Wow. Very strong opinions about the last chapter.
Chapter Seventeen - Changes
9 Days Later - Christmas Eve
"Master Dick?"
He jolted awake, looking at the old butler, he'd just drifted off for a moment. He shook his head, "I'm sorry, Al, what did you say?" he asked. He laid back in a medical padded chair, Alfred sitting in a stool - pulling a bullet out of Dick's left shoulder. Two-Face had caught him by surprise, he should've been better. Bruce would've been better.
"I'd just asked if you were feeling alright?" he questioned, looking up at Dick with a skeptical gaze. Alfred pulled the bullet out of him, holding it in the clamp. Alfred inspected the round, "Hmph," Alfred mumbled.
"I'm fine, Al, just a little tired. Spending so much time of Nigma, it wore me out." he looked at the bullet, ".44 caliber?" Dick asked with a brow raised.
Alfred nodded in confirmation, "So it would seem." he dropped the round into a metal container, "This next part is going to sting." He poured the disinfectant onto the rag, also grabbing the stitches kit from the cabinet.
"It's not his M.O." Dick scratched his stubble that was about half a fingernail's length long. He supposed that meant it wasn't quite stubble anymore. Dick groaned as Alfred rubbed the rag into the wound.
Alfred let a small smirk slip, before he quickly hid it away, "Apologies, Master Dick." he spoke as he pieced the needle into Dick's skin, the new Batman winced slightly. They all had a great amount of pain tolerance, but that didn't mean it still hurt like all Hell. "9mm is his preferred, if I'm not mistaken."
Dick nodded, ignoring the pain all together or trying to at least, "Yeah." he grumbled.
"Maybe he couldn't get to his pistols," Alfred suggested, "Maybe the .44 was all he could find."
Dick gripped the leather of his seat, "Maybe, but I think it might go deeper." Dick thought aloud, "The .44 punctured the Bat-Suit's armor. The 9mm wouldn't have." he reasoned.
"You think it was an intentional switch?" he asked, "It'll be an ugly scar if you don't stop squirming."
Dick took a breath and forced himself to stay still, he had no idea how Bruce does this sober. He watched as Alfred did the the last few laces into his skin, "Yes." he finally let out, "I think they're working with Jason."
Alfred stopped at the second Robin's name, his face paling, "I doubt that." he clipped the end of the stitch and packed everything away, "His target was always Master Bruce, never you. He used your friends as a distraction, but you were never specifically targeted." he reasoned.
Dick stood, his arms and shoulders were sore from the all the fighting and his legs were sore from all the running. He was so tired, "He might not know it's me under the mask."
Alfred chuckled, "Right - your brother doesn't know it's you. The lack of sleep must be affecting your cognition."
Dick rolled his eyes as he grabbed his shirt, pulling it over his head, "A little help, if you don't mind."
Alfred frowned as he grabbed the pieces of the Bat-Suit, "You're already going back out?" Alfred questioned as he snapped the armor into place, "Are you sure that's wise?"
Dick snorted, "Is anything we do ever wise?" he remarked, snapping the gauntlets into place, "Besises there are four inmates still at large," he reasoned, "Someone has to do it." Alfred walked around to Dick's backside, securing the cape the the shoulder plates of the suit.
"By the Gods," Diana muttered as the two turned their attention toward her, "He would be so proud of you."
Dick hadn't seen her since... well, since the incident at Jason's grave, "Diana? What're you doing here?" he questioned.
"I live here." She stated simply, as if he didn't already know.
Dick nodded, "Sorry - I just assumed since there wasn't anything left for you here, you would've left." He hadn't seen her, but he hadn't been upstairs much recently.
Diana frowned, "You and Alfred are still my family, Dick." her tone was colder than the weather, "I'll be here for you. Every step of the way." she stated, crossing her arms. She wouldn't take no for an answer.
Dick looked down at the ground, "I... Thank you." she nodded at him, he did the same, "Was there anything you needed?"
"Founders Meeting, Watchtower. Twenty minutes, I was told to bring you with me."
Dick rose a brow, "You know I'm not a Founder, right?" he questioned, "I'm barely a new recruit."
Diana nodded, "True, but until we find Bruce - you're the Batman and the Batman is not only a Founder, but he's a member of the Trinity and the leader of the League." she explained, placed her hands on her hips, shifting her weight, "All the Founders know who you really are, but you're gonna have to put on a show for the rest of the League."
He pulled on the cowl, "Can it wait until after my patrol?"
Diana couldn't help but grin, he might not have been the actual Batman, but he was the next best thing. "No, it can't."
The two of them arrived at the Watchtower in timely fashion. Batman pulled the oxygen mask off of his face, breathing in the air. He remembered how much he loved flying, but flying in the deep vacuum of space? Not a fan. He brushed himself off and looked back at Wonder Woman, "Those weren't screams of joy." he grumbled.
She shrugged, "We're already late - lets get going." she lead him toward the meeting.
Batman walked past so many legendary heroes - Green Arrow, Black Canary, Wildcat, the original Green Lantern of Earth - Hal Jordan. They all respected him, well not him, but they respected the Batman.
Dick hadn't been on the Watchtower in years, not since it was just the original seven. The Founders, legendary heroes, across the entire universe. Everyone knew who Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Hawkgirl were.
Wonder Woman lead him into the meeting room. A round table of the best super-heroes on the planet. Batman sat down on the end of the table, looking straight across from the Man of Steel. The other heroes filled in around the table.
Superman gave him a small smile, "Good to see you. How you holding up Di-?"
"Batman," he corrected, Superman nodded at the request, "I'll be fine as soon as I can get back to patrol." he hinted, "Shall we begin?"
Superman nodded, "Very well. This won't take long, but it was necessary for all of us to be here - Bruce has been taken by the formerly thought dead, Jason Todd."
"He was dead," Batman corrected again, "He's back now."
Flash widened his eyes, "How the hell do you come back from the dead?"
Batman scoffed, "Superman's done it,"
"That wasn't-" The Man of Steel tried but Batman quickly cut him off,
"It's a naturally occurring, self replenishing chemical called Lazarus by Ra's al Ghul." he explained, "This 'Lazarus Pit' has acted as a sort of Fountain of Youth for Ra's for hundreds of years - records have him being born anywhere from the mid 1200s to the early 1300s."
"How is this possible?" J'onn questioned.
Batman rose his brow underneath the cowl, "Look around you - Kryptonian, Martian, Amazonian. Don't act like this is so far fetched."
"So he can't be killed?" Flash wondered aloud.
Batman shook his head, "I never said that - the pit has maintained his physical health, but it's also brought him back to life on several occasions."
"So you think this is what brought back Jason?" Green Lantern questioned.
Batman nodded, "I see no other way he could've come back." he shrugged, "The pit it does something to the users mind as well. If used while the user is still alive and well, then the side effects are delayed over time."
"But if the users dead...?" Hawkgirl wondered aloud, they all knew the answer.
"It drives them mad." Batman stated simply, though a grimace passed onto his face, "It's very unlikely that anything that I remember about Jason will still be there."
"So what's the plan? Do we go after Ra's or do we look for Bruce?" Flash asked, leaning into the table eagerly. His leg tapping the ground at close to the speed of sound. Green Lantern glared at him, making him stop.
Batman shook his head, "I'm going to deal with the rest of the Arkham inmates and then go after Ra's."
"What about Bruce?" Superman questioned, stroking his chin slowly.
Batman shook his head, "I've got a lot on my plate. Plus, there's no leads and I've got no clue where to start. You can waste time looking or you can go back to your cities and actually help people." Batman suggested.
There was a long pause before someone asked the question that was on all of their minds, "So... how do we even know if he's still alive?" Flash questioned, concern spread across his face.
Batman narrowed his eyes, "We don't."
Titan Tower was quiet.
Not that their stoic former leader had ever went out of his way to liven up the place, but things just seemed silent without him. Like the Titans weren't whole without Robin, but then again - he wasn't Robin anymore anyway. Cyborg sighed as he held his head in his hands, his was stressed out of his mind and there'd barely been any crime. He had no idea how Robin did it all those years, he made it look easy. He could just take command, without even really trying.
"Hey Cy," Beast Boy called out from the couch, Cyborg looked up at the green changeling, "Wanna play a game?"
Cyborg frowned, "Not right now, BB." he declined, "Ask Wally or Star." he suggested and went back to his thoughts.
Wally West, the Kid Flash. The Titans were low on numbers as it is and were now missing a key piece of the team, Kid Flash asked for a try out and Cyborg gave it to him. He isn't as fast as the Flash and he was too headstrong, but the kid was smart and Cyborg figured that he'd made a great hero. Cyborg had been meaning to ask Robin about expanding the Titans for a while, but... he didn't have to ask for permission anymore.
The read headed speedster zoomed into the room, plopping on the couch next to him, "I'm down to game, Gar." he smiled brightly.
Beast Boy frowned, "You know... we usually just wear our costumes around the Tower."
Kid Flash rose a brow, he could change in an instant, "Doesn't that get uncomfortable?"
Beast Boy opened his mouth, but then closed it - cocking his head as he thought about it, "You know, yeah, it does actually. Robin never changed so we just assumed it was a rule." he shrugged as the two of them started up the game.
"It's not a rule anymore." Cyborg declared, he wasn't entirely sure if it ever was, but no point in it in them doing it anyway. Now that Robin was gone. Cyborg signed, the transition had been tough on all of them - the girls especially.
Starfire is quiet most of the day, she mopes around the Tower most of the time. The days seem to drag on without Star's cheery voice filling the air. Cyborg wished he knew what to do - the funny thing is, Robin would've known how to handle this, a team member leaving. Too bad it was him that left.
Despite how he'd treated the Titans the last time they saw him, Cyborg still missed him. Dick saved all of them, sure it was his brother that nearly killed them, but that wasn't his fault. They hadn't heard anything from the newly appointed Batman. Funny how drastically things can change in such a short amount of time - just a month ago, Robin was the leader of the Titans and everything was well. A few weeks later, Robin wasn't Robin anymore and now he was Nightwing and his dead brother had come back to kill them. And now - now everything was just... different. Changed.
It had been worst on Raven, as expected. She didn't come out of her room unless the Titans were needed somewhere, she came out to eat after everyone else had gone to sleep. It had only been a few days that Kid Flash had joined the team, but Raven had already established a severe hatred for the speedster. She'd only interacted with him a few times, but those few hadn't been pretty.
Cyborg assumed it was because the speedster was Robin's replacement. He didn't know for sure what happened between the two of them, she obviously declined to even approach the subject on the way back from Gotham, but whatever happened - it damn sure wasn't pretty. Cyborg worried about her often. He rose to his feet from the chair and began walking down the hallway.
Beast Boy noticed the half-machine clunking down the hallway, he turned his head around and called out, "Where ya goin', Cy?"
"I'm gonna try and check on Rae." he stated, turning his head halfway to look at him.
"Yeesh," Beast Boy turned back around, continuing his game, "Good luck with that, bro."
Cyborg nodded as he approached Raven's door, he sighed and he knocked gently twice, "Hey Raven." Cyborg called out to no response, "Raven, I just wanted to talk for a bit." he added, he sighed in frustration, "C'mon Rae-Rae just talk to me." he begged.
Her door slid open and Raven marched toward him with a fury in his eyes, she pointed her index finger out at him as he backed up against the wall. She was practically glowing with rage, "If you would like to keep that ten percent of you that is human, then I suggest that you never call me that ever again." it wasn't an empty threat. She would make the tin man squeal.
He nodded quickly, "I'm sorry, Raven."
Raven didn't acknowledge him and just whipped around in a quick turn and marched back into her room without another word. Cyborg sighed sadly as he made his way back to the living quarters, hanging his head in defeat. He wondered why everything couldn't just go back to the way it was before this winter. He wished everything didn't have to change.
Raven walked back into her room and sat back down on the edge of her bed and put her head into her hands. She didn't know what to do, she was completely lost - as if part of herself were somewhere else, a thousand miles away. She could hardly breathe in this damn tower, it was suffocating her. She reached for her phone on her nightstand. She needed to talk to someone - to someone who understood.
She went to her contacts, he was the first name on the list. It only rang a time and a half, but he picked up, "Miss Rachel," Alfred's warm greeting soothed her, calmed her down.
"Hi Alfred." she spoke meekly, there wasn't really a purpose to her calling him.
"To what do I owe this pleasure?" he wondered.
She bit her lip, "You're not near Dick, right?"
"No ma'am, the young Master has stepped out with Lady Diana at the moment." he explained.
She nodded, "Good, good - I just really needed someone to talk to, right now." she didn't know what to do, "Nothing's ever gonna be the same, Alfred."
"Miss Rachel - Master Dick and Master Bruce are good at many things, most of all, pushing people who love them away." he spoke, calmly, he knew that's what she needed right now - a calm voice of reason, "Master Dick will come to senses and be groveling for you to take him back, I'm sure of it." she could almost hear the smiled spread across his lips, "Just give him a bit of time."
Raven shook her head, "You don't understand - everything's different now." her shaky voice tried to explain.
Alfred paused for a moment, "He does love you, you know." he said in a soothing therapeutic voice, "He loves you too much. It frightens him. He's afraid to lose you, so he pushed you away." he explained, "Bruce did the same thing with Diana for years - Diana is a frustratingly stubborn woman, it's her worst and best quality." he said with a chuckle, "But no - for some reason Master Bruce could never deter Lady Diana, she didn't take no for an answer and Master Bruce gave in to what he wanted most."
Raven was silent for a few moments, "So... I should try that?" she asked.
"I believe that you'll know what to do, when the time comes that you're prepared to forgive Master Dick. Give it some thought, you're a smart woman Miss Rachel - you'll figure it out."
Raven took a deep breath, looking down at the positive pregnancy test, "Everything is going to change."
I lied. I literally can't stop writing, sorry if I'm bombarding people's feeds, but to be fair I was gone for like a year. Review pwetty pwease.