"Did you see how those goons freaked out after seeing two Robins!"
Jason still hadn't figured out how he was on patrol with Dick.
They'd gone over the security footage for about thirty minutes. Those thirty minutes with Dick hadn't been that bad. Playing the keep your answers cryptic so Dick won't learn more about the future game had been almost fun. Dick was crazy sneaky at asking his questions. Halfway through Jason decided to replace cryptic answers with creative ones. Stepping up the challenge, Dick had done the same with his question. Kara hadn't stopped laughing for those thirty minutes. It had almost been nice.
At the thirty minute mark, Kara's needy roommate, Lena Luthur, called freaking out about how Kara hadn't been home on time. More like how she needed someone to rant to about her latest scheme to save their academy. Jason wasn't giving Lena the credit she deserved. Who else was out there saving the world from the menace of Supergirl.
Kara had almost seemed like she was going to turn Lena down. Not that she would have because Kara didn't turn down even her arch-nemesis. Since Jason didn't want to hear why she was going to pick Lena over him, he told Kara she should go. Why wouldn't she have left? With Jason having to babysit Dick they weren't going to make any real progress finding Flame-Bird's Lament this evening. Kara didn't have any reason to hang around.
Pretty much the instant Kara was out of earshot, maybe ten minutes after she'd left, Dick had asked why they couldn't go patrolling together. Jason hadn't wanted to explain that Bruce didn't trust Jason to be Robin right now. At the time Dick's arguments about how they wouldn't be out too long, or even if they were, Bruce never came home early out with a lady. Wasn't that the truth. How easy it would be to edit the security footage to where Bruce would never even know they'd left. They'd all been so convincing.
Somewhere in there Jason was adding his own contributions to the argument. Jason would leave his tracker and communicator in the Cave, if things got sticky he'd use his burner-phone. He'd been thinking about sneaking out for weeks now. All that had been stopping him was his worry about Bruce needing him. This was an evening Bruce wasn't going to need him at all.
"I'm sure they're going to tell the Commissioner all about it."
Jason had a plan for dealing with the two Robins problem. They were going to stick to small crimes with one or two criminals. If Jason thought Dick could handle the criminal, then Dick would be allowed to take the criminal down while Jason stayed out of sight. If Jason didn't think Dick could handle a criminal, Jason would be the one doing the take down with Dick staying out of sight. Dick had agreed to the plan before they'd left the Cave.
"Why would Commissioner Gordon be involved in processing an armed robbery suspect?" Dick looked up at Jason with such a sincere expression behind his mask.
"Because Robin was the one doing the apprehending." Jason half found himself wanting to believe Dick wasn't being manipulative. That he was just some kid who didn't know better. Back when Jason had started as Robin, he hadn't known better.
"Bruce told me the Commissioner doesn't even bother with most of the criminals saying Batman and Robin were involved because half the time they're lying so they can sue the police." Dick sounded so reasonable and Jason remembered hearing the same thing from Bruce.
"I'm sorry I got a little excited. This is my first time fighting crime in the future. Don't worry I'm going to follow your lead for the next one. Promise." Dick probably wasn't even lying. That was the problem wasn't it. Jason was starting to see how Dick had gotten away with all those things from Alfred's stories.
"If this happens again, we're going home." What was Jason going to say to Dick, that they couldn't stay out because Jason was having trouble controlling him.
"You're the best," Dick exclaimed flashing his little blinding smile. Jason was just grateful Dick wasn't hugging him like he had been doing with everyone else.
"Where are we going next? The narrows, the dock-" Dick started listing off the worse locations to patrol in Gotham. Did he want to screw up the future by getting killed? If that happened, Jason wasn't going to have to deal with Bruce's wraith. He probably won't have met Bruce.
"-Batman." Dick's listing abruptly stopped. So stupid, Jason, should have considered Dick's communicator when making his plans.
Dick pulled his communicator out of his belt. It was bulkier and brighter colored than Jason's was. Jason's was brighter and bulkier than the new model Bruce was working on. "Don't worry." Jason didn't add "Bruce isn't likely to do anything to you" because Jason was going for encouraging rather than accusing.
"Robin. What's up," Dick chirped his enthusiasm. Either he didn't think Bruce was onto them or he believe like Jason, Dick wasn't getting in trouble.
"Is J with you?" Here it comes. Jason knew Bruce wasn't going to get rid of him.
Dick looked at Jason then to the communicator then back to Jason.
"Robin." Dick's face paled. Jason couldn't blame him. Jason was sure the same thing was happening to him. Three years working with Batman and Jason had never heard Bruce sound like that before.
"Why?" What was Dick doing? Jason snatched Dick's communicator out of his-the kid's hands were shaking and answered, "I'm here."
"Have you been with Robin the whole time?" Jason blinked because that wasn't the question he had been expecting.
"Yes. I've had eyes on him. Are you okay?" Is Bruce okay. Jason felt all his fears about sneaking out were coming true. Bruce had needed him and he hadn't been there. "Where do you need us?"
"Told you they were two different entities." In the background, Zatanna sounded rough.
Dick gave Jason a confused frown. Jason responded with a shrug. He didn't really care about whatever Zatanna was talking about. What he needed to know was if Bruce was okay. "Does Batman need us?"
"Return to the Cave." Jason didn't slump over with relief when he heard Bruce sounding like Batman. Jason had leaned slight against Dick because Dick was starting to look a little worried. "Zatanna will explain when you arrive."
"Yes, sir."
Both he and Dick responded at the same time. A few minutes ago Jason was pretty sure that would have annoyed him. Right now if Dick wasn't under him, Jason wouldn't have even known he was there. All he could think about was how Bruce was.
"No delays." Bruce cut off as abruptly as he ever did. This was the first time Jason had appreciated Bruce's habit.
"We got off easy." Dick sounded relieved. Jason replied with a dumb nod before realized he needed to move away from Dick for the kid to see. Halfway back to the Cave, Jason was sure the bubble of relief enveloping him would burst with everything going on, he just wasn't going to worry about how he'd screwed up.
Zatanna brushed the luminous chalk off her hands, allowing the glowing purple dust to drift around the interior of the Batcave. All the circle was missing now was Dick, either one of him. From what she'd gleaned from Alfred's monitoring of steampunk ninja, the Dick Grayson situation she wasn't going to be examined that one anytime soon. Probably for the better. Reexamination of baby-bird Dick compared with her original prognoses would be a good starting place to unravel the enchantment.
Zatanna pushed any speculations about the enchantment out of her mind. Preconceived notions had been the reason she hadn't considered the balancing spell as anything other than harmless. Zatanna wasn't going to be making the same mistake again.
For this examination she wasn't relying solely on a simple spell. This time should would use an enchantment against an enchantment. Zatanna pleased she'd never gotten around to taking her warding supplies out of the Cave. Everything she'd need to create a Circle of Truth was in the Cave.
The time her procrastination had saved would be crucial in dispelling the enchantment. Until the boys arrived, she was left with her own frustrations: with herself for not seeing what was coming, with the boys for running off, and with Bruce for not accepting a tracking spell. His point about her needing to conserve her energy had been valid. She'd used far too much this evening on the original examination, the show, and healing. She would need everything she had left to unravel the nature of the enchantment.
Hopefully, she'd been just as wrong with her estimates about the length of time she would need to unravel the enchantment as she'd been about the effects of the enchantment. Maybe the enchantment would last her predicted three days even if it did three days was a lot of time to leave a ninja killer on the loose.
He had killed again since Zatanna's arrival in the Cave. Another one of Gotham's elite.
Bruce had started blaming himself for steampunk Dick's murders the moment Bruce had deduced who was under the mask. After his reaction to Jason's disappearance. Zatanna wasn't sure Bruce was going to recover from a potential future's Dick going on a three day killing spree. Zatanna was going to make sure that didn't happen.
"Miss Zatara, Master Richard and Master Jason have triggered the perimeter alarm. They should be arriving shortly."
"Thank you, Alfred." Zatanna scrutinized her work on the Circle of Truth once more before the boys arrived. The lines were drawn perfectly, if she thought so herself. The crystals were in the proper locations along the curves, the dust was still-the roar of a motorcycle pulled Zatanna's attention towards the entrance of the Cave.
Dick leaped off the back of the Redcycle before Jason had brought the vehicle to a stop. His helmet was carelessly tossed to the side without Dick breaking his sprint in her direction.
"What's going on?" Dick demanded before Zatanna held her hand out to stop him from crossing into the Circle of Truth. That's where she wanted him. In this state he wasn't going to be calm enough when he crossed over. Zatanna was not going to redraw the whole thing because of a childish outburst. She'd had to handle the consequences of childish outburst enough when she'd been the child.
"Where's Bruce?" He huffed. The impatience was one of Dick's traits Zatanna hadn't missed, unlike his exuberance, he hadn't entirely grown out of it yet. If he continued like Bruce he wasn't going to.
"Wait for you brother," Zatanna chided him.
Jason was following along at a much slower pace than Dick's. His helmet was under one arm and he had Dick's helmet in his other hand. The Wayne impatience was a trait shared among all the Waynes. Without any preamble, Jason shoved Dick's helmet into Dick's arms. "Pick up after yourself."
Dick's eyes followed Jason's movements along the circle with an adorable wounded expression. Times like this Zatanna was grateful Zachary was her cousin and not her brother.
Zatanna gestured at the circle in front of them. "As you've surmised there is more to Dick's enchantment than meets the eye."
"You're not summoning demons in the Batcave; I'm disappointed," Jason quibbled. He'd made his full round of the circle ending up beside Dick. Dick scooted closer to Jason and made a quickly aborted attempt to grab Jason's hand.
"Let's not rule that out yet," Zatanna teased. She'd left Jason Blood a message while she'd been drawing the circle. Demons being summoned into the Batcave was technicality an option on the table.
"Are there two of me?" Dick asked shyly.
"Yes and no. During my show, what Bruce and I believe to be an alternate future version of yourself made an appearance. Bruce is tracking him down as we speak." Both the kids didn't look impressed with her lack of information on steampunk Dick. They were going to have to wait for more. Zatanna wasn't the one who was going to be explaining the murderous future self parts of this mess to a nine year old.
"Are there more of me?"
"We don't know, yet. That's why I'm going to have you step into this Circle of Truth. The circle will force the enchantment to reveal it's true nature. I'll know how many of you are running around after we're finished." More importantly, Zatanna should know the two questions that would break the enchantment. Why and how there were multiples of Dick on the loose.
"Is future Dick evil?" Jason asked suddenly. Dick gasped with surprise. The very response Zatanna had wanted to avoid. Finding out about evil versions of yourself wasn't fun, especially when you were a child. Zatanna would know.
Zatanna was going to reprimand Jason before she noticed how pale he'd gotten. "Why does that matter?"
Realization crashed into her.
The Cult of Blood.
How had she forgotten Jason had a run in with a brainwashed version of Dick. She'd been planning on talking to Bruce about his response to Dick's brainwashing.
I think…" Jason's statement drifted off. He looked cautiously down on Dick who was looking up at Jason with wide, confused eyes.
"Hey, it's alright," Zatanna spoke gentle for both of the boys. "That's not going to happen to Dick again."
"What," Jason looked back up at her sharply. "No that's not it. I…" Jason took a deep breath. "I maybe have an idea of what's going on."
Zatanna blinked. Blindside by Jason's assertion and her entire misreading of what was bothering Jason.
"Awesome," Dick exclaimed.
"What do you think happened, Jason?" Zatanna asked gently, not wanting to spook Jason into not answering.
"I think, Dick took a bit out of a golden apple." As explanations went that...was a possibility Zatanna hadn't considered. "I know it doesn't make any sense. There was a theft in the Metropolis Museum of Natural Histories yesterday, the Flame-Bird's Lament." Jason looked at Zatanna for confirmation. She shook her head. That wasn't an artifact she'd heard of before.
"If you eat a bit of the apple, you're supposed to gain knowledge of the past and the future with a curse. The affect is ind of like this, just not with the splitting into the different versions of yourself." Jason started wavering when Zatanna hadn't recognized the name of the artifact. "Kara and I were going to call you to see if you knew anyone who would have been interested in acquiring the artifact."
"Good call. The stories don't necessarily need to match what's happening to Dick perfectly. A magical item going missing and a similar enchantment being cast that's too much of a coincidence for us not to check out." Using an artifact the day after stealing it was an odd decision for the culprit. Several things about the apple theory didn't quite fit the circumstances around the enchantment.
"You have a case file started?" Jason nodded in reply to Zatanna's question. Zatanna had been called in to deal with the mystical side of this. The detectives could do the detective work. "While Dick and I figure out how this enchantment works, I want you to have everything setup for a presentation when Bruce gets back. Remember," Zatanna cautioned, "we don't know if this caused the enchantment. Don't get to excited."
Jason gave her a cocky reply, "Like the last time."
"With that attitude you're going to be Batman in no time." Jason nearly beamed at Zatanna's backhanded compliment. Oh Dick, the kid had to have an idea he wasn't going to be Batman, by now. Zatanna could remember how much he'd wanted to be.
"Yeah! Bruce is always figuring things out like that." Jason didn't even respond to Dick's praise. "Can I call Kara. I think she's going to have some helpful insight."
"You don't have to ask me." They'd been working the investigation together so Zatanna wasn't sure why Jason was asking her for approval. She'd just finished comparing him to Bruce.
With permission, granted, Jason headed off in the direction of the Batcomputer. Dick forlornly watch Jason leave.
"It's okay younger siblings are like that."
"You don't have any younger siblings." Was Dick's sullen response to Zatanna's attempt to cheer him up. Zatanna wasn't too worried. Once they'd figured out how this enchantment, worked he'd be back bouncing around the Cave again.
"You got me there. Now are you ready to figure this thing out." Dick gave Zatanna a glum little nod. "If it will make you feel better when you'r ein the center of the Circle of Truth you don't have to stand still."
That got her a smile.
Batman could hear his own criticisms of Robin's behavior in the field when he visualized the body of Daze Collins, the CEO of Epione Pharmaceuticals, lying on the stage of the Iceberg's main theater: reckless, sloppy, and excessive. An act of vengeance. Aurora Stanton's death had been one of desperation.
Batman had found her lying in her bed, bleeding out from a single throwing knife embedded in her chest. Aurora Stanton, hotelier of the Seven Knights, used her last words to name her killer, Talon. "They'll send a Talon for your head." Her last breath was a laugh.
Talon. The Court of Owls. Dick Grayson.
The advantage to Talon's increased recklessness was Batman had the possibility to catch up to him. Nightwing would have avoided traffic cameras and the familiar routes Batman and Robin had used to patrol the city. He had done it enough as Robin. Talon was using the patrol routes almost instinctively.
The route Talon had taken from the Iceberg to Aurora Stanton's residence had not been a direct route. Even now Talon was following one of their older patrols. Physically, Batman would never have been able to approach Nightwing, with the way Talon was traveling, cutting him off was possible. If Batman could discern were he was heading...
Batman's case file for the Court of Owls had been thrown away by Bruce Wayne years before Batman had even been a dream. Aurora Stanton, Daze Collins, and Dick Grayson did not have any connections outside of being members of Gotham's elites. Agent A was running a search back in the Cave. The results were for investigating what had occurred to Talon. They would be available to assist in this chase.
As much as he was loath to use it, intuition was the one tool Batman needed to finish this.
Doctor Andre Atwell and his wife, the starlet Joy Harlan-Atwell, were residence of the Miner Apartment penthouse. Both the surgeon and the actress, like Collins and Stanton, were from the wealthy older blood of Gotham. Going to the penthouse risked losing ground on Talon if they were not the intended targets. Batman's endurance was waning. The chase needed to end now.
A shout followed by a shriek was all the confirmation Batman needed to know his intuition had been correct about the Atwells.
Batman had been too late to save the couple. They appeared to have been eating a late night meal together. Doctor Andre Atwell was sprawled across the table, Talon's final throwing knife in his heart. Joy Harlan-Atwell was at Talon's feet, neck broken.
"Let me help you," Batman kept his voice low and even; the "comforting the civilian voice" Robin used to call it.
"I am helping you." Talon's face was blank, not the way Robin/Nightwing/Dick Grayson would hid his emotions from Bruce. Dick Grayson's distress was a tension he could not hide from his eyes or his stance. Talon's expression had nothing under the surface. Despite his expression, Talon's voice was trembling with emotion.
"You're in the past. We can fix this our way, not theirs." Batman was going to fix this.
"It's already happened." Talon's eyes shifted from Batman to the entryway behind him. Batman had inadvertently cut Talon off from the single exit in the Atwell's dinning room. The balcony Talon had entered was a straight drop to the street below. In Talon's haste for the kill he had dropped his grapple. Going for the grapple would leave him open to attack from Bruce.
"I've got this B-" Talon was backing away towards the balcony as he spoke. "Go back to Robin. I've got this."
"Dick," Talon flinched at his name. "What happened to you won't happen again. Come back home. We can solve this together."
Talon's face came to life for a moment granting Batman an apologetic look, that Bruce hadn't seen since Dick had been twelve.
Talon flung himself off the balcony.
Batman shouted. The balcony was too far from where Bruce was standing for him to clear it and grab Dick. That wasn't going to stop Batman. Before Batman made it to the balcony, he came to a halt because floating in front for him was Supergirl holding Talon.
"Zatanna said you were taking too long. So here I am." Bruce felt like he was breathing again. Zatanna always did have to do things her way. "You better call her before she has to come herself. And you-" Supergirl chided Talon. "Were you trying to be street pizza?"
"Just making sure Batman wasn't going to be following me," Talon teased giving Supergirl a flirtatious smile and a wink.
"Zatanna," Batman watched Talon begin to chat animatedly with Supergirl, "We have him."
"Perfect. Robin's figured out-" Batman cut her off. "Have the boys head up stairs. Tell Alfred to prep the holding cell."
"Gotcha. Anything you want me to tell the boys to make it easier on me."
"You'll figure something out." Batman smirked at Zatanna's dramatic sigh as she finished the call.
"Boys," Talon whispered, his face returning to the death blankness of before. Talon's eyes moved from Kara to Bruce. "It isn't just Jason."
There was one element of Zatanna's original examination that was still true. Unraveling the enchantment was going to take her months if not years to handle. The Circle of Truth hadn't revealed much more than her own unaided spell. Neither of the circles had.
While Kara had been fetching the boys, Zatanna had drawn a new circle around the detection cell. She assumed Talon, as they were calling the steampunk ninja now, wasn't going to be cooperative.
She had been right. While Talon had been compliant with her spell work, he hadn't been forth coming about anything other than some lovely complements about her and Supergirl.
During and after her spell, Zatanna had attempted to get information out of Talon. There was the possibility that whoever exposed Dick to Flame-Bird's Lament, if the apple had been the cause of the enchantment, wanted current Dick to know about becoming Talon. Would knowing more about Talon even lead them to their mystery person? Talon certainly hadn't thought so.
He hadn't been too keen on sharing if he had arrived with baby-bird Dick or anything else of similar relevance, either.
With her spell finished and Talon not wanting to talk, Zatanna picked up papers she'd drawn a few spell runes on. This avenue of investigation probably wouldn't pay off in the short run. Scanning a few papers into the Batcomputer database to run a search involved significantly less time time and hassle than interrogating someone who was bettered trained against interrogations than Zatanna was at giving them.
"What did you find?" Zatanna was somewhat surprised at how calm Bruce sounded. The boys hadn't taken Zatanna sending them upstairs well, and given how Bruce had been handling things, she couldn't imagine he hadn't told them they weren't going to be involved with the rest of the investigation.
"No shouting match," Zatanna asked. She ran her paperwork through the scanner. Hopefully, that's all the computer needed to run a search for a similar language.
Bruce leaned against the computer. He looked like a decade had pasted since the beginning of the evening. "Dick understood. Jason," Bruce paused. "Jason didn't want to talk." Zatanna could understand if her father had pulled her off her investigation, which had happened several times. She hadn't been interested in speaking to him either.
"Kids do sneak out. You do remember the one time when you were training with my father," Zatanna said feeling slightly nostalgia at the memory. When this was over she was going to summon her father, it been too long since their last visit. Although he was probably not feeling lonely with her mother, she knew he missed seeing Zatanna.
"You know that isn't the reason I don't want them out." Zatanna knew his reason. She didn't agree with him.
"Talon seems to be making himself comfortable." Zatanna redirected the conversation. Talon was leaning causally against the cell, speaking amiably with Supergirl.
"I changed the codes for the kyptonite," Bruce reassured her.
"That wasn't my worry? Is he trying to flirt his way of out that cell?" Zatanna said.
Bruce actually sighed. "He spent the entire trip to the Cave trying that tactic."
"Kara and Jason are an item, aren't they?" Zatanna asked. Weren't there codes about this sort of thing between siblings.
Maybe flirting with Zatanna would have been considered inappropriate by some. It had been fun. She and Bruce weren't exactly exclusive, if they were even seeing each other. Zatanna couldn't always tell with Bruce.
Flirting with you younger brother's crush. Zatanna understood there were lines not to be crossed.
"That just makes it easier. He already knows her type." Bruce didn't smile. His eyes crinkled around the edges.
"Really. What exactly do you teach your little birds?" Zatanna leaned against her hand as she spoke giving Bruce a coy smile.
"To use every weapon in their arsenal," Bruce stated coldly. Things had been going so well.
"Speaking of weapons," Zatanna returned back to business. "Jason and Kara were investigating a theft from the Metropolis Museum, an artifact called the Flame-Bird's Lament." Zatanna waved at the paperwork Jason had gathered on the subject.
"The theft occurred yesterday evening," Bruce stated leaning in to look at the documentation. "Jason mentioned Kara needed his help. Metropolis has a limited number of crimes outside of our skill sets."
"Don't sell yourself short. I've always thought you were helpful during an alien invasion," Zatanna said with a smirk. "According to Jason's sum-up, there are a few folk-stories from the region about how talking a bite out of the apple will grant the eater the knowledge of their good and evil; and their past and future selves with some potential negative side effects. Sound familiar?"
Bruce nodded taking a glance at Talon. "What kind of side effects?"
"Being driven mad by the knowledge and destroying everything you know and love. Don't worry that only happens in less than half of the stories," Zatanna said. "I haven't finished going over Jason's notes yet. So far there are some obvious parallels between this apple and Dick's enchantment."
"You're original opinion was the enchantment was cast by a person. Did your second examination point to an artifact?" Bruce asked.
"My second try didn't point to anything at all," Zatanna voiced her frustration. "Even under the Circle of Truth, the enchantment appeared the exact same. I did find out Talon is under the same enchantment as baby-bird Dick. If it wasn't obvious. The good new is the balance spell seems to be completed between the two of them. Hopefully, that means there aren't anymore of them running around.
"What we're seeing can't be explained by what I've been able to get out of the enchantment. The enchantment is hiding things. I still don't know the language used for the casting of the spells. None of the spells I've been able to figure out in the enchantment should stop me from being able to discern the language even if it was from another plane of existence.
"Could the enchantment have been placed on a centuries old golden apple? Yes! Could the enchantment have been cast by some idiot who found a tome of the dark arts and though crafting the enchantment? Just as possible from what I'm seeing from the spell. Who knows. Maybe both of them are what happened."
Bruce spent a few moments considering her words before he spoke, "Why are you in favor of the apple as the source?"
Zatanna shrugged, "Two consequences. You already know the first. An enchantment of innocents and experiences and an apple of innocents and experiences showing up at the same time? What are the chances, right? The second is that the Flame-Bird's Lament is one of the Kryptonian legends about Nightwing."
"That is a consequence," Bruce's response was toneless. "What is the Kryptonian legend?"
"This is according to Jason. I haven't been able to confirm with Kara. Flame-Bird became the Kryptonian goddess of creation and destruction because she ate a golden apple from the Kryptoian tree of good and evil and didn't go crazy. Suitors started showing up demanding Flame-bird's hand in marriage.
"Since Flame-Bird only wanted to marry a man worthy of her; she made an oath to only be marry a man or god who could eat the golden apple and live.
"After some pretty nasty suitor mishaps, Flame-Bird started tempting men into marrying her. Her father exiled her to guard the tree.
"Later an injured Kryptonian Nightwing stumbles into the grove with the tree, and Flame-Bird. Long story short, they fall madly in love with each other. Before they can marry, the family of a previous suitor demands that Nightwing eat an apple to prove his worthiness for Flame-Bird. After a lot of drama, Nightwing eats the golden apple, and goes crazy.
"Unlike with the rest of the suitors, who she abandoned to their madness, Flame-Bird loves Nightwing and she stays with him."
"An appropriately named myth," Bruce said taking another look at Talon. "What is the Flame-Bird equivalent in our world's stories."
"A dragon," Zatanna explained." Jason said there's one story similar to the Kryptonian. In this Earth story, a hero kills Flame-Bird to get the golden apple needed to save his kingdom. The hero slays Flame-Bird to get the golden apple. Once he eats, it he realizes what he's done. That's the story the artifact is named after. Other than that one, Jason says the other stories are mostly traditional tales. Like I said I need to finish reading Jason's notes. So far there's no dragon."
"You forgot about the Metropolis Museum's thief." Bruce said pensively. "Would breaking the artifact break the enchantment?"
"Possibly if the enchantment is one of self discovery-"
"No," Bruce interrupted sharply. "They aren't meeting together."
Zatanna hadn't thought Bruce was going to like that approach to the problem. Depending on how all of this played out, it may end up being the only solution. For now Zatanna had a few other options.
"The spell might still fade in a few days. I couldn't detect any ties to outside magic sources in the enchantment. Without a seal, the magical energies making up the spell should fade in a few days. Since this little spell has been proven a liar. Getting the Flame-Bird's Lament back from the thief for me to examine the artifact is probably our best bet," Zatanna explained.
"If the apple is involved in the enchantment," Bruce mused. "We can't rule out there being another magical object or person in play. I'll check to see if there have been attacks of a magical nature planned against Batman. The Titans will need to be contacted."
"Sounds like a job for Jason." Zatanna smiled at Bruce's reaction to her suggestion. "Come on Bruce you don't want to talk to the Titans. They're not going to want to talk to me. Jason is the best choice. He is going to want to be part of the investigation. I'm sure he'll get questionable life advice from them but he's already proven his loyalty. I don't think calling them will be problem."
"Fine." Bruce emphasized his displeasure with that one word. "Kara can handle interviewing the museum staff."
"You want Kara to handle investigating the crime scene?" Zatanna questioned. "Our one lead on the case. Kara who came here in the first place looking for help with the investigation. Kara who is vulnerable to magic."
"The likelihood of the thief, if they are capable of magical attacks, having an altercation with Supergirl in the public museum in broad daylight is unlikely. Even if a staff member is involved in the theft. Jason can check the museum's surveillance footage here. Anything else we need from Metropolis we can acquire from the police reports," Bruce stated as if Zatanna should be pleased with his plan. She didn't approve of limiting Jason involvement in the investigation.
"How will Kara know what information we need retrieved?" Zatanna tried to reason with Bruce. "I have to look into a few of my contacts who don't bother with crystal balls or cellphones to see if I can find anymore information on this spell or if anyone in my circle has been asked about this type of enchantment.. Are you going to go with her?"
"Clark is an investigative reporter married to a better one. Kara knows how to do the type of interviews we will need from the staff," Bruce challenged Zatanna.
"If you think so." Zatanna relented because an argument wouldn't help anything. Bruce could be right. Zatanna hadn't been particular impressed with Clark's deductive reasoning in the past. Lois was a master. Maybe Kara had been getting some pointers from her. "I'll give Kara her assignment. After that you're going to be doing without me for a few hours."
Bruce gave her a distracted nod. He was already moving onto running Batcomputer searches of his own. Zatanna hoped he'd consider sleeping tonight. "Bruce." He glanced back at her. "Talon isn't going to be Dick's future."
"I know."
"Mind if I join you?" Jason wasn't surprised Kara had found him on the roof of the manor. Well, she had surprised him. One moment he'd been blindly looking up at the stars, the next Kara was right there in front of him. She'd given him space. She was floating three feet away. Like always with Kara there had been no warning. She was worse than Bruce because she was obvious about how amused she was with startling people.
Jason nodded numbly. Not actually sure why Kara would have went looking for him. Obviously, she would have come because she hadn't said goodbye and they were friends. It was just...getting kicked out by Bruce had made Jason feel raw. Bruce was so angry about the communicator thing he hadn't even tried to talk to Jason. Jason didn't know how things were going to play out after they solved the evil Dick mess.
"I did know Dick was such a flirt," Kara spoke. She settled gentle beside him looking up at the stars. "I didn't know what to say. He's so old."
Jason shrugged listlessly. "Standard Bruce maneuver. Charm your captor into letting you go." Seduction didn't seem like one of the plays Dick would have made from how Alfred talked about him. Future Dick was evil and the movies could be right about the evil version of you being sexier.
"That actually works, Kara said turning to look at him with incredulity.
Telling Kara she was a Kryptonian wasn't going to help, even if it was the truth. So Jason went in another direction. "Some of the time. Bruce somehow knows when a villainess is going to be easy to play or not. I've never been able to figure out how he does it."
"Neither has Dick," Kara giggled then took a calming breath. "Okay, I didn't come out here to talk about Talon."
"Talon?" Jason questioned.
"Oh yeah. Steampunk ninja zombie Dick is called Talon. He is what is the word," Kara halted her explanation. "They're in those movies. I don't actual watch with...mobs." Jason shook his head when she glanced over at him for help. The movie genres Kara didn't watch were pretty much anything her friend base didn't watch. Jason wasn't sure if Kara's lack of interest in movies was a Kryptonian thing or a Kara thing.
"I know what they're called in Kryptonian," She exclaimed.
"Don't go there if you want me to know what you're talking about," Jason denied that option. His understanding of Kryptoian was rough.
"Zombies!" She exclaimed in triumph. "He's a zombie."
"A what?" Jason blurted.
"It's like he was cursed by- that story would take way too long to tell. He doesn't breathe unless he's planning on talking. His heart isn't beating," Kara said with a thoughtful frown. "His blood is flowing somehow or, well, something is flowing through his veins. His brain is still active. I've heard stories about them since I was a girl and I knew there were earth stories about them. I never thought I'd see one."
"Why would you? You and magic don't get along well." Jason tried for comforting. Though, how Kara had missed zombies before was a mystery. He'd run into zombies before.
"That's the thing it isn't magic at all. It's like there is an element I've never seen before powering him," Kara pondered. Dick getting turned into a science fiction zombie would be par for the course Jason mused, not at all shocked by proposition, even if maybe he should have been. Probably a Titan's villain. Jason frowned at that. No. Talon had murdered three people in Gotham.
Did that mean Dick had moved back to Gotham at some point in the future?
Kara jerked beside him, shaking Jason out of his feeling about Bruce's response to Dick coming back to Gotham and..how that was going to impact Jason and Bruce. "Sorry, that wasn't what I wanted to talk about at all."
"I thought getting flirted with by the undead was what all the girls are talking about," Jason smirked.
Kara shoved him, lightly. "No more distractions. I was assigned to interview the museum staff." Kara rolled her eyes with amused disbelief when she said assigned. This all started out as her case, their case, Jason amended to himself. Kara would be amused with how easily it had been taken over rather than bitter about it.
"That was the plan." Jason shifted away from her trying to keep his own bitterness out of his words.
"I thought so," Kara assured. "I'll need you to prep me for tomorrow."
"Prep you for what?" Jason hesitated. "You know how to ask people questions." Jason didn't know why he was trying to draw this out. Kara was being pretty obvious about what she wanted.
"Not the right questions. Lana says I'm even worse at interviews than Clark was at my age." Kara coaxed even if that wasn't exactly how she sounded always trying to make Jason feel like he was still part of all this.
"According to Clark's news club sponsor that isn't possible," Jason smirked. Jason could play along with Kara.
"Batman has dug up good dirt on Superman." Kara sounded more pleased with Jason's reveal than about the depth of Batman's investigation about her cousin than Jason would have been if their situations were reversed. "Clark always said Bruce knew everything about him."
"Batman is like that with every member of the League," Jason alleged with a conspiratorial wink to Kara. She smiled brightly back in return.
"Now you wanted some pointers on getting witness statements," Jason started his explanation of the basics.
Ciel Gilbert, CEO of the Opalescent Crops Inc., the most successful Agrochemical founded in the United States, Stuffy to his friends due due to his reactions to the pollution in Gotham, was found in his office at eight-forty murdered. The security alarms had been triggered by an intruder. The murder had occurred at eight-thirty. The GCPD initial assessment indicated the homicide was committed by throwing knives, none of which were found at the scene. Robin arrived at the Batcave at approximately eight-thirty.
Paxton Bennett, the reclusive head of Reticent, an international Cyber Security firm based in Gotham, was found similarly murdered at nine fifteen. His time of death taking place closer to nine: Eight fifty-eight. After Batman dissuaded two rival gangs from an early impromptu brawl in the Narrows, he contacted the Cave to see when Nightwing had arrived home.
Lyssa Burton, owner of the Gotham National Bank, was found at nine thirty. Witness reports, placed her death at nine twenty-five. She had stormed out of the Gotham Banks Semi-Annul Charity Auction for the Needy to one of the balconies to calm down after having one of her renowned eruptions with Summer Gleeson. Five minutes later, Burton's assistant, found her in a pool of her own blood. No murder weapon was found.
Batman had contacted Zatanna about the situation with Dick at nine thirty-eight.
Daze Collins death was at ten forty-five with Aurora Stanton's and the Atwell's taking place between eleven and even thirty. Talon's seven victims. All of them part of Gotham's historical elite.
Beware the Court of Owls that watches all the time.
The Batcomputer had not yet found any substantial connections between the seven victims as a group and the seven victims with Dick. If they were who Bruce suspected them of being, the organization connecting them would be difficult to uncover.
Bruce would not lie to himself. The dread he had felt as a child searching out an explanation for his parents' deaths was slowly growing in his chest. He had thought they had killed his parents. He knew they were going to kill Dick. The evidence of that was currently doing a handstand in the holding cell seemingly without a care in the world.
Talon's cavalier attitude about his capture and imprisonment disturbed Bruce more than Talon's physical state. Dick had never been comfortable in the holding cell, not as children, certainly not as a teenager.
The way Talon had yielded to Supergirl without any type of defiance was even more uncharacteristic. Bruce had no doubt Talon was biding his time to escape. Bruce had taught Dick how to do so, the problem was Dick had never learned. Taunts, banter, quips had been Dick's choice of dealing with being captured even when Dick was attempting to appear amiable with his capture. Dick had never learned to control either his body language or his tone.
Talon was older than present Dick. How much was unclear. Bruce estimated late to early twenties as opposed to the nineteen Dick was at present. Ten years was enough time to adjust behaviors. How that behavior was adjusted was what troubled Bruce.
Talon glanced up from his handstand accidentally meeting Bruce's eyes. Even though the distance was too great for the contact to be considered meaningful, Talon flinched. The movement would have been minute if Talon had not over-corrected his response by giving Bruce the "smile" and a jaunty wave.
With the information currently available in the Batcomputer answers from that avenue of investigation could take days or even weeks. Bruce had been trying to keep the perspective that Dick could have died years in the future. There had been no reason to push Talon into revealing his secrets since in all likelihood Talon would not intentionally reveal his other targets. Unintentional was a possibility.
Bruce stood up. Any information he was able to obtain from Talon would be useful in preventing Dick from becoming Talon.
Talon righted himself when he realized Bruce was heading his direction. He causally leaned against the glass with a smile fixed on his face and his eyes still adverted. Bruce doubted the lack of eye contact had to do with Talon's natural eyes or the killings. Dick had never been shy about breaking Bruce's rules when they went against what Dick wanted.
"Looking for some company?" Talon teased, sounding more like Dick at sixteen than Dick's current nineteen. "I felt Zatanna went home too early myself." Sounds more like himself than Bruce thought Dick had in years. Talon was blatantly being manipulative. Still Bruce had a fleeting rush of irrelevant curiosity.
Had their relationship been repaired before Dick had become Talon.
"Why are you targeting the Court of Owls?" Bruce stated flatly. His time with Talon was limited. For all Bruce knew, present Dick's time before Talon was limited. Keeping Dick alive had constantly been more relevant to Bruce than his good standing with Dick.
Talon chuckled. "You think they're part of a nursery rhyme. Come on Bruce. I know Gotham rogues are into fairy tales but nursery rhythms."
Talon's dismissal of the court was the confirmation Bruce had needed. Had Talon been hunting another group or individual using the Court to divert Bruce's efforts away from Talon's true quarry would have been an ideal tactic. One Bruce had taught Dick before.
Dick's tales agreed with Bruce's belief about the Court's involvement. Talon had begun tightening his arms around himself. The ghost of a few others were showing themselves in the rest of Dick's posture. Talon's was the most striking. All expression had slipped of Talon's face while he had spoken, even though his tone had been friendly.
Bruce speculated Talon did not even know he was not smiling at Bruce now.
"When did it happen?" Bruce questioned gently this time.
"Bruce trust me when I tell you, you can't look into this." Talon's declaration was undermined by his inability to look Bruce in the eyes; his body folding in on itself; and his confident tone was beginning to shake with underline emotions. Talon was pleading with Bruce. Why? Shame? Talon's body was telling Bruce Talon was ashamed.
"Dick, tell me why you don't want me to help you." Unlike before Talon shivered at his name. Bruce hoped the movement was a sign he was reaching Talon. "You know I don't care what happened."
"I know." Talon shoved himself off the cell wall to glare at Bruce. "I know. You don't understand. It. Already. Happened."
"Not here, Dick." Talon shuttered. Bruce pressed on, still hopeful with the reactions he was receiving from Talon. "We have time."
With an angry huff, Talon started to pace around the cell to work off his agitation. This was beginning to feel like a conversation with present Dick. Bruce felt a sliver of satisfaction at the transition.
"To save me." Talon gave a short bitter laugh. "You tried already. Everyone tried. It didn't work."
"Tell me what went wrong." Talon stiffened at Bruce's words before unexpectedly deflating.
"You tried Bruce. I just-I just couldn't be fixed." Talon sighed. Bruce had never heard Dick sound as exhausted as Talon did now. "Things were back to normal. Well as normal as they could be with what happened to me. Alfred never adjusted to the whole not needing to eat thing. You couldn't let go. I should have known. I had to stop you Bruce. I couldn't let anyone else do it. It had to be me."
"Why did I need to be stopped?" Bruce coaxed after Talon had broken to stare blankly at the ground.
"It doesn't matter." Bruce was hardly able to read the words from Talon's lips. Talon looked up. meeting Bruce's eyes Talon's face was still lacking in expression. Speaking to Bruce this time, "I already told you I've got this."
"Whatever happened hurt you." Talon's cryptic explanation gave Bruce a chilling suspicion about how Talon had stopped Bruce. "Tell me how to help you."
"You want to help me. Of course you do. I should have-"
A bright flash of red interrupted Talon. The alert sounded at the upper entrance to the Bat-Cave. Bruce did not visibly respond to the distraction; trying not to drive Talon back behind his guard. "Go tell Jason I said hi," Talon finished with a slightly self-deprecating smile, his eyes slid away from Bruce's.
"Dick…" Bruce began again. With a soft, amused shake of his head, Talon turned away from Bruce to lean his back against the glass. For now, Bruce had lost Talon, for now.
As Bruce had expected baby-bird Dick, was sitting at the top of the Cave's stairs. His pillow was tucked against his chest, held firmly by his crossed arms. with his blanket lay beside him.
"I couldn't sleep," Dick whispered an apology to Bruce while he watched Bruce with wide, worried eyes. Unlike the rest of the evening, comforting a nine year old Dick Grayson was a situation Bruce knew how to handle.
Bruce gave Dick a warm smile before offering his hand to Dick. "Let's get you out of here, chum."
Without hesitation Dick leapt up to cling to Bruce's hand.
When Dick would have a nightmare, back before he had known about Batman, Dick would curl up in front of Bruce's door to calm down after a nightmare. Bruce had stumbled across Dick's nightmare warding off custom in a literal way.
One night a henchmen had gotten a lucky hit on Batman leaving Bruce to nurse a mild concussion. Bruce had been mildly disoriented at the time and had not noticed Dick lying in front of the door. Bruce stumbled over the half asleep child. Without thinking about the consequences, Bruce had simply scooped Dick up, deposited him on Bruce's bed, and then Bruce had crashed on the floor.
The next morning Bruce had awoke to find himself on the floor and no Dick in the bed. Bruce's first thoughts had been the incident with Dick had been a dream that was disproven when Bruce realized the bed had been slept in. At breakfast Dick would not confess to having been outside of Bruce's suite. Bruce had decided since he had not stumbled over Dick before this was a one time event. Two weeks later, after Dick had found out about Batman, Bruce had once again stumbled over Dick. This time at the top of the stairs to the Bat-Cave.
Dick had not wanted to talk. There were several topics Dick had not wanted to talk about at that time. Bruce understood and respected him, believing when Dick needed to discuss the subject he would tell Bruce. Dick never did. At the time they worked out a simple solution to Dick's situation. Alfred setup a cot in the Cave for Dick if he was having trouble sleeping. If Bruce was working on a case inappropriate for Dick to see, then Bruce would work on the desktop in the library while Dick slept on the nearby couch.
The library was were Bruce was taking Dick now.
They walked in silence. Dick working though his troubles with Bruce there for support. Bruce had learned early on not to press Dick about personal problems. Dick would either shutdown completely or go along with Bruce's assumptions even when they were not accurate or potentially more harmful. All that had changed when Dick became a teenager.
Last time Dick had come to him for help...Bruce shook the thought away, this was not the time to dwell on that past.
Dick perked up when they arrived at his couch.
Bruce had a moment of worry when he realized Jason had claimed the couch for his "why aren't we reading this in class" books. It seemed like a decade had passed from the time when he and Jason had worked together to pick out an expanding classics for his literature class. Jason had such a good time picking through Bruce's suggestions. They ended up including additional titles for Jason's history, math, and science classes.
They had been reading over them during the evenings before patrols until Bruce had started banning Jason … Over the last few months there were a lot of things he and Jason hadn't been doing.
Dick was amused by the pile of books on his couch. After a quick glance to Bruce for permission, which Bruce answered with a nod, Dick tore into the books with excitement. Bruce doubted Dick's excitement would hold when he slowed down enough to see what the books were about.
With Dick occupied, Bruce set Dick's pillow and blanket at the end of the couch, and then Bruce headed over to his desk to setup the computer.
The last time Bruce had used this computer for this particular function Dick had been sixteen. Bruce had kept the computer updated for easy access in case a situation such as this arrived. For the last year and a half Jason had been the primary user of the library computer. Bruce had reworked the security protocols.. In case Jason had discovered the computer's capacities. Now he was finding out access to the Batcomputer was taking longer than he wanted.
"Bruce," Dick's whisper pulled Bruce out of the nostalgia he had been slowly falling into. "Are you mad at me?"
Bruce tiredly rubbed is eyes. "I'm not angry at you or Jason," Bruce included Jason because Dick had always been sensitive to others getting in trouble for his perceived failings. "You both should have known better than to-"
"Not about that." Dick gave Bruce's lecture a dismissive little wave. What else was there for Bruce to be angry about? Bruce reviewed their interactions trying to think of a time he had given any indication he was upset around Dick.
At this age Dick Grayson had been sensitive to Bruce's negative emotions. Anger being the more common one, then. When Bruce had gotten angry around Dick, no matter the reason or the extent of the anger, Dick would often mistakenly believe Bruce was angry at him. With present Dick, if Bruce even considered having emotions, in Dick's general vicinity Dick Grayson, would explode.
"Why do you think I'm angry with you?" Bruce prompted. He could not think of a reason why Dick would believe Bruce was angry. The shortness with Zatanna was situational that had been revolved quickly. That could not have upset Dick.
Dick shifted on the couch, curling into himself slightly, his eyes were sliding away from Bruce. A chill went straight down Bruce's spine at the similarity between baby-bird Dick's behavior and Talon's. Bruce was not entirely aware of his movements as he stood and made his way over to Dick.
"Dick, why do you think I'm angry with you?" Bruce asked gently. He crouched down in front of Dick to meet his eyes.
Bruce caught himself not breathing as Dick's eyes focused on Bruce's.
"Why is Jason in my room?" Dick was trying to keep his face blank, but Bruce could see the little signs of tension all over Dick's expression. The relief Bruce felt nearly knocked him backwards. Of course, Alfred had told Bruce baby-bird Dick had been unhappy Jason had not wanted have a sleepover. This was an easy problem with an easy fix.
"You remember how you didn't like the manor's larger rooms when you moved in," Bruce started as gently as he had before.
Dick nodded. "They were bigger than the whole performing tent."
Bruce smiled at the memory of Dick spinning around the first suite they'd planned to give to Dick. "Jason was just as overwhelmed as you were. Since older you moved out, we thought Jason would feel more comfortable in your old room."
The tension drained out of Dick in a quick rush that ended with Dick flopping against the back of the couch, looking too tired for a nine year old.
"Is Jason upset I messed up his date?" Dick asked earnestly.
Bruce didn't smirk as he answered., "No according to Clark they're just friends. Now Jason will be upset if you don't put his books back where you got them when you wake up tomorrow."
Dick pushed himself up a little bit with a defiant smile on his face. "Since I'm not going to bed then does that mean I don't have to put them up."
Bruce expected this with everything that had been going on. Exhaustion was written all over Dick's body. If Bruce left Dick to read over Jason's books he would be asleep before Bruce restarted his search. The fact that Dick was scared of going back to sleep, was also written all over Dick. The computer was already working. Bruce could review his conversation with Talon while sitting with Dick as much as he could sitting in front of the computer.
Bruce got up off the floor and sat on the couch beside Dick, who instantly settled himself into Bruce. "I'm not going to sleep," Dick told Bruce firmly.
"Of course not," Bruce agreed pulling the blanket over Dick.
There would be time to deal with Talon later.