out."

"… Okay. Go."

He carefully picked Bernard up and carried him out as Batgirl checked all the monsters to make sure they'd stay down until the police arrived.

When he got to Batgirl's bike, he laid Bernard down and grabbed her medkit. He started applying first aid, but from this close, he could hear Bernard's heart failing.

"Come on, Bernard. You need to be okay," he whispered as he thought over what he could do. He didn't have the tools or experience needed to patch up a wound like this. He had blood, but he didn't think a transfusion would do much good when he could smell the blood pouring straight out of his heart and into the air. He activated his comm. "Oracle, ETA on first responders?"

"Five minutes."

Bernard didn't have five minutes.

Corvid turned off his comm, then cupped his friend's face. "Bernard, please, I need you to focus on me. Please."

"C-vid," he slurred, blinking slowly.

"Yes, it's me. I can save you, but… it's going to change you. You won't be the same if I do this, and you won't be able to go back. Okay?"

There was a moment of nothing before Bernard smiled. "Knew you were an angel. Voice is so pretty."

"Bernard, please."

"Like Tim. So pretty. 'Is face is pretty too. Wish could'a finished 'r date."

Corvid's face flushed under his white face paint.

Oh.

No, that wasn't important right now. "Focus, please. Can I help you?"

Bernard closed his eyes. "Pl-s."

Corvid didn't waste a moment before sinking his fangs into Bernard's neck.

Being turned couldn't fix everything, but there were some things it would heal if you acted fast enough. Patching up punctured organs was one of those things. As important as it was, the heart was still just an organ.

Corvid grabbed a bag of blood from the hidden compartment on Batgirl's bike and cut it open with the scissors from the medkit. He brought it to Bernard's lips and urged him to, "Drink."

Bernard didn't respond.

He poured some blood into Bernard's mouth and massaged his throat until he swallowed. He fed him the whole bag like this then checked his status.

No change.

"Come on."

He grabbed a second bag then bit him and fed him again. When Bernard just continued to get worse, he did it a third time.

When he checked after, his heart had stopped.

"No, no, no!" he sobbed and started CPR. "Why isn't it working? Come on, Dowd! Don't give up on me like this!"

Tears gathered behind his cowl and his vision blurred.

Short blond hair was replaced by long black hair. White, but tanned skin turned a warm olive. Glassy dark blue eyes took the place of empty gray-green ones.

"I can't do this again!" he hissed between sobs and rescue breaths. "Do you hear me? If you make me do this again I'll-I'll…"

He broke down, ducking his head.

Thump.

He froze, listening, and sobbed with relief when he heard Bernard's heart beat again, then again. It slowly gained strength with the tell-tale sounds of a turning as Bernard took gasping breaths.

"It's working," Corvid sighed, pressing his face into Bernard's collarbone. "It's finally working."

He called his bike to him and turned his comm back on.

"Corvid?" Oracle said immediately.

"Corvid, I swear -" Batgirl started.

"I'm leaving. Call in the reds to watch your back on cleanup."

"Cor-"

Tim cut his comm again.

"Then Cyborg called up the big guy and -"

"With a thousand lies and a good disguise," sounded Dick's phone, interrupting Wally's story to tell everyone Tim was calling. "Hit 'em right between the eyes! Hit 'em right between the eyes!"

Dick dug the phone out of his pocket, giving his partners an apologetic smile.

"When you walk aw-"

"What's up, Tim? You know I'm off ton-"

"Dick! I need your help!"

Frowning, Dick stood up and started heading for the secret panel that hid his Nightwing gear. "What's wrong? Are you hurt? I thought BG was watching you back tonight. Is she okay?"

"She's fine. I'm fine. It's… I'm sorry! But he was bleeding so much and I just… I wasn't thinking, Dick. And now it's finally sinking in and I don't know what to do. I wasn't thinking. Shit! Shit! Shit! B is going to kill me!"

"Hey, hey, hey! Take a deep breath, Tiny Jay. Where are you?"

"My apartment. I didn't know where else to take him."

Him? Dick turned back to his partners, putting his phone on mute. "I'm sorry, but I need to go. Something's wrong with Tim. He said he's okay, but he's panicking."

"It's fine. We can have date night another time," Artemis said and Wally nodded.

"Want me to run you over?"

"Please. His apartment," Dick said and unmuted his phone. "I'll be there in a second."

Suddenly Dick and Wally were standing on Tim's balcony.

"Literally." He pressed a kiss to his fiancé's cheek before the man sped off.

Tim was at the door to the balcony a moment later, looking pale but thankfully unharmed.

Not counting the fact he was covered in blood, since Dick could smell that none of it was his little brother's.

"What happened?"

"He-I could hear him dying. The first responders weren't going to get there in time and I couldn't…"

"Tim?" Dick set his hands on his shoulders. "I need you to breathe. Can you match my breathing?"

Tim shook his head and dragged Dick into the apartment, tugging him into the guest bedroom where a young man was unconscious on the bed.

He was blond, fair, and seemed familiar, though Dick couldn't place a name to the face. Bandages were wrapped around his chest with a lump of gauze over his left breast and a blood bag was connected to his arm. There were three bites on his neck, just two pricks each that had already closed up and were left open to the air.

The pieces coming together, Dick knelt next to the bedside so he could hear the blond's heartbeat.

Two slushing flumps then one too fast thump. Two slushing flumps then one too fast thump. Three slushing flumps then one too fast thump.

Tim knew Bruce would be mad. Tim was still in his Corvid suit. The first responders weren't going to get there in time.

"You turned him," Dick said, standing back up. "Tim -"

"I know."

"You can't just turn people." They'd all thought about it. They could save lives that would otherwise be lost with just a bite and some blood, but turning random people raised all sorts of issues. That was how you got newborn vampires with god complexes or vendettas, mobs running around with silvered mirrors and wooden steaks, innocent people dying in witch hunts, and canine populations getting mercilessly cut down by hunters with silver bullets. Countless people, human and vampire alike, had been killed by reckless turning.

"I know! But they stabbed Bernard in the heart and the first responders weren't going to be there for twenty minutes and I couldn't just let him die!"

Bernard. Dick sighed as the familiarity clicked into place.

They were going to need to have a talk about this, likely one about informed consent (this was starting to look like a pattern so Dick made a note to either include Bernard in the conversation or have one with him separately). However, that could wait.

His little brother had just had his friend dying in his arms.

"It's okay," he said softly, pulling Tim into his arms. "Bernard's going to be okay. We'll talk about the how later. Did you get him all patched up?"

Tim nodded. "The bite did most of the work."

"Then let's just let him rest. Come on." He lead Tim back out to the living room and they curled up on the couch.

"I asked him. Before. I wouldn't have done it if he didn't agree."

"I know, bud." He knew Tim would ask, but he also knew that Bernard bleeding out meant any conversation they could have had would have had a time limit on it. There was no way Tim could have told Bernard everything he needed to know and given him the time he needed to properly consider everything he was agreeing to. "How about I make you some coffee and we'll play a video game or something until you've calmed down a little more? He won't be awake until morning so we have time."

"You don't need to baby me," Tim huffed.

Dick pressed a kiss to the top of his head, then stood. "I'm not babying you. And even if I was, it'd be my job as your big brother."

When he woke, Bernard's chest stung and his head felt like it was floating. He tried to roll over, then paused when he felt something tug at his arm. He only realized it was an IV after he'd tugged it out and brought it up to his face. Inside was… It looked like blood, but it smelled like nothing he'd ever smelled before. It smelled good, though, and something told him to stick the end in his mouth and drink.

He dropped it and pushed himself up on shaky arms as he tried to figure out where he was.

He'd… been on a date… with Tim. He'd finally gotten up the courage to ask and Tim had said yes. They'd gone out… for burgers. It had been nice then… There was an attack. A supervillain or something had shown up and killed someone. They'd hidden, but… the villain had gone after them and Tim… Tim…

He had to be okay. He'd gone down hard and hadn't gotten up, but he had to be okay. He couldn't be dead. He couldn't.

But Bernard hadn't been able to check because the villain had grabbed him and dragged him off. He'd tried to fight, but then he'd suddenly felt tired. Then he was in a van. Then a building, trapped with about a dozen others. Then they'd been separated and there'd been something about a sacrifice and Bernard had been tied to an altar and…

Then Corvid had been there, with his heavenly eyes focused just on Bernard. He'd offered to save him and Bernard had agreed because he'd been right. Corvid was an angel. Corvid was an angel and he'd come to see Bernard off to heaven. That was why Bernard could understand him now and it was what Corvid meant when he said he'd be changed.

Or maybe it wasn't what he meant, a smaller part of him had suggested. It was possible the Colony's influence was too strong and the change was going to be Corvid planting demonic or angelic energy within him like Batman had done to Catwoman and Johnny Warlock's demon had done to Darla. That would be okay, though. Tim and Darla would help him through it the same way he and Tim had helped Darla.

At least he'd be alive, if that was the case.

He didn't want to die, eternal damnation or not.

Jesus probably wouldn't mind, the same way he knew Jesus wouldn't mind him being gay.

His parents would probably kill him if they found out.

And blame Tim.

God, Tim was pretty. Like Corvid was pretty. They were both pretty.

And Bernard was dying.

Corvid had seemed pretty worried about that despite saying he'd save him.

And then…

Bernard rubbed his forehead, but it didn't help make his thoughts any less jumbled.

Corvid must have managed to save him, and not by taking him to heaven since he didn't think there was supposed to be pain in heaven.

A sharp pain sliced through his chest as he turned to hang his legs over the edge of the bed and look around the room he was in. It was a bedroom, a guest one given the lack of anything more personal than a couple of signed movie posters hanging in thick frames on the walls. The view of the night skyline outside the window was almost the same as the one from Tim's office in Wayne Tower, which told him he was probably in some Diamond District penthouse apartment.

Did Corvid have an apartment? Had he left Bernard in some random guy's upscale apartment? Had he left him in Tim's upscale apartment? That was going to be awkward to explain.

Slowly, he pushed himself onto his feet and shuffled out of the room. He went down the hall to a familiar living room. Tim and Dick were on the couch playing video games. Both were covered in blood, Tim more so than his brother. Dick was wearing bright yellow leggings and a Flash hoodie while Tim was… was…

"Corvid!?"